World Vertical Kilometer Championships – Canazei – Dolomites Written on July 19, 2010, by matt.
What exactly is it? Well it is 1000m of altitude gain over a very short distance i.e. about 2km. The race started at 1465m altitude and finished high above the ‘Lightning Path’ at 2465m.
Because of the steepness of the course, most of the competitors use trekking poles to give them extra push off through their arms. And often the ones who do well in these races come from ski mountaineering or cross country skiing backgrounds. But if you are one of the few, like me, who do no skiing at all there is really no point in using the poles as i wouldn’t know what to do with them.
So the New Zealand team comprising of Jono Wyatt and myself, lined up poleless amongst Italians, French, Spanish and the Brits at the bottom of the horribly steep course. With a whole lot of pushing and shoving, polling and tripping, slipping and grabbing we were on our way UP. The sun was beaming and adding insult to the already grueling day but we slogged on up. Letizia Voux – French ski Champion took off followed closely by Antonella Confortalla-Wyatt – also Italian ski Champion. Angela Mudge (also poleless) pushed on up behind and I chased heads down and tails up.
Jono Wyatt gave it his all to hold onto a podium finish right until the last 10 vertical meters when the power walking was just too much and 2 ski mountaineers just snuck by. Lungs squashed, legs burning, heart throbbing, head dizzy, flies in eyes…A fun event but not for the faint hearted. I think I’ll stick to the real mountain ‘running’ races.
Anna x
