“Peak to Peak 60/125”

September 6-8, 2001

by Ulrich Kamm

At the briefing Wednesday evening we talked about a cold front moving into our area the next day. But what we got was much more than “just a cold front”.

We were 4 starters for this very extreme event: Jon Engelstad for the first 60 miles, Tim Erickson as an assistant guide for the “last” 65 miles, Klaus Dieter Muttke from Germany and myself for the full distance.

In the organization were Traudl, responsible overall for aid stations and support, Carl, who met us several times – his little trailer (“Carl’s Castle") was heaven on earth under severe weather conditions, Tim and myself.

The concept of staying together as a group during an ultra is not very popular in the USA. Of course, as long as it is obvious where to go, also in a group-fast-hike like ours, someone can be ahead or fall back somewhat. But the route is not marked and the moving aid station is just open for a certain period of time. This group-concept provides more safety for participants, enables course and schedule changes in extreme situations and is more fun. As a disadvantage it is quite often seen, that you have to adjust your speed to the group, respectively to a predefined schedule.

Because of the special nature of this event, with a total climb of 33,115 ft., an average altitude of 11,500 ft. and 62 hours duration without sleep, a very high qualification standard was set for entries. In addition crews were mandatory. Looking back and seeing the seriousness of many situations we were in, these were correct requirements.

Thursday morning we started under a blue sky and in bright sunshine. Following easy 4WD roads, trails and long x-country sections, we climbed the first high summits: McClellan Mt. (13,587 ft.), Mt. Edwards (13,850 ft.) and Decatur Mt. (12,890 ft.). On our way we came to 2 water depots Traudl and I had set up earlier this year. At several locations we “met” a total of nearly 100 mountain goats. Crossing under Revenue Mt., going over Silver Mt. (12,849 ft.) and on towards Santa Fe Peak, the weather deteriorated. Being on a wide open plain, finally a heavy rainstorm started, turning into snow. Strong winds came together with it. There was some lightning and thundering, but not too close. Before walking down on a 4WD road into Montezuma, we met Carl for the first time. When finally stepping into the “Montezuma Inn” after 10 hours, we were soaked and happy to get out of the cold.

Jon stopped here. So Klaus and I got ready for a freezing night and left, carrying quite heavy packs to be prepared for “everything”. The next 9 hours started with heavy snowfall, followed by a blizzard and really strong gale, as well as icy conditions with temperatures down to about 15 degrees. But our long walk through the night on a somewhat changed course also brought bright moonlight for a while and many miles hiking over endless plains and reaching 2 summits – Glacier Mt. (12,441 ft.) and Teller Mt. (12,615 ft.). It was around 3 a.m., when we came back to Montezuma, into a basic cabin we had rented for that night. Here Traudl, Birgit and Eckhard took good care of us, while thunder was rolling through the darkness again.

Soon it was time for leaving this warm and cozy aid station. Walking into Peru Creek and then up towards Lenawee Saddle seemed like going through a winter wonderland – it was still snowing and everything was covered under a thick white blanket. Coming out of the forest at timberline, heavy wind greeted us. The trail was hidden under snow and walking in low hanging clouds gave us the feeling of being far away from the real world. Frost, together with the wind chill factor, made us move as fast as possible. Water was frozen, as it happened several times, in drinking bottles. Finally we came over the ridge into A-Basin. Around 7 a.m., 24 hours after the start, we reached the road leading up to Loveland Pass. It was an easy decision to follow the icy road instead of taking the shorter route through a swampy and now snow covered basin.

On the Pass the aid station and our crews were waiting. Here Tim joined Klaus and me as ”reinforcement” for the second half of the event. He brought interesting news with him: The weather forecast predicted another cold front for next night with up to 8 inches of additional snow. But for now the sun came out, at least sometimes, and we were optimistic.

Following the Continental Divide for several hours and then crossing under Hagar Mountain to Bobtail Saddle was quite a task. It was all x-country, sometimes through boulder fields covered with snow and no place to hide from strong cold winds. So we were really happy when around 4 p.m., coming down Bobtail Creek, the next aid station was reached. What a quiet and peaceful place it was in the middle of the forest!

2000 ft. of climb brought us to the top of Jones Pass. We just stopped very briefly at our “moving aid station” and then headed down to the Henderson Mine. This was a course change, because of the new bad weather front that started moving in. In “Carl’s Castle” we got ready for another challenging night. I can’t praise enough what Traudl as the aid station captain, as well as Carl and Klaus’s crew did for us to get us through the event under these extreme conditions!

A nice trail through the forest, illuminated by our flashlights, created the illusion that it might just be a “piece of cake” to get to Berthoud Pass, the next stop. But soon it started snowing softly and coming out of the forest below Stanley Mountain, it was sometimes difficult to follow the trail, hidden under a white cover. The wind picked up, but what came next was somewhat unexpected. About 100 yards past the summit, on open plains for about 4 miles, suddenly a wall of snow and hail, driven by 60 mile per hour winds, hit us hard. The ground was barely visible and any progress stopped. Although having several layers of shirts and jackets, we were of course in our running shoes and not fully equipped for this situation. We immediately decided to turn around. It was quite a task to get these few steps back to the summit. Using map and compass was a Herculean task under the current circumstances. Getting slowly down from the plateau, the wind wasn't blowing as hard anymore, snow came down dry and cold as it does in the middle of winter. It took us a while, checking map and compass again and again, to get back to the route we came up – now hidden under additional inches of fresh windblown snow. It was midnight.

On the way down I tried a few times to reach our aid station at Berthoud Pass with my cell phone. Leaving voice mails we learned later, that they couldn't receive them. As we didn't show up on time and also not the following two hours, and considering the extreme weather situation, they became more and more worried. Being aware that they maybe didn't receive the call, we hurried down the valley and then up the icy Berthoud Pass road. Finally someone gave us a lift for the last couple of miles or so, and we made it to the aid station around 3 a.m. - just when they decided to call Search and Rescue.

Now what? It didn't stop snowing. Fog, sinking temperature together with a severe wind chill factor … 44 hours and about 94 really tough miles into the event. We agreed to wait till 6 a.m. and then answer this question. Eating, drinking, changing icy shoes and socks … soon it was time for the decision - the weather hadn't really changed - bad visibility, about one foot of fresh snow, but the wind had slowed down.

Klaus, who maybe was the strongest of us three, being smart and tough enough to come to this conclusion, said he would not go on. Tim and I, with a significant high-altitude climbing background, got ready and left. Step by step in deep snow we came closer to our next goal, Mt. Flora (13,132 ft.). Surprisingly this brought us somewhat above the clouds, the sun started shining through the haze, the wind stopped completely, and it was a wonderful, happy and peaceful moment, when we finally reached this 13er. After a few moments of rest we started heading towards Breckinridge Pk.. Descending to a saddle brought us back into the clouds and a compass helped to circle around this summit. The final mile down to a 4WD road took about 2 hours - rocks and boulders, covered deeply by windblown snow, made this section very treacherous.

Now it was just a question of time to reach the finish line. At the beginning it was even difficult to follow the narrow road. But then 3 jeeps came up, working really hard to get up steep sections, covered with rocks, gravel and snow. For us it was easier to follow their tracks and also heavy snow showers now and then could not reduce our high spirits. Around 2:30 p.m., we finally met Traudl, waiting for us patiently above Empire. Even the sun came through the clouds for a while. After 5 minutes at this aid station we walked down to Empire, crossed the valley and it was another mile on a dirt road to the summit of Empire Pass. A really exposed narrow trail, starting high above I-70, led down to a gravel pit, our "Champagne Place", next to the busy Interstate.

Traudl had brought a bottle of this sparkling drink, we turned the radio to its limit, drank and danced … we were absolutely happy. Under really extreme conditions we were just one mile away from achieving our goal. The course had to be shortened and changed at some places. But whenever necessary, even in sometimes critical situations, we had made the right decisions and had done so unanimous. After Jon dropped out early, Klaus, Tim and I always worked together as a team and helped each other whenever necessary. But still, it would not have been possible, even to get through part of our odyssey, without Traudl, Carl, Birgit and Eckhard. A big “thank you” to all of you!

Together with Eckhard, who came looking for us, we walked down the frontage road to the finish line in Georgetown. Snow started falling again … It was 4 p.m., when after 57 hours and 107 miles we stopped. Tim and I looked at each other, knowing what we were thinking: let's do it again one day!