Leadville 20 Mile Snowshoe Race

Based in Leadville, Colorado and described as "an ultra-marathon consisting of a big loop on, above, and around Turquoise Lake. Over 2700' of climbing with a high point of 11,380'. The trails are usually semi-packed, and the views are great. This event is not for the meek or inexperienced. It can be one of the most difficult winter events known."

Holy Mackerel!! That is about all I can say about this weekends race. As some of you know I have been looking forward to this race for a for a few months now and it was really an amazing experience.

This was the 20th annual Leadville 20 Mile Snowshoe Race on and around Turquoise Lake (LAT:39.2702713817 LONG: -106.393318176).

The course was set by Tom Sobal who is arguably the most accomplished snowshoe racer in History having won nearly every major snowshoe race including the 100 mile race in Alaska, Iditasport 100. Tom has a has a nack for picking grueling courses and usually finishes near the front of the pack. Tom also has been doing these races for years and is showing no sign of slowing down even giving his 50ish age!!

The course started at the Sugar Loafin campground and headed west through the woods until it dumped you out on Turquoise Lake at which time you headed north into the brutal wind and blowing snow far across the lake forcing you to cross a surface mixed with barren ice and 10 inch deep slurries of ice and melt water. Which was pretty disconcerting considering you crossed these melted slush pits when you were in the middle of the lake! The lake crossing was 1.75 miles and we earned every inch of it! I am also pretty stoked I chose to wear my Seal Skinz water proof socks, I really don't know how some of the folks did with out waterproof socks.

I heard a report that one woman fell through the ice up to her hips but I cannot confirm if that was simply a rumor or not.

After the lake crossing we headed west up the back to the snow covered Turquoise Lake road. A few miles of trudging through the snow we eventually headed north-west up a trail to Uncle Bud's Hut which is part of the 10th Mountain Divisions Hut Association. This was also the high point of the race topping out at 11,380'. I really wish I had the time to hang out a bit up top but well I had to make cut off, after all I only had 7 hours!

Once reaching the hut we backtracked to the road and began a series of long, long hills around the perimeter of the lake until we eventually crossed the lake again in front of the Sugarloaf dam and then back up the route through the woods to our start point at the camp ground.

All in all the weather was great. We started out in a bit of snow and wind, which of course dissipated once I was off of the first lake crossing!! After that we had sporadic cloud cover and the occasional snow flake. No real accumulation of snow and even periods of beautiful warm sunshine.

In retrospect if I were to do this race again I think I should train (at least a little), drink more water and wear shoes that fit properly (I got super gnarly blisters and will soon be both large toenails lighter!!

I am very thankful to all of the great volunteers on the course, they did an outstanding job of keeping an eye on every one and keeping us gel'ed or gu'ed up. I think at the end of the race I had pounded 7 gels!! Unfortunately I ran out of water at about mile 13 and that made it difficult for the last 7 miles. I know I should have stopped to refill but I was pushing to make the cut off.

I think I made it in 6 hours 15 minutes, which means I made it before they could tell me to give it up. The winners were around 3 hours 30 minutes!! Which is impressive and should make them feel good to know I am not a threat to their titles...until next year!

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