Wednesday, June 13, 2007

not good...

As if I wasn't gonna have enough problems on Saturday, here's the latest updates from the course:

6/10/07 Three experienced ultrarunners tackled the course from Alpine Gulch to Slum yesterday. Again, they said Alpine Gulch snowfields are larger than usual, and you should be comfortable traversing steep snow slopes. The divide section has major snowfields which the runners postholed through and made for slow progress. We will be sending crews up for trail maintenance this week, but be assured the course will be wet, snowy, and slow. We cannot rule out course changes or alterations until later in the week as we see how much snow melts.

6/9/07 Crews on the Alpine to Williams section this morning note the following: swift water in Alpine Creek, many downed trees to climb over, and lots of snow up high. In particular, the snowfield ascent just above the Alpine Aid Station was difficult crossing, with hard snow and a steep grade. Runners may consider carrying something to assist snow crossing and which can also be used to arrest a slide.

6/8/07 Lots of snow on the course! Be prepared for wet conditions, snowfield crossings, and high water in Alpine Gulch. We will have the one steep, snow covered descent on the divide roped, but there will be other challenging snowfields to be crossed.You should be comfortable ascending and traversing spring snowfields. We're expecting warmer temperatures in the next week, and will update this page with course conditions. We have three runners who will attempt to run the complete course this weekend, and we'll post their findings.

2 comments:

Lulu said...

Drink for whining.

Catwoman said...

That sucks. Take walking poles. Mine were invaluable when we were backpacking last year and had to cross a steep sloping snow field - even DH took one of them!!

Or you could stay here where it will be 85 and do the Sailn' Shoes 10k!!

Good luck!