It’s official, “24 Hours of Sunlight” is going to happen! On February 10, 2006, skiing endurance racers from around the world will gather at Sunlight Ski Resort in Colorado to see how many vertical feet a human being can ski under their own power in 24 hours. I’ve been asked to help MC the race, and I’d like to participate in the rec team category as well (perhaps with a couple of families or something). But mainly I want to be there to see how many vertical feet Greg Hill can do in a day, without having to break trail. Also, there are some mighty uphillers in this area, many of whom are Olympic caliber athletes who’ve figured out how to do this stuff on nordic race gear. One wonders if the course at Ski Sunlight will have gnarly enough downhills to require real backcountry ski gear, or if it’ll favor racers who go nordic.
I’m disappointed that the Sunlight race is scheduled such that a sanctioned randonnee skimo race is being held the next day (Feb 11) in Crested Butte. I’d imagine any racers who are going for points in the rando race series will have a difficult time skiing for 24 hours straight at Sunlight, then getting over to Crested Butte a few hours later and going in a ski mountaineering race, but these folks are tough so who knows… Perhaps Greg Hill would relish skiing for 24 hours straight, then jumping in car for 4 hours of sleep while driving to CB, then competing in a rando race.
Please see historic 1st press release here.
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.
