A buddy and I have signed up to do the Elk Mountain Grand Traverse ski race next month. It's a backcountry ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen (about 40 miles). Should be lots of type II fun. I've been working a lot on the gear list and was hoping to get feedback from anyone who's done the race or has experience with long distance ski touring.

I took a lot of inspiration from this thread. I struggled with the decision between 3-pin/rando race/NNN-BC ski setups, but ultimately decided to go with Salomon SNS-BC bindings on Madshus Glittertinds. This setup was pretty highly regarded on teletips and did great when I demoed them. I already have a burly resort tele setup and felt like those and a BC binding setup would offer the largest range of options for ski touring throughout the season. Rando racing gear has been winning the EMGT the last few years, but I couldn't justify the cost of a slick dynafit setup and I still wanted something appropriate for mellow days tooling around the woods.

The race organizers impose a pretty stringent mandatory gear list on the racers, including extra bindings, sleep systems, stoves, and extra baselayers:
http://www.elkmountaintraverse.org/html/equipment.html#gear

Here's the list I've put together, thanks in advance for any feedback:
EMGT Gear List

Edited by ryanking on 02/26/2011 22:42:06 MST.

Looks like a solid gear list for a UL winter trip. I use a lot of the same layers as you and the WM Ultralite, and as long as the temps don't take a sharp dive, you will be in great shape. Have a good trip!

Anyone else have any thoughts on the gear list for a long distance ski tour/race? The race is a single push that starts at midnight, so I don't intend to use the sleeping bag/bivy sack but the race directors require that you carry them.

I scouted the course last weekend from Crested Butte to the Friend's Hut and saw lots of people preparing for the race. Everyone was going pretty light, so maybe some are on BPL?