This PR just came into WildSnow.com. The new Trab team is strong and appears to have an excellent sponsorship package — should be fun to watch. Packing for Europe so brief blogging today.
Press Release: Salt Lake City, UT. Announcing the Ski Trab 2007 US Ski Mountaineering race team. Ethan Passant and Jari Kirkland of Crested Butte, CO along with Zahan Billimoria of Driggs, ID, Pete Swenson of Boulder, CO and Grant Guise of Arthur’s Pass, New Zealand will race on the World Cup dominating Trab Duo Race skis this coming season. The team will be co-sponsored by Arva, CAMP, Patagonia & Scarpa.
Pete Swenson, the 2006 North American Series Champion, will both coach and race this season on the Trab Duo Sint Aero, a mid-fat version of the famous Duo Race. Pete led the 2006 series with wins at the Wasatch Powderkeg, the Jackson Hole National Championship and Kirkwood. He also finished 3rd at the Crested Butte race and 4th at Whistler. Pete represented the US well at the 2006 Cuneo world championships where he was the top US finisher in both the vertical race and the team race. Pete has been busy over the off-season starting the new COSMIC series of mountaineering races (www.cosmicski.com), this year he will more casually compete while coaching the team and organizing the new race series. Pete is a former pro mountain biker, having raced for RLX Polo Sport, Specialized and the Sobe/Cannondale teams.
Ethan, one of the more accomplished racers in the US, won the 2004 Wasatch Powderkeg and the 2004 North American championship at Jackson Hole. He also won the 2003 and 2004 Silverton races along with the 2006 Crested Butte race (where he placed 2nd in 2004). He finished 3rd in the overall point standings for the 2004 season even though he only participated in 3 of the 6 races, reaching the podium in all 3 races. Ethan narrowly missed the 2006 Powderkeg podium by a scant 37 seconds; he also finished in 4th place at the 2006 National Championships at Jackson Hole. He spent 2005 representing the US on the European Randonee race scene, where he finished 25th in the grueling Pierra Menta out of a field of 160 racers. Ethan has been a long time ski patroller for Crested Butte Mountain Resort and spends the off season racing mountain bikes.
Jari Kirkland will co-race for the Trab team and Team Crested Butte, an adventure racing team from Colorado (www.teamcrestedbutte.com). Jari has an extensive history of winning in a variety of adventure related sports, including the co-ed team division of the Elk Mountain Traverse where she posted the fastest time ever for a woman in the 2006 race. She has also won the overall women’s title for the Crested Butte Nordic series, the 24 hours of Moab mountain bike race (where she set a new course record), Montezuma’s Revenge and the Pro Women Summit Mountain Challenge series. Participating with Team CB she finished first at the Huairasinchi International Adventure race in Ecuador earlier this year, 5th at Primal Quest Challenge in Moab and 8th in the Raid World Championships in Australia.
Zahan Billimoria began racing the US Ski Mountaineering circuit in 2006 and finished 7th overall that year. He finished 2nd at Alpental, 8th at Crested Butte, 9th at the America’s Cup event in Jackson Hole, and 10th at the Powderkeg. During the summer Zahan is a competitive Teton area trail runner. He won 20-29 age category winner at the Grand Teton Mountain Marathon in 2005 and finished 4rth overall in 2006. He finished 3rd at the Snow King Hill climb in Jackson Hole in 2006 and 6th at the Rendezvous Hill climb the same year. Professionally Zahan works as a Ski Guide and avalanche educator for Yostmark Backcountry Tours. He also owns and operates Z Language School, a foreign language school in Driggs, Idaho
Grant Guise finished 2nd at both the June Mountain and Kirkwood, CA races, along with a 6th place finish at the Powderkeg and 6th at the Jackson Hole national championships. He finished the season ranked 4th overall. Grant patrols at the Arthur’s Pass resort in New Zealand and at Northstar ski area in Lake Tahoe.
Ethan, Jari, Grant and Zahan will race on the popular Trab Duo Race Aero, an 835g carbon fiber race ski that dominates the UIAA ski mountaineering race circuit. Pete will coach/race on the 965g Duo Sint Aero which shares the same construction as the Duo Race with mid-fat dimensions.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
