Races
Crazy Mountain 100
Wilsall to Lennep. Twenty-three thousand feet of gain. Scree, ridge, weather that changes its mind. Thirty-six hours.
The mountain
The Crazies. Single-track, forest road, and stretches with no trail, just cairns and ridge. High point around ten thousand two hundred. Sections over thirteen miles between aid. Scree. Exposure. Downhill that is not runnable. This is a graduate hundred.
The work
Lottery, and you need a qualifier: a hundred-K with ten thousand feet, or a mountain hundred with fifteen thousand, inside two years. Eight hours of trail work. Mandatory kit: cup, pack, light, rain jacket, blanket, tracker. Bear spray is on the recommended list because it is bear country. Thirty-six hours means you cannot walk it. That is a twenty-one-minute mile including stops.
Race morning
Shuttle to the start. Do not leave a car there. Pacers after Halfmoon. Crew at aid only, one vehicle. Check in and out of every station. Cutoffs are hard.
Watch outs
Hail in the first hour, then eighty degrees at the finish, which has happened. Lightning on the ridge. Moose. Getting off course because you skipped the map on your phone. The race will pull you if you miss a cutoff.