⏵ Course guide · Chugach Mountains, Alaska
The Crow Pass Crossing sends a qualifier-only field of 150 runners on a roughly 22.5 mile backcountry traverse from Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center, over Crow Pass in Alaska's Chugach Mountains, mostly unmarked and with no official aid. I will walk you through the entry requirements and course first, then give you pacing and fueling strategy built for a self-sufficient mountain crossing, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official crowpasscrossing.com race site. Confirm the current year's qualifying standards, cutoffs, and gear list before you register.
Crow Pass Crossing has followed a largely unmarked trail for 40 years, part of its charm and its challenge. Learning the route in training is a real advantage on race day.
The first major test is the climb to the Crow Pass checkpoint, roughly four miles and 2,200 feet of gain, with a 70-minute cutoff. There is a main trail runners are expected to follow, but course markings only cover the first four miles as required by the US Forest Service. Everything past that is on you to navigate.
The course includes a river crossing checkpoint runners must cross at the designated site, with safety personnel positioned nearby but not assigned to escort every runner across. Racers are encouraged to lock arms with each other at the main crossing and other creek crossings for stability. You may also encounter moose or bear along the route; the official guidance is to stay calm and know how to react at close range, and loaner bear spray is available if you want it.
There is no official aid on course. You can accept food, drink, or medical help from spectators, but not pacing, and nothing can be pre-stashed. Refreshments, including pizza and cold beverages, wait at the finish. Treat the mandatory gear list as your safety net, not an afterthought: windbreaker, long sleeves, a long leg layer, a real hat, gloves, and a water container, checked randomly before the start and again at the finish.
With a 70-minute checkpoint cutoff at mile four and a 6 hour 30 minute finish window, the early climb sets the tone for your whole day.
Missing the 70-minute Crow Pass checkpoint cutoff ends your race, so treat the opening climb as a real pace check, not just a warm-up. A grade-adjusted pace target for roughly 2,200 feet of gain over four miles gives you an honest number to hold, and course records of under 3 hours (men) and under 3 hours 30 minutes (women) tell you how fast this can go for the front of the field, and how much slower cross-country, technical Alaska trail runs than road pace for everyone else.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
With no official aid on course, everything you eat and drink over roughly 22.5 miles has to come from what you carry or from spectators along the way.
Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour, and pack it before the start since there is nothing to resupply from on course. A water bottle is mandatory gear for a reason: plan your fluid carry for the full crossing, including the river section, rather than counting on finding a source you can trust along the way.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight and your goal time with the free ultra fueling calculator, then pack accordingly since there is no aid to lean on. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a race-day plan built around YOUR fitness and a backcountry mountain crossing. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for a technical, self-supported day on trail, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
It is a roughly 22.5 mile backcountry crossing from Girdwood to the Eagle River Nature Center over Crow Pass in Alaska's Chugach Mountains, unmarked apart from a short required stretch in the first four miles. The course climbs about 2,200 feet to the pass checkpoint by mile four, then continues over remote alpine and river terrain with no official aid stations. It is shorter than a true ultra, but the technical footing, a real river crossing, and a strict qualifying-entry requirement make it a serious test even for experienced trail runners.
Crow Pass Crossing is not open registration. You need to meet one of several published qualifying standards: completing a technical Alaska trail race of 14 or more miles since 2023 at 15 minutes per mile or faster (with specific time requirements for a couple of named qualifier races), completing the entire Crow Pass trail in under 6 hours 30 minutes since 2023, or completing a comparable technical trail event outside Alaska with race-director approval. The field is capped at 150, entrants must be at least 18 (with a narrow exception for strong 16- and 17-year-olds), and registration opens on UltraSignup each April 1.
The mandatory gear list is a windbreaker or rain jacket, a long-sleeve shirt, a long leg layer, a winter hat (no ballcaps, though a buff tucked to form a hat counts), gloves, a water container, and your race bib. Gear checks happen randomly before the start and racers are subject to spot checks at the finish, with disqualification for missing gear at the finish and a 30-minute penalty for finishing without your bib. Bear spray is recommended, not required, and loaner cans are available from race organizers.
No official aid stations exist on course, and racers must be self-sufficient. You are allowed to receive food, drink, or medical aid from spectators or others along the course, but you cannot be paced by a non-racer, and aid cannot be pre-stashed for retrieval on race day. Refreshments are provided at the finish line at the Eagle River Nature Center. Plan your carry accordingly: this is closer to a self-supported traverse than a produced trail race with stations every few miles.
You have 70 minutes to reach the Crow Pass checkpoint, about four miles and 2,200 feet of climbing from the start; miss it and you are expected to give back your bib and return to the trailhead. The overall finish cutoff is 6 hours 30 minutes from the 9 AM mass start, and finishing beyond that puts you in unofficial-finisher status rather than an official result. There is also a river crossing checkpoint with no time cutoff, but you must cross at the designated site and get checked off by volunteers there.
Link this guide
Race directors and clubs: link or embed this guide anywhere. It stays current.
<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/crow-pass-crossing">The Crow Pass Crossing course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/crow-pass-crossing" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="Crow Pass Crossing course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, qualifying standards, and gear requirements come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with Healthy Futures Alaska before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.