The physics of Hillclimb

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

By Jake Nichols

Jackson Hole, Wyoming - Recall Isaac Newton’s first law of motion: An object in motion tends to stay in motion. Nearly every contestant at this year’s World Championship Hill Climb – both professional racers and highmarking weekend hooligans – will tell you the same thing: You gotta keep moving.

“Snow King is a momentum hill,” said local regular Shad Free. He’s been over the top seven times in nine tries, so listen up when he says, “Keep your skis up and your suspension soft.”

In 2005, Shilah Dalebout became the first woman to ever make it to the top. “The biggest thing is keeping your momentum,” she said after that run. “It’s so steep up there that you can’t spend any time looking where you’re gonna go.”
Few remember the rest of Newton’s law: An object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed … unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Enter Snow King.

With an unfathomable 45 degree vertical rise, the aptly-named, double-black diamond run called Rock Garden, puts the wobble in extreme skiers’ knees and makes mincemeat out of $10,000 snow machines every March. Unbalanced? Shove 200-plus horse power into 500 pounds of sled traveling over ruts and rocks, and the ‘hump de bump’ dance is on. Riders straddle, sidesaddle and shift their weight in every way imaginable to stay aboard bucking fiberglass. Lose momentum, and another natural phenomenon of physics takes over – gravity.

Objects with mass attract each other
It is one of the fundamental forces of physics and Hill Climb. A sled is attracted to the base of the hill – or the catch net – before it ever leaves the starting line. It’s why 10,000 sledneck fans will flock to Jackson this weekend, cheering louder for the destructive descents than the successful summits.
“I got a tether wrapped around my arm and tore my shoulder out about two years ago,” recalled Tony Ottobre. The Jackson resident rode the next day with a dislocated shoulder and took third place in 600 Mod at Snow King. No stranger to pain, Ottobre will ride with a brace this weekend for a torn MCL.

Even seasoned veterans aren’t immune to forces of nature. Nathan Zollinger will forever remember Hill Climb 2005 as the scene of his most embarrassing moment. “I tipped over on Snow King in 2005 before the first catwalk,” said the former champ who won it all in 1998. “It was a rookie mistake. I got caught sleeping.”

And they still talk about the Dennis Durmas wreck of 2003. “Best crash I’ve ever seen,” longtime announcer Glenn Gilles said of the runaway sled that was headed for the crowd below until it rammed into an old ski lift tower pole, snapping it in half.

 “It’s always a race against the hill and the hill wins,” Durmas admitted later.
Free echoes that sentiment. “The King will win again,” he said. “It will not necessarily be easier with a lot of snow this year, either. It will make for some deep, deep ruts.”

Path of least resistance
In physics, objects moving through a system always take the path of least resistance. It is true for electricity, water flowing downhill, and snowmobile racers heading 1,500 feet uphill. Snow machiners know where they want to go, it just isn’t always possible.

“I choose the line of least resistance,” said Jeremy Osler, a 35-year-old Bozeman racer. “You wanna stay on the ground. If you hit something and lose your line it’s all out the window. You do what you can.” Like a lot of contestants, Osler prefers to walk the course the day before it opens to get a good look at the whole hill.

All sledders ‘glass the hill’ with a spotting scope to watch other contestants. Most ride the chairlift, as well, to get a birdseye view of the action and what they may want to avoid. “There is a mental game; having a plan is important,” said Vancouver, Washington’s Kyle Tapio. The 28-year-old has won King of Kings honors for the past two years running. “Sticking to the line you pick at the bottom is important. Seventy percent of it is staying in the groove made by other riders but toward the top you focus on bad areas and stay away from them.”

“I always have a line in my mind. I have a plan. I ride the lift,” agreed Rick Ward, a former repeat winner of the King of the Hill title. “But it can change and go away quickly, especially with the mods chewing on it, then it pays to have a Plan B.”
Free, who had a bad wreck at Bear Lake in early February that left him sunk in mud, said he’s been trying to prepare, mentally, to run Snow King since then. “They say, ‘There is the line, and there is the line you’re on,’” he said. “Sometimes it can be deceiving from the lift view. After 15 or 20 minutes when you get off the lift and on your sled, the lines you saw have been taken.”

“I pick a line but I also let the sled do what it needs to do,” Zollinger said. “The hard part about Snow King is staying out of somebody else’s mistake [hole]. It’s harder also because of the ruts and where they put the gates.” Zollinger rides for fun in Providence Canyon outside of Logan, Utah, where he said his family climbs stuff as steep as the King all the time.

Jan Ottobre, wife of Tony and one of handful of female racers who have a decent shot at King of the Hill this year, said the stronger guys can keep their line but she has to go where her sled goes. Ottobre became the second woman over the top at the King when she summited last year.

Younger riders say to leave strategy to the thinkers. Luck and brash gets sledders to the top. Local Tyler Tobin, 26, said his golden rule of thumb is, “When in doubt, let it eat,” referring to the time-tested practice of rooster tailing out of trouble.

String theory: The mechanics of mountain climbing
The art of setting up the sled, or tuning it to the elevation and snow conditions, keeps crews busy for days before a race. Zollinger said he tests in Star Valley early in the week but his sled was pretty much prepped back in October when he got it and tore it down. “I know the setup at this point from running year after year. I plan on running as much traction as I can. Set it up soft and dial in the clutching.”

A soft suspension helps the machine stay in contact with the snow and with this year’s better-than-average snowpack most riders are opting to leave the paddles long and the hardware at home. “I will use more snow traction this year,” Osler said. “No screws or titanium; just more paddle track.” Screws or titanium paddle extenders are what some old-timers refer to as ‘grouser’ and are used as a means to ‘snow stud’ their paddle track for grip in low-snow and icy conditions.

“I hate to run titanium on a shell and won’t unless I have to. It creates extra vibration and weight,” said Ward, who tests in Salt Creek Pass.

Pinedale’s Luke Morss, who said he’s been trying to qualify for Snow King for years, won’t be using titanium or screws either. “You won’t need a lot of titanium,” said the 28-year-old. “That’ll just slow you down this year. You might not need it ‘til the rocks come out.”

Jan Ottobre said she’s likely to go with less paddle to stay on top of the snow. “It will be a lot deeper this year,” she said. “A heavy paddle setup will just dig deeper. I will probably back off the traction a bit.”

When force, energy and charge fade, it’s Hill Help to the rescue.
Snow King is not only unique for its unforgiving terrain. The legion of first-responders known as ‘Hill Help’ are responsible for closing time and space when sledders look like they are about to ‘endo’ their machines. They have proved to be invaluable to snowmobilers.

“If you see them then you are not having a good day because you are not getting to the top, but it’s nice to see a face I know and have them save $10,000 worth of sled,” said Free.

“Hill Help is the best,” Jan Ottobre agreed. “They saved my sled [in 2004]. The scariest part is riding back down. I tell them, ‘Here’s my helmet, you ride it down.’” Riders are required to carry some form of braking material – usually rubber – to be applied to the skis upon descent.

Zollinger admitted he’s had to yell to Hill Help to come and get him when he knew he was just spinning track to keep from rolling back down the hill, and Ward won’t even try to save his own sled. “I learned my lesson helping my own sled once,” he said. “That’s how I’ve been hurt in the past. I owe them many thanks over the years.”

“Hill Help are as much pros as we are. They should be going for a check doing what they do,” said Osler, who broke his wrist in 2006 when his sled landed on him at the third catwalk.

Theory of relativity
Racing runs in families. Father-son teams, husband-and-wife teams, and brother-sister combos are common on the 273-member RMSHA roster. Tyler Tobin’s mom, Heidi, is the Snow Devil’s first woman president. The Zollingers are fielding no less than 11 family members on the circuit this season. The ZBroz racing team has graciously donated the sled that took brothers Nathan, Anthony, and Ryan to the top as grand prize for the Snow Devils’ fundraising raffle this year. The winner might want to pack along a gas can or two. The sled’s tank, like all other race setups, holds only 3/4 gallon.
The Snow Devils have pledged to support the Shriner’s Club with the bulk of their proceeds for this year’s 33rd Annual World Championship Hill Climb. A JumboTron screen will be in place at the base of the hill again this year with BAM filming for an upcoming feature on the Outdoor Life Network.

‘Braaap Pack’ contestants come from all over the country, including the North Pole. Stanley Hendrickson will be making his first appearance ever at the Hill Climb after driving all the way from Alaska. You don’t have to be an Einstein to know where he’s going this weekend. “I’ll see you at the top,” he tells anyone who asks. “It’s where I’m headed. I’ll either make the awards ceremony or the [crash] video.”

Matt Tingstad will also be making his first run at Snow King. The “Tinger” shut down his law practice in Bresseler, Mich., for a week to make the trip. He said he promises not to sue the Snow Devils or Snow King should he break sled or head. “But I might have been the only one who read the waivers,” says the University of Wyoming Law School graduate.

Photo of 2007 Hill Climb by Neal Henderson


PERMALINK:
The physics of Hillclimb | Planet JH News Article: Cover Stories

Leave a Comment