Races
Badwater 135
Badwater Basin to Whitney Portal. Lowest point in North America to eight thousand three hundred sixty feet. July. Pavement. Heat that has a name.
The mountain
Start at Badwater Basin, two hundred eighty feet below sea level. Pavement through Furnace Creek, Stovepipe Wells, Panamint Springs, Darwin, Lone Pine. Three climbs: Towne Pass, Father Crowley, then Whitney Portal at eight thousand three hundred sixty. Fourteen thousand six hundred feet of gain. Six thousand one hundred of loss. No trail. No poles.
The work
Heat is the course. You train with a crew because the race requires one: a vehicle, two to four people, ice, and rules that fill a booklet. Invitational. Qualifiers are long ultras. Pacers only after Stovepipe for most people.
Race morning
It is night. Waves at eight, nine, and ten p.m. from the Basin. Forty-eight hours. Cutoffs at the two-thousand-foot sign, Panamint, Darwin, Lone Pine. You run the left shoulder, single file, facing traffic.
Watch outs
July in Death Valley. Opening a door into the lane. Stopping on Father Crowley off the eight pullouts. Cooling gadgets the rules ban. The last twelve miles to the Portal after two nights on asphalt.