The "Peak to Peak 125" is a group ultra-hike over some high altitude terrain in the mountains of Colorado. It follows the Continental Divide for part of the course and summits many 12,000 and 13,000 ft peaks. I volunteered to act as an assistant guide for the second half of the course because I was familiar with it after training with the race director (Ulli Kamm) last year and over the summer this year. This was to be my longest effort yet, about 65 miles, 17,000 feet elevation gain, over 36 hours.

I did not participate in the first half of the event but the hikers experienced heavy wind, rain, and snow the first night. An early September snowstorm had moved into the mountains to greet them. It was a very tough night for them, but they arrived on time at Loveland Pass where I was waiting for them.

We traveled from Loveland Pass along the Continental Divide. Although it was clear, the wind was really howling at 12,000+ feet. The ground was covered with about 3 to 6 inches of snow which made for interesting walking over the covered rocks. After several hours we left the divide and traveled down into Bobtail Creek Valley. What a contrast, the wind died down and the snow disappeared as we descended to the aid station at the bottom of Jones Pass. We were greeted by the best traveling aid station I have ever seen. Happy volunteers with a camping trailer complete with a heater and hot food. We ate and rested for about a half an hour.

The climb up to Jones Pass was uneventful, just a simple hike up the road; about 2000 feet in 2.7 miles. At the top of the pass we paused briefly at the traveling aid station and decided to alter the course and hike down the pass before climbing over Stanley Mountain. The original course had us
taking the divide to Stanley Mountain but the wind and visibility were not the best. Both options included about the same distance and climb. So we hiked down the road to the Henderson Mine to the next aid station stop.

After eating and changing socks, we started the climb up Stanley Mountain. It was now dark but clear. The weather report was calling for another 4 to 8 inches of snow overnight so we knew it was coming. Light snow started to fall around tree line but was not too bad yet so we continued on. The
blizzard hit right as we reached the summit of Stanley Mountain. Visibility went down to a few feet in the horizontal snow. We had two options, continue along the exposed ridge to Berthoud Pass in high wind and no visibility or back track. We decided the safest option was to back track. So
we took a compass bearing and started descending. The wind died down the lower we got and was very light by the time we made it back to the trees. Another couple of hours we were back at Henderson Mine. However, our traveling aid station was waiting for us on Berthoud Pass. So we started hiking down the Jones Pass road to US-40 which we intended to take up to Berthoud Pass. A passing car took pity on us and deposited us on Berthoud Pass. I would not have taken the ride, but we were now two hours late and we knew our crew would be very worried. It only saved us a couple of miles anyway. After greeting the worried crew, we waited for a couple of hours in the trailer to see what weather dawn would bring.

It was still snowing when daylight came, but the wind had died down. We decided to continue on, but to shorten the course due to the deep snow that now covered everything above 10,000 feet. It continued to snow as we left Berthoud Pass. The course took us up past Colorado Mines Peak and on over Mt. Flora. From there we descended past Breckenridge Peak. This was a very tough section as there was about a foot of snow covering loose talus. Every step had to be carefully placed to avoid breaking an ankle or leg. We eventually made it to a series of 4WD roads, which we followed into Empire and then Georgetown to finish.

The full course participant (Ulli Kamm) traveled 107 miles in 57 hours. I traveled 49 miles in 31 hours. Klaus-Dieter Muttke traveled 94 miles before stopping at Berthoud Pass. Jon Engelstad covered 28 miles. Although we did not travel the full course, considering the conditions I think that the effort level was the same.

The event organization was fantastic. Ulli spent countless hours planning and scouting the course over the past two years. A very special thanks to Traudl and Carl for the traveling aid station that kept us warm and fed. We could not have done it without you.

Tim Erickson, Littleton, CO