Sunday, June 26, 2016

Old Gabe 50k race

With an 8 week internship in Bozeman for the summer, I knew I’d be running on the trails in the bridger range outside of town quite a bit.  Therefore it was kind of a no-brainer to sign up for old gabe.  Plus, it encompasses most of the things I love about running – steep (11,000 vertical), exclusively singletrack, and through beautiful terrain.  On top of all that, it’s a refreshingly low key race environment and one of the most affordable races around ($50 for 50k).  All in all, highly recommended.

After a quick check-in and warmup, we were off, a combined group of nearly 100 runners for both the 25k and 50k.  It was a little strange in the initial mix-up for the few minutes of passing and getting passed, not knowing whether your fellow runners were in it for the long haul (50k) or doing the 25.  I tried to ignore it and just stick to a fairly easy pace for the initial 4mile climb.  I topped out feeling great and dropped into the snow and mud of the N facing terrain of the bostwicks.  Two muddy descents and 2 short climbs put me atop truman gulch where a newly re-routed trail apparently added a half-mile to the course (each way) which I cruised down to the truman aid station (9mi).
looking N at the course across the bostwicks a week before the race on an excellent saddle
peak to baldy mountain loop from middle cottonwood
A few minutes shy of 2 hours, I was right where I wanted to be and scarfed down some food and refilled water before starting the long climb back up Truman.  It was fun to see and cheer on fellow runners on the out-and-back format.  I set a goal of passing 5 people on this 5mile climb and succeeded, passing my 6th on the snow just before the top with a big smile on my face, thoroughly enjoying the steep climbs and beautiful morning thus far.  I tried to cruise the big 4mile descent back to middle cottonwood without beating up the legs too much.

Jeffrey was hanging out (having done the 25k) and was nice enough to refill my bottles (thanks!) as I ate some food.  I soon exited, feeling great and ready to tackle the latter “half” of the course (the sypes portion is a few miles shorter than the truman “half”).  The sun was glaring and the heat would clearly be a factor for the remainder of the race.  I soaked my buff at the creek crossing for sypes (and all future creeks) to try to combat the heat.  I set a goal of catching 3 people on the sypes climb but only managed to reel-in and pass 2 runners before making the 3mile descent to the sypes aid (25mi).  I was feeling okay, positioned slightly behind 2 runners and anxious to give chase.  In retrospect I should have eaten more here but exited quickly. 
upper middle cottonwood drainage from the highpoint of the course (same vantage point as the prior photo)
The legs were feeling heavy on the climb back up sypes and I had to walk a good bit of runnable terrain but was otherwise moving well (I passed one runner on this climb but was unable to catch christi richards who would go on to beat the women's course record).   At the sypes/foothill junction as the trail turned downhill and with about 4miles to go, I tried to really pick up the pace but out-of-the-blue, my right hamstring cramped severely, forcing me to drop to the trail on all fours in agony.  I was able to slowly stretch and walk it off but despite the downhill grade, running wasn’t happening and I scampered along as best I could.  The final climb of the course soon began (I call it heartbreak hill), and I was moving well til my quads began to cramp, again forcing me to stretch and really slow the pace.  I couldn’t help but frequently glance at my watch, knowing my sub 7-hour goal was quickly slipping away with this new stretch and hobble pace.  I eventually crested the top of the climb, leaving a little over 2 miles of downhill trail to the finish.  The cramping only allowed walking for a few minutes but finally resided to a point where I was able to run at a moderate pace the last 1.5 miles to the finish.  Done in 7:06 for 7th place. 

Rose: beautiful morning and pure enjoyment of the truman “half” of the course
Thorn: 2miles of major cramping and hobbling along near the end
Bud: I’d considered the HURL elkhorn 50miler in august but am excited to instead be focusing on my endless list of mountain adventures for the remainder of the summer before toeing the line at the RUT 50k in September

Thoughts: I was disappointed to have not broken 7 hours and the rough 2miles of cramping near the end but otherwise I had a great race.  Hanging out at the finish chatting with the 6 prior finishers and race directors was fun and a great example of how friendly and low-key this race is.  Don’t skimp on fueling, particularly in the last quarter of a race.

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Crazy Peak skiing

A combination of final exams, a week in colorado, weather, and moving to bozeman for my summer internship have limited the “blog worthy” outings lately.  Plenty of 3-4 hour runs but no real full-day mountain adventures. 
top of the crazy couloir
However just as the calendar turned to June and I thought I might be done skiing for the year, the stars aligned for a high pressure system to coincide with an unexpected 3-day weekend.  After weighing a number of options, I decided to head to the Crazy mountains, excited to explore a new range.
looking NW from atop crazy peak
After a great night of sleep at the half moon campground, I hit the trail slightly before first light (should have been earlier but without a partner, its easy to hit snooze a few times).  I left the trail at the 2nd bridge and cruised through some easy bushwhacking to the basin below crazy peak’s N face.  After stashing my shoes and putting on boots/crampons, I climbed the N face directly.  A shallow overnight freeze made for fairly slow and frustrating climbing conditions. 

From the lower N summit, a short downclimb put me atop the crazy couloir.  Having not skied in a few weeks, the steep and narrow jump-turns demanded my utmost attention.  After just a few turns, the couloir opened to a wide apron, which was disappointing since I was expecting the steep angle and soaring rock walls of the upper couloir to last for most of the run. 
crazy couloir's apron on R, moderate run I ascended on L
nice E-facing run I ascended above hidden lake
SE ridge.  all the rocky walking/scrambling today did some damage to my DyNA EVO race boots.
nothing major but also not sustainable for future use on rocky terrain.  
Despite not yet being 9am, the temps were already soaring so I skied slush down to hidden lake for a water refill.  I then skinned the prominent E-facing run looker’s L of the couloir to gain the SE ridge before scrambling a few hundred feet to the higher S summit.  I took an extended break on top to eat, relax and dry my socks and liners in the sun.  Next up was the S bowl, which held good corn up top followed by slushy skiing for over 2000ft til I ran out of snow, slightly above the unnamed lake downstream from crazy lake. 
a group of skier's on the lower N summit, directly above the snowy chimney you down climb to access the saddle 
S bowl down to unnamed lake.  a portion of crazy lake is visible on far right

such a sad sight...
The skin back up the S bowl was a real scorcher and a slow grind but I persevered.  From the summit, I was little worried about figuring out how to scramble down the broken, rocky terrain to the saddle between the summits but fortunately I found some old mountain goat tracks in the occasional snow patches which helped show me the way.  Once in the saddle, I could see the W couloir became more rock than snow after a mere few hundred feet so I was denied my goal of a 4x4 tour (ski 4 runs on the 4 aspects).  Instead I scrambled up to the N summit where I again took an extended break to dry out my socks and liners before dropping in to the N face. 
W couloir.  note all the rocks 
higher S summit from the north.  note the bootprints to traverse around the rocky tower
dropping in to the N face 
Relying on my memory from the morning’s climb, I was able to forge a route down the rocky upper portion of the face before skiing 2000+ ft. of slush down to my shoes.  A ribbon of snow in the runout zone of the N face provided a nice ski egress before a short jaunt through the woods (mostly skiing) brought me to the trail.  Given it was early June, I was pretty stoked to able to ski to within a 1000 vert of the trailhead.
rocky upper portion of the N face
a lean N face of crazy peak
Less snow coverage in the range than I had hoped for and the super warm temps. prompted me to bail on more skiing the following day and instead head back to bozeman to spend the remainder of the weekend relaxing and running.

Stats:  just shy of 9k in 10.5 hours car-car

Rose: despite the heat, an all-around great day exploring the high point of a new range on skis
Thorn: with non-ski plans in place for the next 2 weekends, my ski season is most likely over…always a tough pill to shallow
Bud: running and climbing adventures in the high country for the next few months!

Thoughts: the scrambling between the 2 summits is slow and non-trivial, there appears to be an abundance of great looking ski terrain in the Crazies, a return trip is certainly warranted ideally in early spring once you could drive within a mile or 2 of the trailhead