Loon Mountain Race Course Guide

The lower mountain: deceptively runnable

The first stretch climbs grass ski slopes and cat track at a grade that is hard but still runnable for a fit mountain runner. This is where people make their first mistake. It feels manageable relative to what is coming, so the temptation is to go out on effort that feels like a normal trail race. It is not. Everything above you gets steeper, and the runners who fade hardest on Upper Walking Boss are usually the ones who spent too much here.

Settle into a rhythm you could hold for the better part of an hour. Breathing, not pace, is your gauge. If you cannot hold a conversation in short bursts on the lower mountain, you are going too hard for what is above you.

Upper Walking Boss: the crux

This is the pitch that gives the race its reputation. A black-diamond ski trail that averages around a 40 percent grade, steep enough that running stops being the right tool. You hike it, hands on your thighs or on the ground ahead of you, taking small, controlled steps and finding whatever rhythm keeps you moving without blowing up your heart rate.

There is no shame in walking here. Almost everyone does. What separates a good climb from a bad one is whether you arrive at the base of Walking Boss with anything left, which comes back to how you paced the lower mountain.

The Bear Claw cutoff and the push to North Peak

At mile 5.1, the top of the Bear Claw Extension, there is a hard cutoff at 11:00 AM. Miss it and you do not get to finish on foot. Race staff redirect you to the gondola instead of letting you continue toward North Peak. Given the wave starts at 7:30 and 8:00 AM, most runners have real room, but if the climb is going badly, know where you stand against the clock well before you get there.

From Bear Claw the course finishes the push toward North Peak. By this point you have been climbing for the better part of an hour with almost no recovery, so the finish rewards whoever managed their effort on the way up more than whoever started fastest.

Pace by grade and effort, not by watch pace

A minutes-per-mile number means almost nothing on a course that averages a 10 percent grade and spikes to 40 percent. What matters is holding a sustainable output as the grade steepens under you, which is a different skill than running flat splits. Use a grade-adjusted pace to translate your flat-ground fitness into an honest target for the lower slopes, so you do not arrive at Upper Walking Boss already empty.

Build a realistic finish window against the cutoff

A short race with 3,066 feet of gain in 6 miles runs nothing like your 10K time would suggest. A vert-aware finish prediction that accounts for a course this steep gives you an honest window and tells you where you actually stand against the 11:00 AM Bear Claw cutoff at mile 5.1, instead of hoping the math works out.

A little carbohydrate goes a long way

For an effort under 90 minutes, a small dose of fast carbohydrate, one gel or a handful of chews before the start, is enough for most runners. If you expect to be out there over an hour, a second small dose partway up the mountain is reasonable, but this is not a race where you need to be hitting 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrate per hour. That math is built for multi-hour efforts, not a 6-mile hillclimb.

Hydrate before, carry little, do not eat heavy beforehand

Show up hydrated rather than trying to drink your way through the climb. You will be hiking steep pitches with your torso folded over for long stretches, and a full stomach or a bottle sloshing around does you no favors. Skip the heavy pre-race meal, keep breakfast light and a few hours out, and let water and a small carb dose carry you the rest of the way.