First Person: The Five Peaks Race

Beautiful views helped ease the pain of a punishing course. Photo by Kate Lapides

Randonee racer Bryan Wickenhauser reports on the first Five Peaks ski mountaineering race in the Ten Mile Range above Breckenridge—a monster course that gained 10,000 vertical feet. Thirty-five teams of two braved the challenge on April 10; see the Five Peaks website for full results and links to photos. Here’s Wick’s report:

The inaugural Five Peaks race lived up to its hype as North America’s longest ski mountaineering race, with 10,000 feet of vertical and five separate ascents behind and in the Breckenridge ski resort. My teammate for the race was my fellow Team Crested Butte member Jon Brown. We’ve both been racing in the COSMIC Series for the last four years, and we train all the time together—perfect partners!

The weather going into Friday night called for temps bottoming out at 20°F with light winds for Saturday and sunny skies. Really a perfect forecast for an April ski mountaineering event. The start was classic Alpine at 6 a.m., so we awoke at 4:30 a.m. to get our breakfast on and have time for a brief warm up at gear check.

The start was at the base of Peak 9 at about 9,600 feet, and our first summit would be Peak 10, about 4,000 feet higher! We skinned our way up some mellow groomed runs to the top of the ski area, where we continued though a backcountry gate. Now we began to get into more technical skinning, as we were above tree line and the winds had taken most of the loose snow and deposited it elsewhere (like hopefully on the descents). … Continue Reading

New Ultra Slated for Grand Mesa

Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim? Nope. It's the course profile for the new Grand Mesa 100.

The Grand Mesa 100 is a brand-new trail ultra-marathon set for July 24-25,  with 37.5, 50, and 100-mile distances. The races will start at Grand Mesa Lodge, a few miles north of Cedaredge, and will loop around the gorgeous high-altitude plateau. Actually, the 100-mile course will dive off the plateau in mid-race, with a unique and challenging 4,100-foot plunge down the Kannah Creek Trail and return climb along the brutal Switchback Trail, gaining over 4,000 feet in 5.5 miles. … Continue Reading

Beaver Creek Snowshoe Results

Josiah Middaugh and Keri Nelson won the men’s and women’s 10K at the Jeremy Wright North American Snowshoe Championships in Beaver Creek on Sunday. Middaugh, who won the U.S. championships in New York the day before (yes, it’s confusing), smoked the 10K course in 47:45. Simon Escorcia and Kelly Escorcia took the 5K titles. More than 300 people entered the various races.

Video courtesy of RunColo.com.

More results after the jump. … Continue Reading

20 Laps Wins Sunlight Endurance Test

1,500 vertical feet X 20 laps = ouch.

Michael Hagen completed an even 20 laps of the one-mile, 1,500-vertical-foot course at the Endurance Challenge at Sunlight Mountain, a  12-hour suffer-fest at the ski resort near Glenwood Springs. Hagen needed 11 hours 43 minutes to wrap up his 30,000-vertical-foot workout on February 28.

Meanwhile, Eva Hagen won the women’s solo division with 15 laps, or ca. 22,500 vertical feet. Not a bad day out for the husband and wife from Colorado Springs, each of whom won $2,000 for their victories. Competing as a team, the Hagens placed third in the duo category at the 24 Hours of Sunlight in 2009. … Continue Reading

Middaugh, Ortiz Win Vail Winter Uphill

Courtesy of Vail Athletic Club

Josiah Middaugh of Edwards won the Vail Winter Uphill race, posting a time of 37:42 for the two-mile, 2,000-vertical-foot course. Middaugh, a top-ranked off-road triathlon racer and past national champion in snowshoeing, had knee surgery in early November and obviously is doing well in recovery. Anita Ortiz, a multi-time national mountain running champion, was the fastest woman up the course, finishing in fourth overall with a time of 42:30. Ortiz was last year’s USATF ultra runner of the year in the master’s division.

Click here to see all the results (box in lower left of the page) and photos from the Vail Winter Uphill.