Date: Fri, 27 Jan 1995 19:25:49 -0500 From: DV600@aol.com To: ultra@DARTCMS1.DARTMOUTH.EDU Subject: Gravel Man Does The Death Valley 600 Scott Weber (DV600 @AOL.COM) has an obsession about extreme adventure and environments. On July 4, 1994 he (Team Ultrasport) staged the Death Valley Crossing that was the first-ever run from the Death Valley National Monument's south boundary 133 miles to the north boundary. Marshall Ulrich won the event in just over 28 hours. The daytime temperatures were 120 degrees. Next, Scott was able to get in the Hi-Tec Badwater to Mt. Whitney Race on July 27, 1994 because a runner dropped out. Since he had crewed Marshall last year and since he completed the 100-mile Himalayan Run/Trek in November 1993 and recently the Western States 100, he qualified. He had his mind on doing the Badwater unassisted using a jog cart and refueling at "oases" enroute (this was partly out of necessity because he only had a couple days to assemble a crew for the Badwater event because of being accepted so late). However, the Hi-Tec organizers said "no way" to the unassisted idea, certain that the concept was unworkable at best and deadly at worst. He had horrible blisters from doing Western States and part of Hardrock, so he entered the walking division of the Badwater event. That meant he had to walk and he could not run without being disqualified. Most runners are not good walkers. The Hi-Tec 135 mile race to the Portals he completed in 52 hours and 30 minutes (with a crew of three to assist him), but he did not feel right by not going to the top of Whitney. When he heard that Joe Schlereth and John Rosmus had come back two weeks after completing the Hi-Tec Race to bag the top, that made him even more anxious. What is the matter with waiting three weeks anyway? He also planned to extend the event to a triple or quadruple crossing. The plan was to put out fluid stashes and push a jog-cart unassisted between stashes and the various "oases." He phoned me and my wife , Denise, and told us of his plans. After stocking his van with supplies, he headed from Littleton, Colorado, to Lone Pine, CA. He arrived on August 8, 1994. He fussed around for about a day-and-a-half adding to and subtracting from the jog-cart,which, at the start weighed about 100 pounds. It was loaded with everything imaginable for desert survival. On the way to Lone Pine, he stashed fluids on the Badwater to Whitney course at Towne's Pass, Padre Crowley Point, and at the "Gateway". This last place we are calling the "Gateway" is where Owen's Valley is encountered. An "oasis" was considered to be a point on the course where there was some civilization and where there could be refueling. From east to west, this would be Badwater, Furnace Creek Ranch, Stovepipe Wells Village, Emmigrant Station, Panamint Springs Resort, Keeler, Lone Pine, and Whitney Portals. The top of Whitney was also considered an oasis. Scott, other than being observed from time-to-time, was literally unassisted between the stashes and oases. He was on the course the whole time (10 days) except for the last leg when he was shuttled from the Portals to our house in Line Pine and back to the Portals after a night's rest. On the last leg he also checked in to Panamint Springs Resort for nine hours for rehabilitation. Otherwise, he rested on the gravel at the roadside. I decided to give him the name " Gravel Man." At night when it was cooler, he would sleep in trash bags or adopt-a-highway litter clean up bags. When he was really tired he didn't even know he was sleeping on cactus. Sometimes he would even sleep on the pavement daring the night-time on-coming traffic. A picnic table at Emigrant Station, he found more and comfortable with each crossing. On one occassion there, he enjoyed watching a couple of European tourists in their bikinis showering with a hose from the radiator water tank. People passing by would ask him what he was doing and he responed by telling them he was training for a 10 K. I told him that when I am confronted, I ask them if I am on the right road to Bakersfield. Scott never gave up his quest because he was never injured or sick. Denise took care of his feet by filing the calluses, painting them with Tincture of Benzoin and then applying Compeed where necessary, taping with Micropore tape and then having him put on a pair of ankle length women's hose. After this he would put on socks; he used the same pair of Asics GT 2001's for the whole experience. His feet actually improved during the 10 days! He subsisted mostly on Orange Cytomax on the rocks which he sucked through plastic tubing immersed into an Igloo container. Champion Nutition's Heavyweight Gainer was mixed with water (and later with Orange Cytomax) and drank from a cup. He would go 10 to 30 miles this way. His longest unassisted stretch was 50 miles between Lone Pine and the Panamint Springs Resort. He got cranky a few times, especially at the last when it was extremely dark on the final miles to Badwater. At midnight on Saturday 08-20-1994, he left Whitney Portals for the top of Whitney completing the first leg of 150 miles from Badwater to the the top of Mt. Whitney in 587 hours and 50 minutes (this includes the Badwater race to the Portals, three weeks of resting in Denver, then returning to the mountain to finish the ascent to the summit of Whitney). He is willing to discount this first leg of the modified "Quad." An unmodified "Quad" would be four continuous crossings between Badwater and the top of Mount Whitney during the months of July and August. Leg two (or leg one of the Triple) started at the top of Mt. Whitney at 0606 on Sunday 09-21-1994 and got back to Badwater in 81 hours and 09 minutes on Wednesday 08-24-1994. He was met there by Denise Jones and John Rosmus. After 2 1/2 hours, he started on leg three (or leg two of the Triple) making it to the top of Whitney in 93 hours and 31 minutes and a total time of 174 hours and 40 minutes. By arriving there he became the first person to complete the "Reverse Double' (Mt. Whitney Summit-Badwater-Mt. Whitney Summit). At this time, he contemplated a fourth crossing (or the third leg of the Triple), but was happy to get down the trail to the Portals and then drive down to retire at the Jones Oasis. The next morning after breakfast, Denise showed him the video of Richard Benyo's second completion of the "Death Valley 300" of 1992. Scott felt better than Richard looked and he started doing laps in the house from the den through the living room, dining room, and kitchen. He had to get back on the course, which he did at the Portals to go the last 135 miles back to Badwater. He arrived at Badwater on Wednesday 08-31-1994 at 2332 in 82 hours and 52 minutes and a total Triple Crossing Time (Mt. Whitney Summit-Badwater-Mt. Whitney Summit -Badwater) in 257 Hours and 32 Minutes. He had 28 minutes to spare to get there before August ended and the "window" closed. This is the first time anyone has done four crossings (the Quad) within Benyo and Crawford's July/August window in a single year. The first leg is not going to be counted this year because of the three week delay, thereby forfeiting the claim to the first continuous Quadruple Crossing (the double out-and-back or Quad). Scott's Reverse Double of going from Whitney Summit to Badwater to Whitney Summit is a first and this was with an A.M. start. The so-called A.M. start of Benyo and Crawford has previously applied to starting at Badwater (typically at 0600) getting the full heat of the day at Badwater at the start. According to them it is ten times harder going back to Badwater getting another dose of the heat. In the interim, the temperatures at the top of Mt. Whitney can be 100 degrees cooler before returning to the 120 + degree temperatures. Scott claims that by starting at Whitney and going to Badwater to Whitney then back to Badwater gives an relentless, uninterrupted double (triple) dose of heat in Death Valley enhancing the "manliness" of the event. This was the first continuous Triple Crossing recorded. Next season he says it's the continuous Quadruple Crossing. Expect to see Scott Weber aka "Gravel Man" doing some weird kind of strut when he attends the festivities at Leadville next year, especially if he adds the full "Quad" to his accomplishments. Written by Ben Jones, Mayor of Badwater 510 East Locust Lone Pine, CA 93545-0600 Submitted by Scott Weber DV600@AOL.COM