Climbing to the top

April 24, 2005

DARRELL L. BREESE/Frontiersman

PALMER - The challenge and adventure of riding a snowmobile in the mountains around the Mat-Su Valley is enough to satisfy most enthusiasts. Simply touring the trails in Hatcher Pass or tackling some of the hundreds of miles on local trails is plenty for those experienced astride a machine. But for 15-year old Mike Mobley, of Palmer, the local riding opportunities lacked the thrill of competition.

So in January, he joined his father on a three month journey to the Lower 48 to experience the hills, trails and racing in the Rocky Mountains. When Mobley returned home earlier this month, he brought with him the World Championship Hill Climb junior title.

Competing for the first time in the annual event held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Mobley became the first Alaskan to be crowned world hill-climbing champion.

Riding on a Polaris 600 RMK, Mobley but together the fastest combined time after two runs on Snow King Mountain race course, which rises 1,500 vertical feet and steepens to nearly a 45-degree angle at the summit.

"I was two seconds back after the first run," he explained. "On the second, I was the only racer to improve his time because the course was all chewed up. I just gunned it and held on."

Returning to the pits after his second run, he saw his father shaking his head with a disappointed look on his face.

"I thought I didn't win for a second," he continued. "Then dad started to smile and I knew I won."

Few of the competitors in the open race found their way to the icy summit, and those who failed often tumbled with their sleds several hundred feet downhill. While Mobley and the rest of the junior racers competed on a shortened course, he was confident he could have reached the summit given the chance.

"Less than a quarter of the guys made it to the top," he said. "I like to think I could've made it on my last run. The sled really hooked up, and I was cruising when I had to stop."

Not one to rest on his championship laurels, Mobley competed in the Valdez Hill Cross last weekend and entered the Alyeska Hill Climb this weekend.

In Valdez he competed in the 800 and open modified divisions, crashing in one and winning the other.

"I went down hard in the 800," he explained. "I got tossed from the sled and was even knocked out for a little while. But I came back later in the day to win the open race."