⏵ Course guide · Arizona's highest footrace
Sky Peaks is a three-day mountain running festival at Arizona Snowbowl, and Aravaipa's own claim, Arizona's highest footrace, checks out: the courses top out near 11,510 to 11,598 feet, and every Saturday race but the 5K opens with a climb to that same altitude before splitting into its own route. I will walk you through the full weekend first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for genuine high-altitude racing, with free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official Aravaipa race page. Check the current date, distances, cutoffs, and aid in the race-day details before you commit. Race logistics change year to year, and distances may shift slightly due to permitting.
Sky Peaks is not one race, it is a full mountain-running weekend built around the Arizona Snowbowl ski area, with a different format each day and every course anchored to the same high-altitude terrain.
Friday afternoon is a standalone, 1.4-mile hill climb straight up Agassiz Peak, 2,047 feet of gain finishing at a helipad 100 feet above the top of the Arizona Gondola, at 11,598 feet, the highest point of the entire weekend. Runners ride the gondola back down. This is short, brutally steep, and a different kind of hard than the longer Saturday races.
Every Saturday race except the 5K starts with the same 3.4-mile Agassiz Loop, which circles the Snowbowl property and tops out at 11,500 feet before each distance splits onto its own route. The 5K stays flatter, looping through the aspens instead. New for 2026, fixed-time 6-hour and 12-hour options stay on the Agassiz Loop the entire time, racking up roughly 2,000 feet of gain every lap for runners who want maximum climbing over a set duration.
Sunday brings two Mountain races run point to point rather than looped. The Mountain 6K starts at Agassiz Lodge, tops out at the gondola, then descends the ski runs back down. The Mountain 20K starts at 7,200 feet at the shuttle-accessed Fort Valley Trailhead and climbs to 11,500 feet before descending the ski slopes to Agassiz Lodge, the single biggest point-to-point elevation swing of the weekend.
With courses topping out above 11,500 feet, altitude is the dominant factor here, more than the grade of any single climb.
Since nearly every Saturday distance starts with the same demanding Agassiz Loop, go out conservatively on it regardless of your target distance. A grade-adjusted pace target keeps your early effort honest at altitude, where your normal easy pace produces a noticeably higher heart rate than it would at home.
If you are traveling from low elevation, arriving even two or three days early to acclimatize meaningfully changes how the Agassiz Loop and the later climbs feel. If you cannot arrive early, plan to run noticeably slower than your flat-ground fitness suggests, especially in the first hour.
⏵ Free tools to pace this course
Real altitude changes your fueling needs more than most Arizona desert races do. Plan for both the climbing and the thin, dry mountain air.
For the longer distances, aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour. Altitude can blunt appetite, so practice your exact race-day fueling at elevation beforehand if possible, since what works at sea level does not always sit the same way above 11,000 feet.
Cool mountain temperatures can mask real fluid loss at this altitude, so drink on a schedule rather than waiting until you feel thirsty. Sodium in the 300 to 600 mg per liter range covers most runners here. Poles are allowed and recommended for every distance, and they help conserve leg energy on the steep, repeated climbing.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and genuine high-altitude conditions with the free ultra fueling calculator. 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, this exact Arizona Snowbowl elevation profile, and your projected splits. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for genuine high-altitude climbing, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
Sky Peaks is Arizona's highest footrace, and the 50 Mile backs that claim up: about 8,410 feet of climbing with a max elevation of 11,510 feet. Every runner starts with the "Agassiz Loop," a 3.4-mile route that circles the Arizona Snowbowl property and tops out at 11,500 feet before the course even gets to its "respective" sections. Add genuine high-altitude thin air on top of the vert, and this is a serious mountain ultra even by Colorado or California standards, not just an Arizona one.
The 50 Mile carries about 8,410 feet of gain topping out at 11,510 feet. The Friday Hill Climb alone packs 2,047 feet into just 1.4 miles, ending at a helipad 100 feet higher than the top of the Arizona Gondola, at 11,598 feet, the highest point in the whole event. Every Saturday distance except the 5K opens with the 3.4-mile Agassiz Loop (about 2,000 feet of that loop's climbing alone) before splitting into each distance's own route.
It runs across three days. Friday afternoon is the standalone Agassiz Hill Climb, a 1.4-mile, 2,047-foot ascent finishing at a helipad above the Arizona Gondola, with runners riding the gondola back down. Saturday hosts the main slate: 50 Mile, 50K, 26K, 11K, and 5K races, plus new-for-2026 fixed-time 6-hour and 12-hour events that stay on the repeating Agassiz Loop. Sunday closes with two point-to-point Mountain races, a 6K starting at Agassiz Lodge and a 20K starting at Fort Valley Trailhead (shuttled), both finishing with a ski-slope descent to Agassiz Lodge.
The 50 Mile carries a 16-hour cutoff. The Friday Hill Climb has its own practical deadline: finish by 7:00 PM to ride the gondola back down, since that is your only way off the mountain from the finish. Confirm the current cutoffs for the other Saturday and Sunday distances directly with Aravaipa before race week, since a mountain festival this complex adjusts logistics year to year.
This is genuine high-altitude racing, up to 11,598 feet on the Hill Climb and 11,510 feet on the 50 Mile, so altitude, not just distance or vert, is the primary variable to plan around. If you live near sea level, arrive several days early to acclimatize if your schedule allows, and pace every early climb more conservatively than the grade alone would suggest. Aim for roughly 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate an hour for the longer distances, and prioritize fluid intake, since dry mountain air at this elevation pulls more moisture from you than the cool temperatures suggest. Poles are allowed and recommended for every distance.
Not as a first attempt at serious vert. Between the Agassiz Loop's 2,000-plus feet packed into 3.4 miles and the genuine altitude above 11,000 feet, this is one of the more demanding mountain race weekends in Arizona. The 5K and 11K on Saturday, or the Sunday Mountain 6K, are reasonable ways to experience the course and the altitude at a shorter distance before working up to the 50K or 50 Mile in a future year.
Link this guide
Race directors and clubs: link or embed this guide anywhere. It stays current.
<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/flagstaff-sky-peaks">The Flagstaff Sky Peaks course guide</a>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, distances, cutoffs, and aid come from public sources and can change year to year, so confirm the current specifics with the official race before you register or run. The fueling and pacing advice is general and not medical advice.