Cam Smith on The Grand Traverse; State of Skimo; & Training for Skiing, Running, & Mtn Biking
BLISTER Podcast
BLISTER
4.8 • 560 Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2021
⏱️ 62 minutes
🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last Sunday, Cam Smith and Tom Goth set a new record at the Grand Traverse, which is a point-to-point ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen. Starting at midnight, racers travel 40 miles across the Elk Mountain range, climbing over 6,800 vertical feet. Cam is also a repeat winner of the Triple Crown of The Grand Traverse, so we talked to Cam about his record-setting night; skiing vs. skimo; his World Cup ski goals; and how he specifically trains for skiing and mountain running and mountain biking.
TOPICS & TIMES:
- What is the Grand Traverse? (3:58)
- Winning the Triple Crown (7:58)
- Skiing under a full moon (11:41)
- Suffering during the GT? (14:41)
- Ski, Bike, Run: where have you most improved? (19:58)
- Cam’s background (25:22)
- Cam’s training program (28:45)
- Gear: how particular are you? (34:34)
- Current state of Skimo (37:46)
- Your future plans & goals? (47:05)
- Living Journeys fundraiser (54:41)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everybody and welcome back to the Blister podcast. |
| 0:05.8 | I'm Jonathan Ellsworth, the founder of Blister, and you can check out everything we're doing and reviewing over at blisterreview.com. |
| 0:15.5 | Okay, our guest today is Cam Smith, who is a repeat winner of the Grand Traverse, which is a point-to-point |
| 0:23.0 | ski race from Crested Butte to Aspen. Now, at the Grand Traverse, racers travel 40 miles across |
| 0:30.2 | the Elk Mountain Range, climbing over 6,800 vertical feet, and to ensure competitor's safety, |
| 0:40.8 | racers must have a partner, they must carry mandatory gear, and they must begin the race at midnight when avalanche hazard is decreased. |
| 0:48.8 | Now, starting just after midnight this past Saturday night, or I guess technically Sunday morning at like 12.10 a.m., |
| 0:57.8 | Cam and his race partner Tom Goth set a new course record with a time of six hours and six minutes, |
| 1:06.0 | which is crazy. |
| 1:08.0 | Many truly badass people call the Grand Traverse the hardest thing they've ever done, |
| 1:13.5 | and so Cam's blazing time here is absolutely remarkable. But wait, there's more. Cam is also a |
| 1:22.4 | repeat winner of the Triple Crown of the Grand Traverse, which is awarded to the person that has the lowest combined time |
| 1:28.8 | across the Grand Traverse Ski Race, the Grand Traverse Bike Race, and the Grand Traverse Run. |
| 1:36.2 | So in this conversation, I asked Cam to fill us in on his record setting night, and we also |
| 1:42.3 | talk about skiing versus schemo, we talk about Cam's |
| 1:46.5 | World Cup Schemo goals, and how he specifically trains for skiing and for mountain running |
| 1:53.5 | and mountain biking. And if you'd like to learn more about Cam's backstory, I talked with Cam about a |
| 2:00.4 | year and a half ago |
| 2:01.4 | over on our Off the Couch podcast about that background of his and more. So I'd encourage you to |
| 2:08.4 | check that out. It's episode number 21 of Off the Couch and we'll include links to the show |
| 2:14.9 | notes in this episode. And so let's go ahead and get to my conversation with Cam Smith, |
| 2:20.9 | which we had in Blister Headquarters about 48 hours after his record setting effort. |
... |
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