Hill Climb time

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyo---Sled after sled blares to the start line at the base of a hill that has broken both man and machine since they made a professional sport out of highmarking back in the 1980s.

An insane 55 degrees of slope called Upper Exhibition – quite possibly the steepest inbounds run in North America – awaits any rider nearing the third catwalk.

Disrespect her, and the precipice will humble you in a hurry, sending you and your outfit packing, sled scree collected in the catch net.

When NASCAR on snow comes to Jackson this weekend, one thing is for sure: A king might be crowned, but the hill always triumphs.

“Snow King is the meanest, the steepest, and by far the funnest,” says Glenn Gilles, owner of the booming baritone heard hillside at every World Championship Hill Climb in Jackson, which once again gets revved up Thursday through Sunday on the Town Hill.

“Jackson is the premier snowmobiling event in the West. Absolutely nothing compares to Jackson.”

In 2005, beauty tamed the beast. Shilah Dalebout became the first woman to reach the top after four years of trying … and four years of wrecking. “I was excited that I was almost there,” Dalebout remembered of her 2004 run. “Then my sled tipped over. I should have been on the other side of it. I was maybe looking ahead instead of being in the moment right then. It’s tricky up there.”

You don’t have to tell Dennis Durmas how tricky the mountain can be. In 2003, Durmas was on top of the world. He won the world championship.

He was, in his words, “unstoppable.” A year later, he was stopped cold.

“Best crash I’ve ever seen,” announcer Gilles remembered. “Dennis Durmas lost his sled and it came down just about to the bottom and hit one of them old ski poles from the old lift and broke it right in half.”

Durmas remembers, too. “It’s always a race against the hill, and the hill wins. You have to have a good rate of speed and pick the correct line. Rider ability is key in those upper areas. It’s not for the inexperienced guy.”

Like many competitors, Skidoo X Team rider Rick Budge likes to eye the course beforehand. When the Hill Climb contestants aren’t glued to their field glasses atop the hauler, they’re likely picking their line from the triple chair.

“The equipment is all pretty good nowadays,” Budge said. “So it’s down to luck of line when you are at the top and getting the right bounce when you need it. I like to ride the lift to get a look.”

Color commentator and local NAPA owner Rod Rossman will trade experience, luck and line for size any day. “It’s all muscle as you get to the top,” he said.

“Muscle and luck. And up top, in bad conditions, that seems to be where the Zollingers shine,” he said of the famous Utah sledding family that consists of both the ZBro Team and the Z5 Skidoo X Team.

“They’re tall – like six-four, six-six – with those long frames, and they’re strong young men. They have the leverage and the muscle.”

“They keep their speed, and the biggest thing is keeping your momentum,” Dalebout added.

“It’s so steep up there that you can’t spend any time looking where you’re gonna go. It’s gotta be one swift movement. The Zollingers make it look easy ’cuz they’re all legs.”

Whatever the method, after the third catwalk the philosophy boils down to one common demonic denominator: Squeeze the trigger and let ’er buck. And hope “Hill Help” gets there before any real damage occurs.

“The crowd doesn’t want to see them go over,” Gilles said. The 10,000 savages below don’t come with stopwatches. They come with binoculars and cameras and pray for shredded fiberglass. But more often than not, their want for destruction is thwarted by the nimble legion of sled savers known as “Hill Help.”

“Boy, they scramble,” Durmas said with genuine affection. “If you’re good to them, they’re good to you. You gotta buy ’em a beer every now and then at the bottom of the hill, and when they hear you’re coming they’re usually on it.”

“The hill crew is awesome,” Dalebout agreed. “They’ve saved my sled so many times. And when I made it over in 2005, they were there at the top with a banner that said, ‘Welcome Shilah – Glad you made it.’ ”

Dalebout will forego this year’s climb with a hyper-extended knee. A grueling Mountain West Snocross racing season – where she finished second – has taken its toll. She’ll keep it in the family, though; her husband, Liv, will head for the top, and Norris Brown, her dad and longtime Snow Devil president, will be cheering on his wife, Layne.

“My mom is gonna run for the first time,” Dalebout said, remembering her early years riding strapped to mom when she was a child. “My dad’s gone over, my brother too. Now my mom has to.”

With a below-normal snowfall year, conditions on Snow King should be challenging up top. But look for the rest of the hill to hold up well to the punishment. She gives better than she gets.

“Since we added snowmaking in 1994, we are now able to take care of the lower third [of the mountain], which was always a problem,” Snow King Resort manager Jim Sullivan said.

“We add three feet of machine-made snow, a very strong snow that is worth about nine feet of natural snow because it doesn’t pack down as easily.”

It’s only natural for snowmachiners to feel ill. What they’re doing is sick, a sledhead version of the bends: Rise 1,500 feet in 90 seconds, with exposed rocks and stumps, and bad things will happen to good drivers.

For those ‘bilers needing last-minute advice from a former highmarker, Shilah Dalebout will tell you this: “Some of it is luck and some of it is keeping your head in the climb,” she says.

“Study, stay focused and have fun.”

Photo by Neal Henderson. A 2006 contender rips it up.

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