Saab Salomon Mountain-X Race 2008
Day 2 - High mountain time
Pyro / 22.07.2008
Day 2 of the Mountain X Race and the racers first early start of the week. With the beginning of the high mountaineering stage scheduled for 5am, team support crews were up and around the campsite in the beautiful hanging valley of Les Chapieux from 3am, teams woke around 4am, and then were told shortly afterwards that the start would be delayed until 6am. Conditions high on the glacier were a little more windy than desirable, and so the start was delayed, so at least the day would be a little warmer when the teams arrived.The trek began, as with all of the stages, as a mass start, and the teams began the long trek up to Aiguille des Glaciers. The teams ran in their lighter trail shoes for the early part of the trek, but at CP2 they had to change to their heavier mountain boots and jackets, attach crampons and harnesses, and rope together for the long ice crossing to CP4. For all this was a nerve-wracking stage, both teams and organisation, as last years mountaineering was altered due to the appalling weather conditions, however today the conditions could not have been more perfect. While the wind continued on the glacier, teams were treated to blazing sunshine for the entire day, and when they arrived at the Col de Siegne, precisely positioned on the border between France and Italy, they had stripped of all the heavier gear and were looking forward to some descent on a well-trodden trail. Saab Salomon were the first team to reach the Col, nearly 20 minutes ahead of their nearest rivals, and they continued to push hard, the retention of their title in mind, despite the fact that Nike Beaver Creek held the ‘maillot jeune’ overnight. They and all the faster teams would have option of an extra loop and CP to take in on the Col de Bonhomme, or they could opt to skip the extra distance and take a penalty time addition of four hours. For the later teams, this would not be an issue, as any team arriving at the junction after 1:30pm would be routed straight to the finish. This not only rebunched the racers and allowed everyone to be punctual to the start of tonights trail run.
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