A big shout out to goes to our Athlete Advisory Board member, Sari Anderson, on her victory last Saturday at the U.S. Ski Mountaineering National Championships!

The annual race in Jackson Hole, WY is one of the longest-running randonee races in the country, celebrating its 12th year last weekend. Using ultralight skis and boots with nylon skins that affix to the bottom of their skis to go uphill, racers climbed and descended over 8,000 vertical feet on and off-piste at the Jackson Holes ski area. Polartec Advisory Board member and mother of two, Sari Anderson, finished second in the National Champs last year after some equipment issues so she was back for redemption this year. Facing the most competitive field of women ever assembled on US soil snow, Sari had a flawless race this year and claimed the national championships in three hours and four minutes, a commanding eight-minute victory over the next woman.

Read more about her race here.

Sari and men's national champion, Luke Nelson

For the 11 world-class climbers, skiers, mountaineers, runners, explorers and adventure racers on the Polartec Athlete Advisory Board, there’s perhaps nothing as painful as sitting under the fluorescent bulbs of a conference room for an eight-hour meeting. But, if that meeting will result in warmer, drier and lighter fabrics that help them perform faster, longer and more efficiently, they’re happy to put in the time. Of course, it doesn’t hurt if that meeting takes place in the international capital of mountain sports – Chamonix, France.

This past week, the Polartec Advisory Board members traveled from around the world to Chamonix, carrying stacks of prototype baselayers, insulating layers and weather protection jackets they’ve been testing for past 6-12 months. The athletes joined a team of Polartec product developers and company leaders, including Polartec president Andy Vecchione and VP Jon Adelman, for a marathon meeting to discuss the latest in fabric technologies.

The athlete group, which was instrumental in the development of both Polartec Power Shield Pro and Polartec NeoShell fabrics, has been testing a wide variety of exciting new (and top-secret) Polartec innovations. The group has put those fabrics through the proverbial ringer, evaluating them for warmth, breathability, waterproofness and overall comfort. The athletes shared their opinions on their test garments and talked about what they would like to see in the next iteration of prototypes.

We can’t share exactly what innovations are coming from Polartec in the future, but based upon the enthusiasm at the end of the Athlete Advisory Board meeting, we can assure you that there are some really exciting, ground-breaking fabrics in the pipeline.

This month, Sari appears in Outside magazine as one of the “Mutants Next Door”- real people with families and jobs competing at the elite level and (trying to) make it all work.

The article, on newsstands now with Stephen Colbert on the cover, goes on to say that Sari “has a knack for finding her way to the podium. In January, Sari placed second in the Ski Mountaineering U.S National Championships. She also won the coed duo category of the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race in 2010 and mopped up a field of pros at the 2008 Mountain Bike Marathon. She also won the 2009 Teva Mountain Games Ultimate Mountain Challenge and the 2008 XTerra World Championship. Thats all the more impressive considering the 32 year old juggles her training and part time office job with a full-time job raising 2 kids with her husband, Ian.”

Check out Sari’s blog post discussing the interview, photo shoot and how it feels to be called a mutant.

Nick, with his mutant tele skills, decided to climb Colorado’s Pyramid Peak (14,018ft) this weekend, and posted some pictures of the epic ascent. Not a bad Saturday morning.

Sari and her race partner Pete Gaston happy to be home in Aspen

The Elk Mountains Grand Traverse is a 40-mile backcountry ski race that starts at midnight in Crested Butte and finishes in Aspen, CO. When it comes to fabrics and layering, there’s no better test for warmth, weather protection and breathabilty. Every year racers invariably have to contend with sub-freezing temperatures, howling winds and whiteout snow conditions, combined with brutally long, sweaty climbs followed by bone-chilling descents.

This past weekend, Polartec Athlete Advisory Board member, Sari Anderson made history at the race, finishing as one of two women on the podium for the first time in the event’s 14-year history. Sari is a professional adventure racer, mountain biker and ski mountaineer and this year’s race put all her skills to the test. You can read her full race recap here, but the condensed version is that she raced super-strong – breaking trail through over a foot of fresh snow for the lead teams for miles on end. She and her partner finished in third place overall, in just over nine hours.

One thing Sari didn’t have to worry about at this year’s race was her layering system. Here’s an excerpt from her race report:

Sari breaking trail along Richmond Ridge

Overall, my set-up performed beautifully, but there were a couple of standouts. First of all, I wore an awesome new jacket from Patagonia called the Knifeblade. It’s a minimalistic, anorak-style jacket made from Polartec Power Shield Pro – essentially a lightweight pullover softshell. While I watched almost everyone in the race shed layers on the climbs and then layer up for the descents, I never took the Knifeblade off. It kept me warm and completely dry while it snowed for the first few hours of the race, but breathed well enough so I didn’t overheat once the sun finally came out. Full disclosure – I’m on the Polartec Athlete Advisory Board – but this truly was the best aerobic outerlayer I’ve ever tried.

Another truly impressive bit of gear for this race were my gloves. My friend Doug Heinrich, the glove product director at Black Diamond, sent me a pair of Impulse gloves (made from Polartec Power Shield) to try and they were awesome. I wore them the entire race and my hands never got too hot nor cold.

Congratulations to Sari!

The Patagonia Knifeblade jacket, available in August 2011.

Sari with her daughter at the finish line.

We also just finished this video about Power Shield Pro, which features our Athlete Advisory Board Members Sari Anderson, Kelly Cordes and Nick DeVore. It provides a great description of how the fabric was developed and how it performs.

Running the 4-miles and 1,500 feet up to our house.

It is finally feeling like winter and this weekend reminded me why I love Colorado so much. I spent much of my weekend teaching Juniper how to ski which has been one of the most fun and rewarding things I have done in a long time. The kid truly loves it and is able to ski all alone down short beginner slopes. Watching her learn and have so much fun is such an amazing experience as a mother.

Mixed in with the skiing, I was able to get out for a run and a skin to test out a new Polartec fabric. So far I have been very impressed and am excited to get out more to continue to put it to the test.

I continue to feel well and fit even as I’m at five and a half months pregnant. It’s a relief to be able to get out to clear my mind and do what I love.

Elinor, Sari & Wendy ready to skin in some fresh snow!