Right on cue, the clouds rolled in on the summit of Whiteface Mountain. Through the now 17 editions of the Climb to the Castle, many of them have ended how Sunday’s race did, with racers gathered around for a foggy podium ceremony as the wind and cold pretense a different season.
The whole experience of a hill climb is meant to be otherworldly. Especially in these August days, you wind through the perfect early morning glow of the mountains, then wind through steep pitches and hairpin turns until you find yourself in the wilds, the winds, and the wicked accomplishment of roller skiing up a mountain. Coming back down the world feels stiller, and the warm air seems a little easier. To ski into the clouds offers you a temporary communion with the winter conditions that we’ll all look to brave in just a few months. What a wonderful way to spend a late summer morning.
This last weekend’s Climb to the Castle drove home how special that experience can be, and how uniquely Eastern it is too. When we go to Mt. Kearsarge this weekend for the Rollins Roll (registration is open here!), we’ll be partaking in a template that the Climb set for what modern rollerski racing looks like. That comes with a few conditions that we can take for granted, with the most notable being that so many of the iconic mountains in the East have characteristically steep, and paved, roads to their summits. Another is that they seem to re-affirm the need for nordic skiers to challenge themselves while challenging each other. In what other community are the most popular offseason training races only the most challenging parts of the sport?
All of that was on display this past Sunday, as a competitive and varied field started out from the toll booth at Whiteface and started to make its steady progress to the summit and continue the Climb’s unique tradition.
The Open skate race featured a competitive field with a decidedly international flair. A lead pack of skiers whittled down to six before the last 2 k, when local NYSEF and St. Michael’s college skier Andrew Scanio put an uptick in pace that proved to be decisive. Behind Scanio, the field would start to stretch out, with XC Ottawa’s Edward Southward coming in second place, approximately 20 seconds off Scanio, and GMVS’ Matt McIntosh rounding out the podium in third place. uOttawa Nordique’s Shilo Rousseau skied within the lead pack for much of the race, and handily established a lead in the Women’s Open Skate that lead to victory, while her teammate Anna Sierra Heffernan-Wilker took second place. GMVS’ Mary Harrington rounded out the Open Women’s podium in third place and won the junior category.
The full results from this year’s Climb to the Castle are available on RaceSplitter HERE.
Thank you for NYSEF, High Peaks Cyclery, and the ski community that came out to support this year’s Climb!
Photoset from Nancie Battaglia online HERE.
