Holcomb Valley Trail Run Course Guide

This is a real mountain trail race, not a casual fun run. The 33 mile event carries roughly 4,650 to 4,960 feet of climbing and the same amount of descent across Pacific Crest Trail singletrack and forest road, and the whole thing sits at altitude, starting near 6,750 feet in Big Bear and working up through higher Holcomb Valley terrain. The steady climbing, the thinner air, and the early-summer high-country sun all stack up, and that is what makes it harder than the modest mileage looks. The 15 mile event is friendlier but still a hilly day with roughly 2,250 to 2,500 feet of gain, and the shorter 9 and 5 mile races are approachable. Always confirm the current course and distances on the official site, because the race has flagged possible Forest Service permitting changes.

Published figures put the 33 mile course at roughly 4,650 to 4,960 feet of cumulative climbing, with an equal amount of descent, since the route returns to the Big Bear start area. The 15 mile course carries roughly 2,250 to 2,500 feet of gain. The climbing does not come at you as one giant wall. It comes in rolling Pacific Crest Trail and forest-road grades that add up over the day, so the hard part is holding a steady effort at altitude, not surviving one brutal ascent.

Fuel it like a long high-country day with real sun on you. For the 33 mile, most runners do well aiming for around 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour once their gut is trained for it, with a sodium concentration around 500 to 700 mg per liter of fluid, because June in the San Bernardino Mountains can get warm and the open sections are exposed. The 15 mile is short enough that simpler fueling works, but you still want steady carbohydrate and fluid from the gun. Carry enough between aid stations to cover the exposed climbs, and rehearse your hourly numbers in training first. Our free ultra fueling calculator builds a carb, sodium, and fluid plan per hour for your expected time and the heat.

The 33 mile event runs on roughly an 11 hour time limit with the course closing in the late afternoon, and it has intermediate cutoffs at the later checkpoints, so you cannot fall too far behind on the early climbs and expect to claw it back. The 15 mile and the shorter events have their own earlier course-closing times. Because the exact checkpoint cutoffs and start times can shift year to year, build your pacing plan backward from the published cutoffs for the current edition with a safety buffer, and confirm them on the official race site before race day.

Yes, and it matters more than most flatlanders expect. The start sits around 6,750 feet in Big Bear, and the course climbs into higher Holcomb Valley and Pacific Crest Trail terrain above that. It is not extreme altitude, but coming from sea level you should expect the climbs to feel noticeably harder, your heart rate to run higher for the same effort, and your pace targets from home to be optimistic. If you can get there a few days early to sleep high, or do some altitude prep, it helps. Either way, pace the climbs by effort and breathing, not by your sea-level numbers.

There is no documented Western States, UTMB, Hardrock, or Cocodona qualifier status for this race, and the 33 mile distance is shorter than the typical 100 kilometer threshold that most major lotteries want for a qualifier. So treat Holcomb Valley as a great high-country trail race and a strong early-season fitness test or tune-up, not a qualifying event. If you need a specific qualifier, confirm the requirements with that race directly. And always verify any current status on the official Holcomb Valley site.