Temps were minus 24 at the start with very little natural snow (west face of Mt Washington across the highway was looking very bare), so course was much more limited than originally hoped, and quite a few potential skiers bailed. Nevertheless, 15 competitors showed up for the first-ever Randonnee Rally ski moutaineering race held in eastern North America, and Bretton Woods put on an impeccably well-organized event. (The only snafu the entire day was confusion over the procedures for getting our free post-race breakfast, but eventually those pancakes were mighty yummy, as well as well-deserved.) Any hopes of winning were called into question when I noticed a skier with Scarpa F1 randonnee rally racing boots (along with randonnee rally racing skis plus Dynafit bindings of course) and again when an organizer sought me out (apparently he had knew me from my internet posts) and informed me that David Lamb was present: winner of the Son of Inferno pentathlon, adventure racer, and age-class master’s alpine racing champion. Any remaining hopes of winning turned into second-place aspirations when I realized that David Lamb had the Scarpa F1 boots - an unbeatable combo (at least by me). Pics and crude attempts at course map here: http://www.jshefftz2.photosite.com/brettonwoodsrandorace/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont. To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html