Stay tuned this Fall for more news on the 2011 Five Peaks event. We're looking at a few small course changes (don't worry it won't get any shorter) and other things to make the second annual Five Peaks even better than the first.
Weather continues to look very good for race day. We're making a small change to the descent off Peak 9: the course will go down the Corner Chute NOT East Twin Chute. It's better skiing and a more direct line to the Avilauncher. See you at the Riverwalk Center tomorrow evening for the race meeting.
Due to the distance of The Five Peaks, water and Clif Bars will be on-course at the 6 Hut, Top of Peak 8 (racers are here twice) and the 7 Hut. A big thank you to Clif for supporting The Five Peaks.
Friday, March 19th at the Riverwalk Center, in parnership with the Banff Film Festival and the BOEC, we're offering the early entry race price at the festival. Stop by our table at the Film Festival and enter!
Due to many requests for an earlier start time, The Five Peaks start has been moved to 6 am. This new time gives competitors a full eight and a half hours to complete the course. The final climb cut-off time will remain 2:30. The course was skied in its entirety this am and with fast conditions such as today we expect the winners to complete the course in four and half hours with a finish time of 10:30 am.
The Riverwalk Center will be open at 5 am and is an ideal staging area for racers before the start as it's a 5 min walk to the starting line.
We've received a number of emails concerning the time cut-off and the difficulty of the course. Think of the time cut-off as your friend - when it's 2:30 you get to ski DOWN (no more UP) to dinner and a beverage (or three). The 2:30 cut-off gives teams seven and a half hours to skin and ski. Remember 80% of this race is above 10,000 ft., so people will begin to slow and tire much sooner than at 5,500ft. Seven and half hours is enough. Also, the ski patrol has to close the hill and our volunteers want to go to the banquet as well.
February 22nd UPDATE: We've made a slight change to the Peak 7 climb - it now ascends Art's Bowl to the rope line and continues along the northern ski area boundary to the summit of Peak 7. The attached map reflects the change.
