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⏵ Course guide · Colorado stage race

TransRockies Run: Pass to Pub Course Guide

Pass to Pub is the three-day version of TransRockies Run, a stage race across the Colorado high country between Hope Pass and Red Cliff. Three stages, three straight days, and almost the entire thing lives above 9,000 feet, with Day 1 sending you over Hope Pass at better than 12,500. A stage race is its own animal: the work is not one hard day, it is showing up on Day 2 and Day 3 with legs and a stomach that still function. I will walk you through the three stages first, then give you a pacing and fueling plan built for back-to-back days at altitude. There are free calculators along the way to dial in your own numbers.

⏵ At a glance

Pass to Pub quick facts

Format
3-day stage race, three stages over three days
Dates
July 19 to 21, 2026 (Sunday to Tuesday)
Distances
Full Pint: 51 mi (82 km) · Half Pint: 35 mi (56 km)
Total vertical gain
Full Pint: about 9,635 ft · Half Pint: about 6,855 ft
Route
Colorado high country along the Continental Divide, Hope Pass to Red Cliff
Stages
Stage 1: over Hope Pass to Twin Lakes · Stage 2: Leadville to Nova Guides (Half Pint starts at Ski Cooper) · Stage 3: Nova Guides to Red Cliff
Altitude
Almost entirely above 9,000 ft, topping out over 12,500 ft at Hope Pass
Camp
Camp package (meals, shower truck, camping, ChillVille) from Sunday night
Entry
Registration on UltraSignup; confirm current solo and team categories there

These facts come from the official race site and the UltraSignup listing. Stage routes, dates, cutoffs, and camp logistics change year to year, so confirm the current details with the official race before you register or run.

The three stages: where Pass to Pub is won and lost

Pass to Pub traverses the Colorado high country in three stages, from the Hope Pass crossing down to the pub in Red Cliff. The Full Pint covers about 51 miles and 9,635 feet of climbing across the three days, the Half Pint about 35 miles and 6,855 feet. Here is the shape of each day, and the one thing that quietly decides your whole race.

Stage 1: over Hope Pass to Twin Lakes

You open with the marquee climb of the whole race. Stage 1 takes you up and over Hope Pass, the same high, thin-aired crossing the Leadville 100 is famous for, topping out over 12,500 feet before dropping to Twin Lakes. It is a stunning, brutal way to start, and it is also the single biggest trap on the course. The altitude makes a hard effort feel survivable right up until it is not, and runners who attack Hope Pass on fresh Day 1 legs pay for it for the next two days.

Treat Stage 1 as the start of a three-day effort, not a one-day race. Hike the steep pitches up Hope efficiently, keep your effort honest in the thin air, and get off the pass with something left. The goal today is to bank a smart day, not a hero day.

Stage 2: Leadville to Nova Guides

Stage 2 runs from Leadville, the highest incorporated city in North America at around 10,150 feet, out toward Nova Guides at Camp Hale. This is the day your Stage 1 pacing gets graded. If you ran Hope Pass with discipline, you arrive on tired but functional legs and can settle into a strong rhythm on the high mountain trail and forest road. If you did not, this is where the wheels start to wobble. The Half Pint distance starts farther along at Ski Cooper.

There is no single monster climb to fear here the way Hope Pass looms over Day 1, so the discipline is different: it is about holding steady effort on legs that are no longer fresh, and refusing to chase a pace your body cannot back up on Day 3.

Stage 3: Nova Guides to Red Cliff

The final stage brings you down off the high country to the finish at the pub in Red Cliff. By now your legs carry two days of climbing and two nights at altitude, so this is the day your overnight fueling and recovery either paid off or did not. Runners who refueled hard after Stages 1 and 2 can actually run this final day. Runners who under-ate are reduced to a grind, no matter how fit they showed up.

It is a celebration of a finish if you raced the three days as one connected effort. The pub at the end is the reward for pacing patiently and eating like it was part of the job.

The part that actually decides your race: the overnight

Here is the thing most first-time stage racers miss. Pass to Pub is not three separate races, it is one race with two long breaks in the middle, and what you do in those breaks matters as much as anything you do on the trail. The hours between stages, eating, rehydrating, getting off your feet, and sleeping at altitude, are where your next day is built or lost.

That is the whole argument for treating this as a managed, cumulative effort. Pace each stage so you can recover from it, then attack the recovery as deliberately as you attack the climbs.

Pacing strategy for three days at altitude

Pacing a stage race is a different skill than pacing a single ultra. You are not trying to have one great day, you are trying to have three decent ones in a row, which means leaving a margin you would never leave in a one-day race.

Pace the race, not the stage

The classic blow-up at Pass to Pub is running Stage 1 over Hope Pass like it is the only day that counts. It is not. Hold back more than feels necessary on Day 1, especially on the high climb, because every match you burn up there comes out of Stage 2 and Stage 3. The runner who finishes strong is almost always the one who looked too conservative on the first morning.

Climb by grade and altitude, not by your watch

Your flat-ground pace is meaningless on a 12,500-foot pass. What matters is the effort you can hold up the grade in thin air, so hike the steep pitches without guilt and keep your output even. A grade-adjusted pace turns your real fitness into honest climbing and descending targets for this kind of terrain, so you are not fooled by an early grade that feels easy at altitude and then wrecks the rest of your race.

Build a stage-by-stage finish prediction

Do not guess your stage times off a road race. The climbing, the altitude, and the cumulative fatigue all add real time, and they add more of it on Day 3 than Day 1. A vert-aware finish prediction for each stage gives you a realistic window for every day and lets you plan your effort and your fueling around it, instead of finding out on the mountain that you went out too hard.

⏵ Free tools to pace this race

Fueling strategy for back-to-back days

In a stage race, fueling is not just about getting through today, it is about being able to start tomorrow. Think in two layers: what you take in during each stage, and the refuel between them that most people get wrong.

During the stage: steady carbs in thin air

On the trail, aim for steady carbohydrate, usually around 60 to 90 grams per hour, and lean toward the lower end of your trained range if the altitude is hammering your stomach. The thin, dry air dehydrates you faster than you expect and dulls your appetite, so keep intake regular and easy to swallow rather than gambling on big late doses. Practice your exact carb rate on tired legs in training so it feels routine on Day 2 and Day 3, not like an experiment.

Between stages: the overnight refuel is the race

This is the layer that separates stage racers from one-day racers. The hours right after you finish a stage are when you reload for the next one. Get carbohydrate and protein in quickly to refill glycogen while your muscles are most receptive, rehydrate with real sodium because the altitude and dry air ran you down, and keep grazing through the evening so you toe the next line topped off instead of empty. Under-eat in this window and no amount of fitness saves your final stage.

⏵ Build your fueling plan

Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine plan per hour built for your weight, your goal time, and the altitude with the free ultra fueling calculator, and check your real sweat rate with the sweat-rate calculator so the thin, dry air does not catch you out. Browse the rest at the tools hub.

⏵ Train for it with Summit Line

Stage racing rewards managed, cumulative load, the exact thing Summit Line is built for. It reads your real training, builds a plan that teaches your legs to run tired, rehearses your per-stage and overnight fueling, and projects your time for each day around the climbing and the altitude. So Pass to Pub becomes three days you execute, not gamble on.

Start free →Explore the demo

TransRockies Run: Pass to Pub FAQ

How hard is the TransRockies Run Pass to Pub?

It is hard in a way a single race is not. The Full Pint is about 51 miles with roughly 9,635 feet of climbing, but it is split into three stages on three straight days, and almost the whole thing sits above 9,000 feet, with Day 1 crossing Hope Pass at better than 12,500. The difficulty is cumulative. Any one stage is runnable for a fit mountain runner, but the real test is showing up on Day 2 and Day 3 with legs and a stomach that still work. That makes recovery and fueling between stages just as important as fitness.

How much climbing and how high is Pass to Pub?

The Full Pint (51 miles) has about 9,635 feet of total vertical gain across the three stages, and the Half Pint (35 miles) has about 6,855 feet. Just as important as the vert is the altitude: the course lives almost entirely above 9,000 feet, with the Hope Pass crossing on Stage 1 topping out over 12,500. Thin air at that elevation slows your climbing, blunts your appetite, and stretches your recovery, so the height matters as much as the climbing does.

How do you train for a 3-day stage race like this?

The single most specific thing you can do is train your body to run on tired legs, because that is the whole event. Back-to-back long runs on the weekend, a long run Saturday followed by a solid run Sunday, teach your legs and your gut to perform when they are already fatigued, which is exactly what Stage 2 and Stage 3 ask for. Stack in real vertical so the climbing and the descents are familiar, and if you can, spend time at altitude or arrive early to acclimate. A plan that builds and tracks that cumulative load, rather than just counting weekly miles, is what gets you to the third start line in one piece.

How should you fuel across three days at altitude?

Think in two layers. During each stage, take in steady carbohydrate, usually around 60 to 90 grams per hour, leaning lower if the altitude is killing your stomach, and keep sodium up because the dry, high air dehydrates you faster than you expect. The layer most people miss is between stages: the hours after you finish are a race of their own. Get carbohydrate and protein in fast to refill glycogen, rehydrate with sodium, and keep eating through the evening so you start the next morning topped off instead of digging out of a hole. Stage racing is won and lost in that overnight window.

Do you need to be acclimated to the altitude?

You do not need to live at altitude, but you should respect it. The course is almost all above 9,000 feet and crosses Hope Pass over 12,500, and that thin air will slow your pace, lower your appetite, and make recovery harder whether you planned for it or not. If you live near sea level, the common approaches are to arrive several days early to start adjusting, or to come in as fresh as possible and pace the climbs conservatively by effort rather than by your flat-ground splits. Either way, plan your pacing and your fueling around the altitude from the start, not as something you react to on the mountain.

Is Pass to Pub a good first stage race, and can you run it solo?

It can be a great introduction to stage racing for a prepared mountain runner, with a real camp, a finish line each day, and a shorter Half Pint option if 51 miles over three days is a lot for your first one. It is not a soft place to start, though: the altitude and the back-to-back days ask for specific preparation. For solo entry versus running as a team, and the current categories, check the official UltraSignup listing, since those details can change year to year. If you train the cumulative fatigue and rehearse the fueling, most committed runners can get to that final pub in Red Cliff.

This guide is independent and for planning only. The stage routes, dates, distances, cutoffs, and camp logistics 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.