2010 highlight reel: Loma Loma

Here we come to the end of the season, and it's time to look back and remember the highlights of the year that has gone by. So we have for your viewing pleasure a trail by trail highlight reel.

First up is the loma loma trail, a flowing 16 km ridge roll. This is most people's introduction to Sorata style freeride. As I tell the tourists, there's steep sections, technical sections, exposed sections, and steep, technical and exposed sections. Jokes aside, this is a sweet ride with lot's of flowing ridge and nice trails. 

Here we have the opening turns from the drop off point at 4,350 mts. 

After a bit of a cross country traverse, we return to the rolling ridge with some nice natural features. 

Ben boosts a bump on the road with the glorious backdrop of the mighty Illampu massif,

then chases himself on down the ridge.

More spectacular scenery as Anna points it.

bueno pues, to be continued..

Doble Avalancha 2010 day two

Welcome to the start line for day two of the Doble Avalancha, the annual mass start downhill race in Sorata Bolivia. Being a 2 day stage race, the times from the 2 runs are combined to decide the winner of Jacha Avalancha.  In the local Aymara language that means grande. After day one, Pedro Ticona had a 2 minute margin to his favor. Anything can happen though on the 20 kilometer Paso Chuchu course, with over 2,000 mts of downhill as well as a sprinting section and some steep climbs.

  

A train of ten fully loaded Land Cruisers delivered the racers up to the barren moonscape of the 4,800 mt. “aeropuerto,” surrounded by massive mountains of scree. The anticipation of the imminent two wheeled stampede made for an electric atmosphere that was surely heightened by the dizzying effects of altitude.

   

Lining up below the launching pad, the riders once again gave the shout and charged up the rise to their bikes and proceeded to drop the massive descent that would take the faster riders just under an hour to reach the plaza of Sorata. Spreading out across the slope, it was every rider for himself.  

Ben dropped into a sneaky left hand line on the scree, with Andy leading the rest of the pack to the outer right entrance of the funnel shaped slope that would be a black run at any ski area. Though wide at the top, it all leads into a one lane runout at the bottom.  The racers have to battle it out elbow to elbow to hit that track. Coming in from the left Ben won the test of nerves and made it out of the scree ahead of the pack.

              

                

    

 

Ben proceeded to pin it down the bermed turns of the chocolate anaconda section we cut in, flying across freeride meadow and onto the jeep road for the 4 km sprinting traverse. Leaving the rest of the riders behind he arrived first to the ridge and the steep hike up to the start of the freeride funpark section of flowing ridges and grassy open slopes.  Here again Pedro got off line, getting to far to the right and into an area above a massive landslide where crevasses open up out of nowhere. He went flying over the bars and came down hard, but recovered quickly and returned to the chase.

   

    

        

       

From there Ben maintained his lead into the dwarf forest, a twisty trail through a lichen shrouded pocket of cloud vegetation that opens up into the fairway section of long gentle grassy slopes that allow for blistering speeds. Dropping into the village of Laripata, he continued to lead down the final 400 mts of descent on the technical path that descends alongside the farmers’ terraces of maize before popping out onto the road across a small valley from Sorata.

The end of the trail means the suffering begins, as it’s a hot and steep 15 minute climb to reach the village. The climb is a great equalizer, and typically decides it. This year was no different. Ben was in the lead, but Jubert and Pedro were not far behind, and they were looking to reel him in.  They were able to pass him on the first section of the climb, and the two riders representing La Paz and El Alto were locked in a dual to the finish. In the end it was Jubert who emerged victorious, descending the steps into the plaza and airing the stair gap to the finish line. Pedro came in about 20 seconds behind, with Ben rounding out the podium.

                                    

It was good to see Jubert, having paid his dues competing every year we’ve run the race, not to mention guiding hundreds of trips per year down the death road finally win one.  In the end, though, with his margin of two minutes from day one, it was Pedro Ticona who earned the title of Jacha for 2010.  

Doble Avalancha 2010 day one

This past 23rd and 24th of October saw the 6th running of the Jacha Avalancha, a massive mass start race down the two trails we've been working on here in Sorata.  This small town lies below two high passes at the base of the enormous Illampu massif, and is the freeride wonderland of the mighty Bolivian Andes.

                    

          

Saturday it began from the Cumbre, the pass on the road coming from La Paz.  Rising from the Altiplano and Lago Tititcaka one arrives to the pass that forms the south american continental divide, with high peaks and rolling ridges that drop off down the eastern slope and into the Amazon basin. A twisting two track climbs up from the paved highway, to the start of the course on a high ridge directly across a glacially carved valley from the 6400 mts peaks of Illampu and Ancohuma.

Smoothed over by successive waves of ancient glaciers, the ridge today has a hard packed surface with a bit of short grass, quite nice for carving down on two wheels. We used to just freeride the ridge, but a couple years back began cutting a track in to give it a bit more flow, with trails traversing around the bigger rollers on the ridge.  It is a classic ridge ride, with sections of sweet trail in there. Lots open freeride, technical trail sections and several short climbs make for a course with lots of passing oportunities, demanding the skills of a well rounded rider. 

The start is at 4270 mts, after 16 kilometers we come to the bottom of the canyon, at 2520 mts. A steep half k of climbing and you arrive thoroughly worked to the cheers of the crowd at the finish.  

This year it was held under sunny skies, with 50 of the most dedicated rippers in Bolivia competing for the title of the Jacha. When they had all assembled on the ridge, the group shouting of 3...2...1...Sorata!!!! was let loose and everybody  sprinted off down the ridge. New face Pedro Ticona of Team Mayhem took an early lead, with Mauricio Jordan, Jubert Guachalla, Pipo Hauser and Ben Mauze in the chase group.

Pedro's daily commute from outer El Alto into the center of La Paz and back paid off in the rolling knuckles section of the ridge, where one bombs down the ridge then has keep the speed up to carry momentum over the inevitable up. Mauricio was right there duking it out with him, biding his time for the long downhill section to come where he hoped his superior downhill prowess would give him enough of an advantage for the final climb out of the canyon. It was not to be. Though he was able to get ahead of Pedro, on the last hike a bike Pedro ran a straight line up the ridge "like a wild animal" and took the lead. He then proceeded to blaze the long descent ahead of the dh champ. When at last Mauri was able to catch up, Pedro dislodged a large square rock which double flatted his opponent. 

After finishing the downhill, negociating the minimalist bridge over the river and cruising up the climb, he arrived to the finish with a time of 45 and a half minutes. Second to the line was veteran Gravity guide Jubert Guachalla, finishing a solid run 2 minutes back. Third was Ben Mauze, riding for Andean Epics. Last year's winner Pipo Hauzer also flatted. For me, this was the first year of not competing (pesky shoulder separation some time back), but i was able to ride sweep, take some pictures and enjoy a nice afternoon with no mishap more than flat tires to report.

Part two coming soon.