Jason Pohl writing on the Aspire Adventure Running blog for a new series called ‘Expecting the Unexpected’ about one of their recent trips on the Lost Coast Trail along the Californian Coast:

The longest crossing, the Rattlesnake High Tide Zone, is a 3-mile stretch that, on this particular trip, runners needed to be through by about 4:30 p.m. 

It would be a push for everyone. 

For the six who didn’t make it in time, it’d be the setting for a story that would dominate the trip.

Hats off for Aspire to show this side of their business. We often like to only share the epic sunset pictures suggesting everything is always filled with stoke and beauty. But out there, good problem-solving skills are not just necessary but will keep you alive and will turn a potentially nasty situation into something worth remembering.

Because this is how stories like these should end:

There is talk, though, of making a t-shirt about what happened up Buck Creek…

Rock Candy Running:

Last year we planted 100 trees with ONETREEPLANTED. For every runner running our races we take one dollar and we plant a tree in a National Forest in the US. We decided to do this instead of handing out cheap, throwaway swag you often find in race bags. Trees are awesome, and this feels right and good.

Small steps, but moving into the right direction.

Is with your own reusable cup from your own hydration vest.

Here’s Runner’s World is trying to show us how to grab a paper cup at an aid station… and creates a huge amount of waste in the process.

I get it, trail races are running by a different clock and in road races “every second counts” but we still run on the same planet and it would be great if road races would adopt our ‘cupless policy’ and figure out how to offer hydration to hundreds or thousands of racers without creating this insane amount of one-time-use paper cup waste.

Great film on Grivel’s blog with Steve House, part of the original team climbing the Slovak Direct in single push and Alan Rousseau who recently climbed the route in an astonishing 21.5hrs.

Gripped.com has a good summary of notable ascents on the route on Denali.

Steve House describes his ascent in his book Beyond the Mountain, which is probably one of my favorite mountaineering books. House is also co-author, along with Kilian Jornet and Scott Johnston, of the incredible “Training for the Uphill Athlete – a manual for mountain runners and ski mountaineers.

I keep linking to these amazing videos telling stories by incredible athletes and mountaineers on gear company websites. This is really a fascinating marketing strategy for these companies, isn’t it?

House ends the video with the following, powerful words:

The mountains are there for the people to find out who they are and why we’re here. And everybody’s got a different story and is probably here for a different reason. Everybody has something inside themselves they have to discover that’s unique to them.

…

What matter’s is going, and searching… and sometimes we find it.

Austria’s big mountain race kicks off this weekend. With four races ranging from 37km to 110km. Plus a team race for two running the full 110km and the obligatory kids race.

The 100km ultra is a full circumnavigation of Austria’s famous mountain Großglockner.

There’ll be a live feed on Youtube.

And finally the gender split for the big ultra, the 100km is an abysmal 12% women. (shakes head)

Another translation from L’Équipe.

On Jim’s focus on outlook in trying to win UTMB:

I don’t know if I will return to the UTMB. If I don’t win this year, yes, I’ll go back because I think I owe myself two tries. Even if my preparation is really going well, I think there are a lot of changes in my life and that I can underestimate the stress it will bring. After two good tests on the UTMB, no matter what happens, I think I will turn the page and I would like to try new races.

Ski mountaineering seems to be the main difference in how European athletes train and win:

But the most motivating thing for me is not related to trail running, it is rather to test a new sport: ski mountaineering. It will allow me to make the transition with the next season in trail running. I think it’s something important to try because it’s one of the biggest cultural differences between American and European performing athletes.

Hannes Namberger would agree with this, I’d say.

Translated from L’Équipe:

The group L’Équipe and UTMB Group announced on Wednesday an agreement to broadcast the UTMB World Series in France, including the UTMB Mont-Blanc, on August 26 and 27.

This was inevitable, but is still a pretty big freakin’ deal and what the pro runners have been wanting for a long time now.

Bryon Powell interviews Kilian on the launch of his new brand NNormal.

Man, I love that this new brand exists. I love this for our sport, for our planet, and personally as a spectator to watch from the sidelines to see if Kilian can succeed with it.

I write IF because I am pessimistic. I was when COROS launched too and am sort of proven wrong. So perhaps I just don’t understand business of this scale, but based on what Kilian is currently aiming to do is either impossible of will be way way watered down.

I so hope I am wrong again.

This cannot stand.

And luckily I am not the only one that feels that way.

Hey, why not be transparent: Here’s the breakdown for my own race, the Beast of Big Creek which is happening July 23rd by Lake Cushman in the Olympic Mountains just above Hoodsport, Washington.

There are a total of 99 runners registered for the two races. 36 are women or 36% of the total.

Broken down among the two distances:

• Summit race (14M): 74 total runners, 24 women (32%)
• Forest race (6M): 25 total runners, 12 women (48%)

Sure, it’s a small race, but I’m proud of that split.

Unlock even more perks and benefits with our utility-enhanced generative art NFT, the Outerverse Passport. Earn ongoing benefits that increase the longer you hold the pass, the events you attend, the NFTs you own from the marketplace, and of course the more you get outside. Think of this as your passport for entry into the Outerverse.

I can’t even with this crypto shit.

We’re not jumping on a bandwagon. Rather, we see NFTs as another useful piece of gear to add to your kit. Like any good outdoor tool, an NFT should blend form and function. It should be beautiful and useful. That’s why we’re committed to embedding real-life benefits into every minting – perks that inspire you to get outside, connect you with community, and reward you for sharing your love of the planet.

$222 in US$ for nothing. Cool, Outside, cool.

PS: I’m curious what Patagonia thinks about that… are they still advertising in Outside?

With his nose. With his nose.

Abigail Beckman for Colorado Public Radio:

Salem is the fourth person to summit America’s Mountain this way.

One must assume this is another one of Laz’s ideas.

These were the shoe/outfit sponsors of the top 10 woman and men at Western States (data taken from iRunfar):

• HOKA: 4
• adidas Terrex: 3
• Salomon: 3
• NIKE: 2
• Saucony: 2
• SCOTT: 2
• Inov-8: 1
• New Balance: 1
• NONE: 2

And the shoe/outfit sponsors of the top 10 woman and men at Hardrock100 (data taken from iRunfar):

• La Sportiva: 2
• NNormal: 2
• Salomon: 2
• Altra: 1
• Aravaipa*: 1
• Patagonia: 1
• SCARPA/Karpos: 1
• Smartwool: 1
• The North Face: 1
• Ultimate Direction: 1
• None: 9

A couple thoughts:

• Western States seem to skew more toward ‘traditional road shoe brand’, while Hardrock seems to be favored by athletes sporting ‘traditional mountain sports brands’, which seems to match the differences in the two races.
• Not a single HOKA athlete among the top finishers at Hardrock. The tie-dye shirts, which were all over the WS course were notably absent at Hardrock.
• NNormal is clearly “overrepresented” with Kilian and Dakota both running Hardrock. But so far there’s not a single product on the shelf for people to buy. Good marketing though.
• There were a lot more runners without major/shoe sponsors at Hardrock.
• *Nick Coury ran Hardrock for Aravaipa and in adidas road shoes, which is incredible in itself.

Jared Beasley dives into the allure of the Backyard Ultra for UltraSignup News:

Temptation is the beauty and the beast of the backyard phenomenon. They are sneaky attractive, like the High Striker at a carnival (The Hammer Game). The bell is in no danger, but we’re curious just how high we can make the puck soar. “Just one more loop,” taunts the backyard website, and these quirky last-man-standing races have cut a swath across the planet.

In many ways what makes the Backyard Ultra style of race attractive is that they promise to be a deceptively simple race format with a very low entry fee. In most cases you could run a 100 miles for less than $100. So, even if you don’t reach your milage goal you’re not out a lot of dough, and with race entry fees rising this is understandably appealing to many.

What makes Backyard Ultra races challenging for race directors is that most permits are time based. It’s hard to get a route approved for a race when you don’t know if runners are going to be out there for 2 or 3 or 4 days. And with entry fees generally low, this becomes a challenging financial proposition. Not trying to sound like a whiney a race director but this is probably why most backyard ultras are hosted on private land. Getting a 4.1… mile course on trails isn’t that hard to come by if you got a few acres behind your house.

I love looped courses and would try myself on one of these races, once. I just need to find the right trail for it.

Ellie Pell on taking her time to recover after finishing 14th at Western States:

It’s been about four weeks since Western States. To say that recovery has been a learning experience would be an understatement.

We love runners who blog. More of this please!

Here for it.

Via Mammut:

Two Swiss alpinists Nicolas Hojac and Adrian Zurbrügg set a new record on July 12th, 2022. It took them 13 hours and 8 minutes to climb the Swiss Skyline route Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau in the Bernese Oberland. The two Bernese beat the previous record set by Ueli Steck by 3 hours and 2 minutes.

Insanely fast climb on an incredible route.

Man, I miss Ueli Steck.

Chris Kostman, President and Chief Adventure Officer for Badwater responds to allegations brought forth by Derek on Marathon Investigation.

Ashley Paulson finished third overall, setting the female record with a time of 24:09:34, besting the 24:13:24 mark set by Patrycja Bereznowska in 2019. This result was, unfortunately, not without controversy. Many are questioning the validity of Ashley’s result, fueled by a past allegations of course cutting, a doping suspension, an incredible finishing split, and observations on the course.

Here’s Chris’ response:

Despite how “astonishing” the various Badwater 135 performances cited above are, I have never heard a single one of these exceptional athletes be accused of cheating. Likewise, I have never believed that any of these athletes cheated, nor was I ever presented with evidence – or even a suggestion – that they cheated in any way. On the contrary, the ultra running community has accepted ALL of these incredible athletes and their exceptional performances with open arms and has celebrated all of them.

…

And yet, here we are today with swift condemnation of an “outlier” performance by an “outlier” athlete, Ashley Paulson, our women’s champion, third place overall finisher, and new women’s course record holder.

One of the loudest calls has been for Ashley to make her GPS data public. This she has done and the data is being evaluated.

This is an ongoing story.

Whenever I fret over what kind of race swag to include and give away at my Rock Candy Running races I remind myself that one of the most prestigious trail running events in the world, the Hardrock 100 charges $435 for their entry fee and you get a plastic license plate frame.

Is kinda boring, don’t you think?

I get what they are trying to do, they want to stand out and be different. And certain colors are already “taken” by certain brands. Nnormal’s emphasis is also to be a sustainable brand and not jump into fashion colors. This all makes all sense, but especially during the night the dark clothing looks… bland and boring.