VERTICAL RACE.
But hey, we are not (only) here to relax! It’s time to run. At least for me 😉 Breakfast at 7:00, leaving at 7:30, driving to the start of the Ultra Fiord VK. Another last minute decision of me yesterday. Why to rest for the 70km when it’s 4 days in between?
As there is no internet in the park Jordi had pre-downloaded the maps and so we pushed forward pretty well, even after you enter the park it’s dirt-road only. After about 45min I was a bit curious about the direction and we checked the maps again. Damn, wrong, we missed a turn in the begin and not the GPS says 9:55 for the arrival. Race starts at 10:00. Booooom #TimeToDrive
And then suddenly the sky cleared up, the clouds got blown away and we saw the whole Torres del Paine massive. Should we stop for a picture? But we are in a hurry, we don’t know the road conditions and if the GPS calculates right, I need to get my bib too. Whatever, it’s to awesome not to stop, just 30sec. 29, 28, 27,26,… only 10 remaining seconds and we were back and continued., Not sure how Jordi managed to changed lenses that quickly. Must be professional 😉
As there was just no time for a warming up, I jumped out of the car, took my bib, Jordi went a bit higher for the best (still) reachable photospot and we took off – 1.100m+, 5km and afsp (as fast as possible) Ouf, that hurted! With my skiing legs the steep parts were quite good and so I managed to escape and finished 1st. But my biggest challenge was not to stop and take some pictures from the incredibly scenery. Haha
Excellent Philipp. Many thanks for posting the link.
Amazing photos (as normal) and your English is very good.