World Vertical Week was held last week and the hundreds of pictures tagged with #VerticalWeek give a wonderful look at what people were up to during the event. Thank you very much for participating and sharing the photos, everyone!
The three lucky photo contest winners are Kyle Conway, David Jeker and Kimberly Strom. Congratulations! They all will receive Suunto Ambit3 Vertical GPS watches for their inspiring images.
Kyle Conway shot his winning photo at his local Baden Powell Trail in North Vancouver, Canada.
“We ran about 30 km with about 1250 m of climbing, including two loops of the "Seymour Grind", a popular "climbing route" for trail runners,” Kyle tells about the day the photo was taken.
Over the Vertical Week Kyle climbed 4700 m.
“2016 has been a year with goals of improving my climbing, and Suunto's Vertical Week was a perfect opportunity to step things up.”
David Jeker used the Vertical Week as his last week of hard training before tapering for Transgrancanaria in early March.
“I ran nine times during the week, always near my place in Salvan, Switzerland. I kept the best training for the end and did some hill repeats on a very steep trail on Sunday. I ran up and down five times for a total of 2300 meters. Totals for the week were 122 km with 4350 meters of ascent.”
David’s photo was taken during a 33 km long run with 1350 meters of ascent.
“I had originally planned on doing an easy run down in the valley but when I saw that the snow had mostly melted higher up, I changed my plan. It was Vertical Week after all! I ran up to one of my favorite trails and took a picture of Catogne,” David says.
“I’m running a race (X-Alpine / Trail Verbier St-Bernard) this summer that goes up, down and around that mountain. Since I’ve registered for that race, the sight of this impressive mountain is always a great source of motivation!”
Kimberly Strom’s Vertical Week was a true multisport one: she ran in the Jura mountains, nordic skied, and had a big skimo day in the French Alps gaining a total ascent of about 5000 m for the week.
In Kimberly’s photo her friend Noémie leads their climb to Col de l'Encrenaz on the way to Mont Buet (3096 m), in the French Alps.
“The route allowed us a quiet morning, away from the busy ascent of Buet. With some extra skinning we earned the chance to be alone at the summit, arriving late in the afternoon after two long climbs (1300 m and 1100 m).”
Along the way they saw many small avalanches as the sun heated the snow, watched a huge ibex perched on an impossible ledge, took a break to sit protected from the wind and enjoyed the view, kick-turned up icy slopes, and struggled to break through the crusty, crème brûlée descent. When they arrived back at the bottom the towering peaks glowed pink.
“I can't think of a better day than spending all of it with friends in the mountains: working hard, feeling sun and wind burn, rewarded constantly with beauty, feeling accomplishment and the desire to go again.”
Kimberly uses Suunto Ambit3 Sport to track her moves.
“I never leave home without it. Track-back feature helps me find my way after some exploring!”