A ski mountaineering race February 5th right in Mammoth, on the south edge of town (on the Sherwin ridge). Looks neat. The pro course includes booting up Rock Chute? Whew.

There were efforts for years and years to get a randonnée race going on San Joaquin Ridge, from Mammoth to June Mountain. Would have been a perfect course. But an unlikely (or maybe not so unlikely?) obstacle stood in the way: if the Forest Service allowed the race, some people feared it would create a precedent that would make it more difficult to complete a proposed future wilderness designation in that area. So just for that reason they were never able to approve an official race there.

Anyway, this looks cool.

http://www.themammothchase.org/

Are there age-based classes such as Masters 45+ and how is the start configuered ?

There will not be age classes this year. Just race and recreational categories each divided for men and women. If we see a big turn out we will have age categories next year. As a side note, I go to a lot of races and typically the 45 and over crowd are very competitive- often on the podium even without age divisions.

We will have a mass start. Other than asking the fast folks to come to the line and the casual folks to position themselves further back, there is no order to the start. The first climb will have several skin tracks to accommodate passing among the crowd.

Apparently there has been some speculation that the race might not happen due to Forest Service permitting. I can assure everyone that the Forest Service wants to see this race succeed. Our organizing committee has only a few loose ends to tie up before we have a permit in hand. Please feel free to contact me at mammothchase@gmail.com if you have further questions.

Jon Crowley
Race Director, The Mammoth Chase