ARAPAHOE BASIN - The Enduro and the Grind are two of Arapahoe Basin's most classic springtime competitions.

The sixth annual Marmot Grind, an individual event, took place on Saturday, but the conclusion of the randonee race looked more like a finish at the Enduro, in which partners ski together.

Bryan Wickenhauser won the race with his good buddy Brian Smith practically in his back pocket. The Gunnison athletes finished just 8 seconds apart with Wickenhauser blazing the leader's trail in 1 hour, 56 minutes and 3 seconds.

"Thanks for pushing me," Wickenhauser said to Smith as the racers convened outside the finish corral.

Vail's Mike Kloser was third with a time of 1:57:34.

"I'm psyched," Wickenhauser said. "I've never won a COSMIC (Colorado Ski Mountaineering Cup) race - I'm usually second or third."

Wickenhauser said the race against Smith was back-and-forth the whole way.

"I'd catch him on the descents and he'd catch me on the climbs," Wickenhauser said. "He weighs about 30 or 40 pounds less than me - I'd like to think he's got a little advantage on the uphills. Plus his engine is phenomenal. ... He's fast at everything we do."

"It was a blast," Smith said of his first day skiing, let alone competing at the Basin. "The climbs were tough and the descents were so variable. It was a lot of bomber crust with a little bit of snow on top and it was basically flat light, so you couldn't really see anything."

Kloser, who won the Imperial Challenge last weekend at Breckenridge, used imagery to describe Saturday's skiing conditions, which were the product of multiple days of slush skiing followed by an unseasonably cold night leading into the event.

"It was just the biggest chicken heads you've ever seen," Kloser said. "It wasn't anything special to ski, I can tell you that. I was going to bring my daughter over, but I was like, 'Stay home, sleep.'"

Jon Brown (1:59:09) and Jake Jones (2:09:16) rounded out the top five.

Wickenhauser and Brown are both members of (adventure racing) Team Salomon/Crested Butte along with Jari Kirkland, who took second in the women's race.

Kirkland finished in 2:48:51, behind Monique Merrill (2:24:38) and ahead of Andrea Koeing, whose time was unavailable as of press time.

Merrill has won all three (or four, she's not quite sure) Grinds she's been in.

So it was just another day at the office in a way, but still the local mega-athlete expressed fatigue following her victory.

"I tend to compete all year long," Merrill said. "But quite honestly, this year I've added coffee to my store (Amazing Grace in Breckenridge), so my hours have kind of doubled. It's unbelievable the difference that makes. I was pretty fit in January, then worked January, February, March and April. Instead of working 30 hours a week, I work 60 hours. I'm just tired."

Merrill and Kirkland were two of some 98 competitors who had to battle fierce gusts to get to the finish line.

"When we got to the top of Montezuma Bowl, it was crazy windy," Kirkland said. "I was like, 'I don't know if I can handle this. If I drop in and it doesn't get better, I might have to boot pack (out),' but of course, as soon as we got down to the bottom of the boot pack, it got nicer. We got back up and it was kind of crappy again. You know - it comes, it goes. It ebbs and flows."

Michael Shambarger won the rec division with a time of 1:12:07. He was followed by Debra Nelson (1:12:21), Phil Armstrong (1:12:49) and Andrew Vermilyea (1:14:10).

Nelson was followed on the women's short-course podium by Janelle Smiley (1:17:11) and Rebecca Rothbard (1:42:33).



Adam Boffey can be contacted at (970) 668-4634, or at aboffey@summitdaily.com.