Kulshan Dispatch - MAY 13th 2026

The race is on in just three short days! Read up on all the details (I know there are a lot of them):

Snow Conditions:

Once again, Kulshan is making us work for it. We have had teams out every few days in the past two weeks assessing the snow conditions. Phil Straub, our Course Director and CMA guide, had a final evaluation yesterday and we are making the following course changes: 1) Eliminating the Park Butte Lookout portion of the course and instead 2) Sending teams higher onto the Easton Glacier and 3) utilizing the low mountain trail systems since they are predominantly melted out. The Short Course will add an ascent from Salad Bowl to the Squak CP, staying on the mid mountain and off the glaciers. Our new race course for both distances can be found below. Overall, we are excited about this change and the opportunity to explore new terrain on the Easton Glacier. It now makes a full loop with no repeated terrain! While this year has not given us the lower mountain snow we usually find, the mid and upper mountains are still in great shape (albeit about a month ahead of typical melt schedule; there are visible crevasses open). Our team has been able to not only flex, but in fact develop an even better course we may keep in future years.

A few details you might be wondering about:
- New Full Course is 16mi, 9,000’ gain (old Full 18mi, 10,000’ gain)
- New Short Course is 12mi, 5,500’ gain (old Short 8mi, 5,000’ gain)
- Teams will start in running shoes with skis/boots on pack, swap to boots at 4,400’, and carry shoes until the final descent, where shoes will go back on for more singletrack.
- Easton CP will have calories, but no water. No water on course until Feed Station at Salad Bowl CP (4,500’ cumulative gain). 2nd Feed Station at Squak CP.
- New cutoffs will be briefed at Friday Racer Meeting (est 9,000’ gain, 9hr overall Cutoff)

Weather Forecast:

BLUF: Not what we were hoping for. From Phil:

"We are looking at an unsettled and rapidly shifting mountain forecast through this weekend. Multiple weather systems will be moving through the region and bringing dynamic mountain conditions with heavy precipitation, poor visibility and strong winds expected. The course will likely see rain at lower elevations while the upper mountain picks up some notable new snow. The worst of the weather is expected to move through between early Friday and early Saturday.

"With this in mind, we are asking all checkpoint volunteers to travel to their stations on Saturday morning before the race starts. The conditions on Friday and overnight into Saturday will not be safe for sleeping on the mountain! We will be delaying the race start to allow for reasonable travel time allotments. Remember that this is a dynamic situation and that the final call on timing will be made on Friday evening at our Racer Meeting."

With no snowmobiles, we planned to have all CP volunteers move in Friday and camp. With blizzard like conditions peaking Friday into early morning Saturday, we have elected to delay CP infill until Saturday morning for volunteer safety. To both align with volunteer emplacement and clearing weather Saturday afternoon, we will delay the Race Start to 10:00am! You’re welcome for the extra sleep! With a little luck, we will have a pretty decent race day; but our setup crews tomorrow and Friday will beat the brunt of the storm.

Watch the Race Live

The race will be monitored with live GPS beacons on each racer, so you can watch virtually. We also plan to post some live streams through Instagram, so tune in midrace for the action.

Scholarship Team Spotlight: Sea to Sky Shenanigans

Team Sea to Sky Shenanigans living up to their name

Each year, SnowGoat Skimo and Cascade Mountain Ascents sponsors a team entry scholarship for one under represented team. Our goal is to bring the joy of Kulshan and ski mountaineering exploration to those who normally might not be able to attend. This year’s selection was team Sea to Sky Shenanigans, hailing from across the border in British Columbia. From Cathy, their fearless leader:

“We’re a Sea-to-Sky–based crew brought together by a shared love of mountains, movement, and big days out.

Cathy Sze (Squamish, born in BC) found skimo through early Cypress race nights and quickly got hooked on the mix of efficiency, challenge, and type-2 fun. As an Asian woman in a sport where representation can be limited, applying for this scholarship felt meaningful - both for accessibility and to help grow a more inclusive skimo community.

Julie Gourdeau (Squamish, originally from Quebec) is our resident skimo expert and the one who first got us excited about the Kulshan Randonnée. She’s drawn to the mountains for the sense of freedom, presence, and unpredictability they offer, and loves the efficiency and team aspect of skimo. Julie is also the kind of quietly strong crusher woman in the sport who inspires the people around her, especially Cathy, by being suspiciously fast while somehow still smiling.

Ralph Burden (Squamish, originally from the UK) brings a strong alpine background and usually prefers splitboarding, though he’s happy to click into skis for a special occasion. He jokingly claims he’s mostly here for the “Strava street cred” (despite deactivating his account), and has a habit of describing objectively massive missions as “pretty chill.”

Glen Healy (born and raised in West Vancouver, BC, now based in Vancouver for school) helped introduce Cathy to skimo through the Cypress race scene years ago and still brings the pace, positivity, and good vibes. He’s drawn to the mountains for the skiing, beautiful views, and community.

We applied because skimo is still a small and evolving sport, and the welcoming community around it has made a big impact on us. We’re especially excited about the Kulshan Randonnée because it’s the full package: glaciers, big mountains, efficient movement through complex terrain, and a huge day out with friends.”

Good luck to Sea to Sky and all the race teams!

North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Partnership

We are so delighted to announce that is the official artist of the 2026 Kulshan Randonnee is Jill Pelto! Jill and her father Mauri direct the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project, where Mauri has been studying the glaciers of Mount Baker every year since 1984. Jill, as both a scientist and an artist, weaves both together to produce artwork that showcases the science of glacial retreat. All racers and volunteers will receive a commemorative poster illustrated by Jill as part of their race gift. Even better, as part of our race briefings on Friday May 15th, we will hear more from the Jill about making art on Kulshan and watch the newest short film from the NCGCP.

This year our SnowGoat Kulshan course setting team is partnering with the NCGCP to install snow monitoring equipment to better understand how the mountain and our race course is changing, more on that soon. Two snow study stakes were installed along the race course as an additional data point during the NCGCP’s field days in August. Science, art and skimo together for the win!

Post Race Volunteer Appreciation Party
Wednesday, 7:30pm, May 20th, Kulshan Brewing Roosevelt (Bellingham)

Come relive the tales of adventure from the weekend with some post week refreshments, hosted by Kulshan Brewing! For any volunteer, your first round is on Dick! Racers are welcome too of course and are encouraged to buy volunteers a beer as well!

Gratitude

Throughout this entire venture, it has been my pleasure to work with such a great crew. This is our fourth year attempting this race, and every year we are thrown more curveballs than we can count. This year especially, with the low snowpack, and now the inclement weather race weekend (bookended by high pressure systems the week before and week after the race, come on!), we have had to continually adjust our plan over and over. But through it all, I am proud of the team’s effort to evaluate the situation, develop the best sound alternate, and go forward with smiles on all our faces. It truly is a joy to bring an event like this into creation to celebrate Kulshan, her people, and her stories. Gratitude to the team I am lucky enough to be able lead and to the racers who are able to come and have an experience like none other! See you in Concrete.