One of my main goals for 2018 was to finish a 100 kilometer trail race. I knew if I were to have any realistic aspirations of completing a 100-miler someday, the 100k distance would be a major and necessary stepping stone. And no local Colorado race seemed to fit the bill better than the Never Summer 100k up near Cameron Pass.
This year was the race’s 4th running, and as the years have passed it has continued to garner more attention and fill up earlier. And for good reason – the course is challenging and spectacular – “a mountain race in the truest sense of the term, with extended periods of high alpine ridge running, two alpine peaks, and five alpine lakes visited along the way”. Racking up 64 miles and over 13,000 ft of elevation gain through the Never Summer and Medicine Bow Mountains, it’s considered one of the tougher 100k races out there. Keep reading…
A few weekends back Rick and I headed into the Holy Cross Wilderness to tag a pair of 13ers on its northwestern edge – Gold Dust and “Pika Peak”. It turned out to be a fun day, with a neat traverse between the two peaks and a stop off at Lake Charles for a dip before heading into Eagle for some cold ones. We started out from the Fulford Cave Campground and followed the trail southeast up into the East Brush Creek drainage. Keep Reading…
Last week I motored over to the Elks with the goal of exploring the Conundrum Creek drainage south of Aspen. My plan was to summit Hunter Peak and then run the ridge south as far as I could. I wound up nabbing six 13ers along the way, finishing with “Triangle Peak” above Triangle Pass, then jogging back down the length of the drainage to the TH with a pit stop at the hot springs along the way. It was a really cool day out there and a fun way to finally see this area. Read more…
The 2018 running of the San Juan Solstice 50 was this past weekend, and I’m happy to say I made it through for a second finish without any major issues along the way. Things went smoothly for me in just about every category and I was able to improve on my time from last year by over an hour.
Our move to the Vail Valley, in addition to our lean snow year, had me trail running a lot more in place of backcountry skiing throughout the months of April and May. I was able to log six 20+ mile runs leading into the SJS, which included another go at the Dirty 30 in early-June and a fun morning climbing Grouse Mountain from the streets of Eagle-Vail. I was hopeful all the vert and miles on trails would translate to a better race in Lake City this go around. Keep reading…
