Following is a chrono-blog of yesterday’s Sunlight Endurance Challenge 12 hour up/down ski race. Start with the bottom section and read up.
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Done, Hagen just passed through and is on his 20th lap for the overall solo win. Eva Hagen will take women’s solo with 15 laps.
12 hr format was nice. I liked 24 because it was so brutal, but a bit less brutality is perhaps a good thing. For example, contenders didn’t end up in the hospital, and doing support was much much easier than keeping it going for a full 24. On the other hand, 24 is just so terrific as a truly challenging athletic event, deep down I hope it comes back.
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Evening update: Polly is done with her attempt at women’s solo, 10 laps. Eva Hagen leads the ladies, with 13 laps. She says she’s from Austria, living in Colorado. Why am I not surprised? Michael Hagen leads the men solo, Eva and Michael are spouses. Billy Laird still second solo. 1 1/2 hours to go.
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Afternoon update: It’s too bad the realtime results are not online the way they used to be during the 24 Hrs years. I know many of you out in blogland used to enjoy watching those and reading the chrnoblog. Oh well, perhaps next year.
Hagen is still schooling the other guys, with Billy Laird on his tail. Polly is 5th solo woman and a podium for her will only happen if someone ahead of her for some reason has to stop racing. She’s tough and could go the distance, but. So she’s trying to strategize how much she want’s to suffer for the next 3 hours. Glenwood Hot Springs is tempting.
Billy Laird is chasing Hagen, we're calling Billy the pit bull.
Socks drying in the daylodge -- yet another use for duct tape. Looks and smells like a refuge camp in here.
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The famed 24 hours of Sunlight up/down ski race morphed this year into a 12 hour sprint they’re calling the Sunlight Endurance Challenge (defunct link removed 2015). The scene here today is much similar to previous years. Lisa is here supporting Polly Samuels McLean, I’m blogging and helping a bit with support. Daylodge full of camped out support folks and racers, staging area outside with support tables and the timing tent. Spirited competitors and their helpers running through the tent, swapping gear, then starting their next march up the hill, and their next, and so on. Let’s just say most of these guys put their music players to good use. A few photos, and I’ll update later.
Michael Hagen leads at the moment (around noon), he's x Army Green Beret, in his 40s, seems like his mission is to keep the younger guys moving.
Brian Johnson is our perennial favorite, he was one off the podium last time I looked. He'd be first or second, but took a beater fall on one of his laps. According to Brian 'I hit some soft snow and did a Bode.'
Outside staging area.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
