[Nolans 14]
2000 ResultsAug. 12-14, 2000, Fish Hatchery to Mt. Shavano summit (north to south).
Summits
Blake Wood 11 (Princeton)
Matt Mahoney 10 (Yale)
Eric Robinson 9 (Columbia)
Gordon Hardman 3 (La Plata)
Jim Nolan 1 (Massive)
Joe Florio 1
Wood Mah- Robi- Hard- Nolan Flo-
oney nson man rio
Start 0600 0600 0600 0600 0600 0600
Massive 0843 0911 0911 0843 1135 1135
Halfmoon 1005 1052 1025 1005 1503 1503
out 1012 1057 1030 1012 1547 1547
Elbert 1226 1325 1308 1235 2030* 2030*
Lake Ck TH 1420 1607 1536 1459 2345* 2345*
out 1436 1612 1543 1512 drop drop
La Plata 1648 1931 1900 18??
Winfield 1829 2350 2350 20??
out 1913 0419 0419 drop
Huron 2145 0727 0727
Cloises Lk 0000 0910 0910
out 0000 0950 0950
Missouri 0255 1220 1220
Mis. Gulch 0355 1326 1325
out 0428 1345 1345
Belford 0555 1439 1439
Oxford 0655 1549 1549
Pine Ck AS 0834 1800 1800
out 0910 1915 1915
Harvard 1217 2252 2252
Columbia 1442 0317 0317
N Cottonwd 1643 0615 0615
out 1710 0705 drop
Yale 2134 1122
Denny Ck 1306
out drop
Avalanche 0137
out 0611
Princeton 1230
Grouse TH 1515
out drop
*Turned 150 ft. from summit of Elbert due to
ligntning and returned to Halfmoon.
The 2000 RunThe Aug. 12, 2000 run was north to south. This year, runners carried FRS radios to keep in contact with aid stations and each other. The six starters broke into three pairs on the climb up Massive, with Blake Wood and Gordon Hardman in front, Eric Robinson and Matt Mahoney second, and Joe Florio and Jim Nolan last. Two aid stations were set up on Half Moon Road to allow different routes between Massive and Elbert. Wood, Hardman, and Robinson took the direct route to the western station, while the others took the Colorado Trail - longer but better footing - to the eastern station, which turned out to be about 30 minutes slower.Nolan and Florio, far behind the others, climbed Elbert in a storm and were turned back by lightning 150 feet from the summit at 8:30 PM. They returned to Half Moon in the rain at 11:45 PM and dropped. Wood was 10 minutes ahead of Hardman on Elbert and ran the rest of the run alone. They were on La Plata when the storm hit. Hardman was suffering from hypothermia and dropped from the run in Winfield as darkness fell. Mahoney chased Robinson over Elbert and La Plata in a drenching rain, catching him at 7:30 PM as Robinson began to descend La Plata's Ellingwood Ridge, a difficult class 3 route that would have taken him back north -- a serious error. Mahoney directed him by radio back to the summit, where the rocks were buzzing and crackling from static discharge in the mix of rain and snow. They stayed together for the rest of the run until Robinson dropped at North Cottonwood on the third morning with an inflamed ankle tendon. Wood climbed and then made the difficult descent of Huron in darkness on icy rocks, while Mahoney and Robinson slept 3 hours at Winfield in order to reach the summit at sunrise. The climbs over Missouri, Belford, Oxford, Harvard, and Columbia were made in good weather. Wood waited out a 75 minute storm on the second evening just below treeline on Yale, while Mahoney and Robinson waited out the storm at the Pine Creek aid station prior to their nighttime ascents of Harvard and Columbia. After Robinson dropped, Mahoney went on to summit Yale just minutes before a hailstorm struck without warning. He decided against attempting the long climb up Princeton with 5 hours left, since it would not have advanced him past second place, with Wood having already climbed it first. Wood, who had descended Yale the previous night, slept 4 hours before climbing Princeton via. the northeast ridge. He had descended via. the difficult Grouse Canyon route, intending to climb Antero, but decided against it with only 2:45 remaining at the bottom. Providing aid for an event like this is an ultra in itself. Simon and Chris Shadowlight hiked 8 miles up the Pine Creek trail at night, and set up camp for two nights, in order to provide aid for 3 runners. Betsy Kapiloff had to climb 3000 ft. to set up a back country aid station and camp overnight in Missouri Gulch. Steve Bremner and Eric Robinson's brother John set up a camp at North Cottonwood, 2 miles from the trailhead, with the only two runners still remaining arriving on different days. Fred Vance had to ford an 18 inch deep river to get his jeep to Cloises Lake. He was only able to supply this aid because Blake Wood had a crew (his parents Phil and Joyce). Without these backcountry aid stations, we would have had to climb 7 consecutive mountains for 31 to 36 hours without aid. All of this aid, plus T-shirts, awards (hand-crafted prints by run director Jon MacManus), and pre and post run meals, were provided without cost to the runners. Run report by Matt Mahoney |