Alyeska Climbathon Race Report

Looking down the tram line to the hotel and start.That’s a wrap, folks. My first competitive mountain running season is officially over. I went big at the end, too. As you know, if you read my previous post on the race, the Alyeska Climbathon took place last weekend - up the North Face trail and down the tram as many times in 10 hours. I was dreading it. Mainly because I knew there was going to be unpleasantness at some point during the day. Not the usual anaerobic discomfort but the kind of pain that comes only on long outings. This one didn’t disappoint.

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Climbathon Recon

5 rounds of fun.The big beat down of the year looms less than a week away. The Alyeska Climbathon takes place next Saturday, September 8. Starting at the base of the Alyeska tram, competitors will ascend the 2,000 vertical feet of the North Face hiking trail as many times as possible between 9am and 7pm. The descent will be via the tram which will be running a 10 minute schedule. Last years winner finished 12 laps for a total of over 24,000 vertical feet and about 26 miles of hiking, all uphill. 

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Alyeska Classic Mountain Run

The view from the Alyeska tramThe final race of the Alaska Mountain Runners Grand Prix series happened this past Saturday with the Alyeska Classic Mountain Run. The shortest of all the events on the calendar, it involved 2,100 vertical feet up a 2.2 mile mix of cat roads and short single track sections to the top of the resort's tram. The race also served as a fund raiser for Matt Kenney who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury during a fall at this year's Mount Marathon race. All proceeds from the event go toward his daunting medical bills.

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Murder Traverse

South Suicide (R) and North Suicide Peaks (L) Although I've had a good time sniffing around the Chugach on my own and finding fun objectives that regularly kick my ass, local beta is helpful for finding cool stuff. A new friend of mine who's been around awhile and regularly gets after it with equally ambitious characters gave me a fun idea recently that I completed a couple of weeks ago.

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Matanuska Peak Challenge Race Report

Matanuska Peak (L) from Lazy Mountain in the fall"The best race pace is a suicide pace and today is a good day to die."

- Steve Prefontaine

I've been waiting for the Matanuska Peak Challenge mountain running race all season. It's unique in our series of mountain races up here in that it's long and hard. Most of our races, aside from the more typical trail races, are uphill affairs and generally under an hour. So, Mat Peak is special since the winners come in around 3 hours and the vertical gain is nearly 9,000 feet. Additionally, it doesn't end at the top. Nine thousand feet of descending greet competitors before the finish. The event requires attention to both smart pacing and nutrition/hydration, concerns absent in shorter events. I love these aspects of the game.

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