Thirty hours of snowmaking has left varying levels of cover on the trails in Rumford, the site of the 2011 U.S. National Championships.
On Tuesday morning, athletes trained and coaches tested on a 900-meter loop, while organizers and volunteers were using shovels, dump trucks, groomers, and even chainsaws to prepare a course for Wednesday’s classic distance races.
Their efforts were focused primarily on a one-kilometer extension to the 1.4-k sprint course used for Sunday’s classic sprint. As of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, much of that extension was still thin, but a large quantity of snow had been stockpiled in strategic places, to spread around later in the day.
According to Assistant Technical Delegate Al Serrano, the total climb on the 2.5 k loop is roughly 75 meters, which equates to 300 meters of ascending for the women’s 10 k, and 450 for the men’s 15 k – within the International Ski Federation’s standards for homologated courses.
Check out a couple of video updates below.
