Wow!  In every sense of the word.  Wow as my ass has never been so kicked.  Wow as I'm signing up for next year as the scenery was mind blowing.

It's a 50 mile race that traverses the spine of the Gallatin Range, and out and back over some of the toughest (and most spectacular) country Montana has to offer.  The majority of the course is run at over 9500'.  Lots of snow, lots of talus, lots of mud, lots of elevation gain and loss, lots of everything.  Fortunately you can also run this is a 25 mile relay with another person.  I'm humble enough to realize I'll never be able to run this as a 50 miler, but I'm in awe of the ones who have.

The course is unsupported (save a lone aid station at the turnaround point for the 50 milers) and unmarked.  You need have some navigational ability (or stick w/ someone who does ), you don't want to get off course as there is no where to go.  If you decide to bail, you have two options, the Windy Pass cabin at the turnaround or the start/finish line- nothing in between.

I was signed up for this event last year, but partner bailed.  They were nice enough to carry over our entry fee to this year.  My partner again bailed on me.  Tom the RD, hooked my up w/ Grady, a fellow from TX who decided to pull out of the 50, but needed a partner for the relay.  Logistics for the relay are a little tough as the trailhead for the start is ~ 75 miles from the turnaround (the 50 milers have no worries about logistics).  In the relay you're supposed to have one start at Hyalite Canyon and the other at Windy Pass.  Grady wasn't comfortable driving my manual truck, so a key pass wasn't going to work.  I met Grady at the start line (which starts promptly at 5:30) and was going to take his vehicle to Windy Pass (about a two hour drive).  After talking to Tom he said as another option we could both start at Windy Pass and he would give us a ride as he was headed that way to carry in stuff for the aid station.  We opted to go that route, it was fortuitous as we both relied heavily on each other over the 25 miles.

The "bad" part of the Windy Pass start is that's a 2+ mile hike to the cabin, gaining 2000'.  Add two gallons of water each we volunteered to carry and we were pretty tuckered before we even officially started.  We got started from the cabin at 8:20 AM almost three hours after the 50 milers and other earlier relayers.  Fortunately the high elevation kept the temps in check, so the late start didn't hurt us.  The scenery right off the get go was stunning and stayed that way until the finish.  It was a little smoky from fires in WA and ID, but it didn't hamper the views.  I was surprised (shouldn't have been) by how much we climbing and descending we had to do, about 2/3's of the way in it really starting taking it's toil.  I'm pretty sure I wasn't getting enough calories in and pretty sure I was behind in the water department as well.  I was definitely deep in the pain cave, but Grady was doing a great job to keep me moving.  We took a couple of short breaks, but it didn't seem to help all that much.  I told Grady to take off w/o me as I was definitely slowing him down, he wouldn't have any that and stuck it out w/ me.  When we finally got close to Hyalite Peak I knew that the toughest part was getting closed out and soon we'd have 7 miles of downhill.  When we got to the saddle that dropped us into the Hyalite basin (after a technical snow climb down! ) I suddenly felt reenergized, not sure why, but I was???  We started picking the pace up, but soon it was Grady's turn to take a trip into the pain cave.  I helped him along, as he helped me along earlier.  Switch back after switch back we started our descent and after what felt like a eternity we crossed the finish line 7 hours and 45 minutes after we started.  I was hammered, Grady was hammered, but right away I knew I'd be coming back.

a few pics

Windy Pass cabin

Grady kicking it up the trail

back towards Windy Pass

Hyalite Peak

one of more than a dozen waterfalls on the way down towards the finish

we made it

swag

Nice job, warden.  Glad you were able to finally get to do this race.  Beautiful place to run.  Like to adventure of the unsupported run.  I want to do more of these, as races out my way are getting pretty packed.

Grady doesn't look too happy.

Hmmmm. That looks very interesting to me. I am just wondering if I would have any problems with the altitude. I never did when I was in the Marines, but that was a long time ago. Congratulations on finishing. I think it is cool that you guys helped each other out along the way. You can be doing fine one minute and crashing the next.

I sooooo live in the wrong state. Breath taking scenery.

+1  Totally gorgeous!  Thanks for the report, Mike!  Sounds like you had a great time.  Grady looks like maybe he needs some beer to feel better!

Beautiful, beautiful pictures!  I'm a little confused to how this is a relay, but that's okay, I confuse easily and it still looks like a great run.  I can definitely see how it could be intimidating without any course support (yikes!)  Glad you were able to finally run it this year!  Looks like it was worth waiting for.  Congratulations you!

thanks everyone

Grady looks like I felt about 15 miles in  it was funny how we both crashed at different times, glad it worked that way though

LB2- I don't think the elevation would be that much trouble to be honest, Grady hails from central TX and I don't think it bothered him (although I guess I can't rule it out as the funk he felt at the end)

Birdwell- w/ the 25 mile relay the logistics are a little tough, sign up for the 50 mile and logistics are a breeze

She Can- you can run the relay either passing each other somewhere in the middle or run it together- they just add the times together, definitely not a traditional relay where you have to wait for the person to get to you (that would make it a long day )

Sandy- we didn't have any trouble navigating, but there were a couple of times we were a little unsure- there were several folks that got off course, but fortunately nothing bad;  yes you pass by the outbound 50 milers and relay runners that start at Hyalite Canyon, and if you get a late start and are slow like me, you can get passed again from behind by the leaders!

I'd definitely recommend this race for anyone looking for something that is pretty laid back, very challenging and with some very awesome scenery to soak in

NH- wouldn't have been bad, but Grady wasn't comfortable driving my truck (it's a manual)- as it was going the same direction was a lot more fun and I think "profitable" for both us.  We did have a nice 6 mile downhill at the end, but I think  w/ the 2000' to Windy Pass and 2 extra miles it was pretty close to a wash (we did bag Hyalite-I don't think we had to, but that close we didn't want to pass it up).

Yup- dropping into the Hyalite Basin is where the snow was very tricky, w/ an ice axe it would have been a fun glissade!

Maroon Bells is on my short list for a running adventure, if you want to go again let me know

Mike