22.3.2019

THE STORY OF JOSEF RAKONCAJ: HIS WOODEN SKI PREMIERE

Josef Rakoncaj was born in 1951. He is one of the most successful Czech mountaineers, a survivor of the 1983 brutal bivouac at 8550 meters on the world’s second tallest mountain – the K2. He first participated in the “Jizerská padesátka” event as a 17 year-old. His best time was 3:01:21 in 1989.

“I have always had the worst time in the slope above Smědava, where the track already starts turning back. I would typically get a dellirium of sorts when climbing the steep hang...”

With a hint of nostalgia in his face, Josef Rakoncaj, one of the best Czech mountaineers in history, makes quite an accurate reminiscence of his first Jizerská padesátka in 1969; participating in the second season of the event as a 17 year-old, he placed 21st in the mountaineer category. Back then, he was using the wooden “Favorits”, which he had to treat with the Skare lubricant in order to prevent the skid from absorbing water.

He considers himself more on the average side among cross-country skiers, perhaps he had never been very passionate about the thin planks. For him, cross country skiing has always been more about preparation for climbing mountains and snow-covered icy walls.

“I had turned up for the race about eight times. Looking back, i remember things like roads from Jablonec and Liberec up to Bedřichov being completely jammed on Sunday mornings,” he recalls.

“We used to sleep over at our friends’ places somewhere near the starting point to make sure we even make it in time. There was even a dilemma during the first couple of seasons about whether the race should or shouldn’t be for mountaineers exclusively. But even our category ended in 1976.” 

Although Rakoncaj never had real ambitions to reach the winner’s podium, he would always get anxious prior to the start. “I used to be quite a nervous wreck,” he admits. “One had to set a decent tempo right off the bat, since the audience was putting out a little bit of a mob mentality vibe, and the starting pistol was making one hell of a thunder across the field of Hrabětice...”

In search for his motivation, he would also engage in various bets with his fellow mountaineers...

“It was mostly with Mirek Šmíd or Honza Krch, guys from my own mountaineering team; we used to bet each other a bottle of Champagne and shit like that,” said the now 65 year-old veteran mountaineer, who had stood at the peak of the infamous K2 twice in his career, with amusement.

“I have always had the worst time in the slope above Smědava, where the track already starts turning back. I would typically get a dellirium of sorts when climbing the steep hang... Moreover, the track used to lead all the way to Pytlácké kameny, so this particular “fifty” would sometimes measure up to somewhere around 65 kilometres...”

It was actually at Smědava where one day finally one of his friends helped him modify his skids, putting an end to Rakoncaj’s suffering.

“The snow began to freeze onto the skids and i just couldn’t move at all. At Smědava, one of my friends was standing at the track and saw me struggle. He yelled at me to stop. I took my ski off, he whipped out some of his waxes, we re-did the skids and everything was a-okay all the way to the finish.”

In the early 80’s, however, Rakoncaj stopped wearing his starting number in Bedřichov. His cross-country ski racing hat to step down as he was becoming a real high-flyer among the great mountaineers.

“We used to have boot camps in High Tatra mountains every three weeks, so there was no time for cross-country skiing all of a sudden,” he explains. He is not considering a return to the track: “I wouldn’t even finish the race to begin with now,” he laughs. “For this kind of track, you need to be warmed up real good... Although it is true that in some seasons with lack of snow, I would turn up for the race with as little as fifty kilometres in my legs... Nowadays, I prefer to just have a little trip somewhere around Turnov. One track is quite near my house, so I go there when the weather is good.”

The story is from the book “Jizerská 50: Závod plný příběhů”, which you can purchase at Albatros Media.