Elite competition at Whiteout

Brandon French cruised through 4,675 feet of elevation gain and loss to post the best overall time in the third annual Whitefish Whiteout ski mountaineering race on Jan. 23 at Whitefish Mountain Resort. More than 50 racers from across the region competed in the event.

Under sunny skies and over variable snow conditions, French edged out Ben Parsons by two minutes with a finish time of 1:27:34.

The two Kalispell racers competed in last year's U.S. Ski Mountaineering Championships at Jackson Hole, Wyo., with French coming in fourth and Parsons in fifth. They are both on the 2010 national team.

The Whiteout's third-place finisher, Reiner Thoni, set a record in the opening leg of the race with the fastest climb to the top of Big Mountain. He skinned from the bottom of Chair 1 to the summit in 26:59, edging out French and shattering the previous mark by more than two minutes.

French used a lightweight Dynafit system while Thoni was on Ski Trab skis with Scarpa F1 carbon boots.

Melanie Bernier led the women's division with an overall time of 1:47:18. Clint Mulhfeld was the first Telemark skier to complete the course, ahead of Jason Keister. Pilot reporter-photographer Matt Baldwin was the first snowboarder to complete the event.

The pro race route took skiers from the base of Chair 1 up Toni Matt to a summit transition area, where skiers removed their climbing skins for the ensuing descent. Skiers were directed down Cal's Country and Haskill Slide to Over The Hill Gang, where they donned skins and began climbing back to the summit via Lower Haskill and North Bowl Face.

At the summit, racers headed down East Rim and Whitey's to Moose before bootpacking up N.B.C to the summit again. The final leg dropped skiers down Connie's Coulee in Hellroaring Basin to the traverse. After cutting across the basin, skiers skinned up Purgatory under Chair 8. At the top, they removed skins for the fourth time and headed down Upper Mully's and Wood Lot to the base of Chair 1.

The event was open to alpine trekkers, Telemark skiers and splitboarders.