In early-August I headed down to the San Juans to join my friend Sarah Boyum at the Silverton Ultramarathon, likely to be my last ultra race of the summer. It wound up going well for both of us despite being one of the more challenging courses either of us have run to date. The Silverton Ultramarathon (SUM) is the second race of the year put on by race director Megan Finnesy (the first of course being the Dirty 30 in June). Keep reading…
To cap off the month of July Steve and I headed over to the Elks and climbed a few peaks up the Capitol Creek drainage – Clark Peak and Mt. Daly. It’d been 9 years since either of us had been in there to climb Capitol Peak, so we were both excited to revisit an old friend as well as make some new ones. Thanks to the day’s near-perfect weather and some opportune glissades we were able to link up both summits in just under 13 hours from the car. Keep reading…
On Saturday, July 6th I motored over to Leadville and ran in the 12th annual Silver Rush 50; a 50-mile trail race offered by the Leadville Race Series that takes place every summer. Things went well and it was a good day out for the most part. I was happy to get another 50-miler under my belt and check out another classic Colorado ultra that also happens to be close to home.
Truth be told I didn’t sign up for the Silver Rush until after the San Juan Solstice 50 was cancelled in May. Those of us on the SJS50 runners list kept our fingers crossed but as the spring wore on, it became clear that there was simply too much snow, avalanche debris, and flood potential around Lake City to make the mountain race viable in late-June. The race director was forced to call it and allowed runners to bypass the lottery and defer their entry to next year, which was an option I was happy to take. Keep reading…
“Ya know, next time we could always try something a little easier…” That was Josh’s assessment after a winter outing on Longs Peak last year. That was the last time we got out together, and he was right. It seems like just about every time we climb together it’s via a route that is a mini-epic. But with some afternoon commitments looming on this particular Saturday, plus both of us eager to take his advice, we settled on a close, quick objective near Denver for our Saturday tour. Keep Reading…