Welcome to Ari’s Unofficial Birkie Guide. Before I get in to background, you can use the menu above to skip around to different sections of The Guide (mostly chronologic) or you can page through it step by step.

This page is the offshoot of a blog post in 2010 which I wrote the week before the Birkie because, well, no one else had. For the 2011 race I rehashed the post. Fasterskier, Skinnyski and Johnnyklister all linked to it (those are the big three ski sites, right?). After the race, I started this website to go through the statistics of the 2011 race in great detail (which I’ll do again this year). Since 2012, this page has contained everything from the old blog posts, and more. So get ready for the ride.

This Guide will have several sections:

• About the Race
• About the Guide
• Registration
• Training
• The Race: Before Race Day
• The Race: Getting to the Start
• The Race: Waves
• The Race: Feeds and Hydration
• The Race!
• After the Race
• Previous Coverage

It is meant to be read in succession, but you can skip around, too. And we take things here a bit lightheartedly. Remember, this is the unofficial Guide.