Rando Races at ski areas. Why?

I tried skimo racing a couple of times, just to try it out and using my regular gear (no Lycra). Perhaps when I was younger and my competitive drive stronger I might have got into it, but pushing myself to the limit of sustainable physical and mental stress for an extended period was unpleasant, and seemed self focused (best to be on a controlled course when you're entirely in your own head). Touring bellow the no-sweating/nasal-breathing threshold, as is usual, brings feelings of joy and presence, and enhances the awareness of my surroundings. These events provide nothing that I need.

Power of Four Race was yesterday in Aspen. 24 miles with 10,000 vertical feet of climbing with 7" of new.
I watched several ski the last pitch in Bingo, which is a legitimate expert run. I was impressed.

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Originally Posted by Shredhead

Power of Four Race was yesterday in Aspen. 24 miles with 10,000 vertical feet of climbing with 7" of new.
I watched several ski the last pitch in Bingo, which is a legitimate expert run. I was impressed.

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Fun race, with pretty nice conditions this year. Many of the skimo racers are very good skiers. Some others are still very much learning to ski, but have a lot of fitness. On Bingo, the extra thing to keep in mind is that racers already have 11+k of ascent and 10k of descent on their legs. If somebody is skiing pretty well at that point, they probably know what they are doing. Some years Bingo is harder than highlands bowl. This year, I found highlands bowl with the deeper snow to be the harder ski on race-stix. Quad burn was pushing 11 on highlands for sure, probably only an 8 or so on Bingo. Skiing off snowmass and buttermilk was mostly type 1 fun powder skiing on comparatively fresh legs.