⏵ Course guide · Alaska winter lottery 100
The White Mountains 100 sends a lottery field of roughly 85 competitors on a 100-mile counterclockwise loop through remote backcountry north of Fairbanks, Alaska, on foot, ski, or bike, with more than 8,000 feet of climbing and a 40-hour time limit. I will walk you through the route and checkpoint structure first, then give you a strategy built for a long winter effort, plus free tools to dial in your own numbers.
These facts come from the official race site, endurancenorth.org/wm-100. Check the current year lottery timeline, checkpoint locations, and gear rules before you commit. Race logistics can change year to year.
Racers begin at the Wickersham Dome Trailhead, Milepost 28 of the Elliott Highway, about an hour's drive from Fairbanks, and follow a 100-mile counterclockwise loop through the BLM White Mountains National Recreation Area, mostly on partially maintained snowmachine trails, for more than 8,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain.
Highlights on course include a climb above treeline to the Cache Mountain Divide, with views of limestone jags, and the "ice lakes," a beautiful and treacherous mile-long stretch of frozen overflow. The landscape shifts between rolling hills, black spruce forests, frozen lowlands, and scenic ridgelines, with wide-open vistas of the surrounding ranges.
Aid stations approximately every 20 miles offer shelter, food, water, and limited options for sleeping and for medical or emergency support. A warm shelter shows up roughly every 20 miles as well. The trail shelter at mile 91 only has snacks, so plan your final push accordingly. All four checkpoints and the finish line have warm food and snacks, including meatball soup, baked potatoes with sour cream and bacon, homemade bread, brownies, cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, and soda.
Registration opens in late 2026, followed by a lottery. Slots are apportioned across categories: roughly 6 for last year's winners, about 10 for selected volunteers, about 5 sponsored racer spots at $1,000 each, and the remainder, roughly 65 plus, for lottery racers. Your card is charged the $285 entry fee only if you are drawn. There is a single combined waitlist for all three divisions (foot, ski, bike).
With a foot course record of 17 hours 6 minutes against a 40-hour limit, the gap between the fastest and the average finisher here is large, which reflects how much winter conditions can slow travel on this terrain.
The terrain above treeline and the treacherous ice lakes stretch are not places to make up time under pressure. Pace the early, more sheltered miles conservatively enough that you arrive at the exposed sections with margin, both in time and in physical reserves, rather than pushing hard early and hoping conditions cooperate later.
Checkpoints roughly every 20 miles give you real data points to check your pace against the 40-hour cutoff. Recalculate your projected finish after each one, since wind, snow conditions, and your own fatigue can all shift the math well beyond what a flat-ground pace estimate would predict.
⏵ Free tools to plan this effort
Calorie needs climb in Arctic conditions, and with checkpoints spaced roughly 20 miles apart, you need enough carried food and water to bridge each gap safely, not just enough to feel good.
The official gear guidance is direct: carry enough food and water to sustain yourself between all checkpoints and during a possible survival situation. Use the warm meals at each of the four checkpoints, meatball soup, baked potatoes, bread, and hot drinks, to fully reset your intake rather than just topping off.
The trail shelter at mile 91 only has snacks, not full meals, so make sure your final checkpoint stop before it leaves you with enough calories and hydration for the closing miles. Build your baseline per-hour targets with the free ultra fueling calculator, then adjust upward for cold-weather energy demands.
⏵ Build your fueling plan
Get a carb, sodium, fluid, and caffeine baseline built for your weight and goal effort with the free ultra fueling calculator, then adjust it for the Arctic cold. Browse the rest of the free running tools at the tools hub.
⏵ Train for it with Summit Line
Get a build around YOUR fitness heading into a long, cold-weather effort. Summit Line reads your real training, builds a plan for sustained climbing and cumulative fatigue, and rehearses your fueling so race day is something you execute, not guess at.
The White Mountains 100 is a 100-mile winter loop through remote Alaskan backcountry, on foot, ski, or bike, with more than 8,000 ft of cumulative elevation gain and a 40-hour time limit. Wind, blowing and drifting snow, Arctic temperatures, and water crossings are all called out by the official race site as not uncommon along the route. The foot course record sits at 17 hours 6 minutes (Joe Grant, 2014), which shows how much slower most finishers move relative to the fastest given the terrain and conditions.
The official race site lists more than 8,000 feet of cumulative elevation gain over the 100-mile counterclockwise loop. Highlights include a climb above treeline to the Cache Mountain Divide, with breathtaking views of limestone jags, and the "ice lakes," a beautiful and treacherous mile-long stretch of frozen overflow. The landscape mixes rolling hills, black spruce forests, frozen lowlands, and scenic ridgelines.
Entry is by lottery. Slots are apportioned across several categories: roughly 6 for last year's winners, about 10 for selected volunteers, about 5 sponsored racer spots at $1,000 each, and the remainder, roughly 65 plus, for lottery racers. Your card is only charged the $285 entry fee if your name is drawn. The first roughly 65 names drawn go on the roster, with the rest on a single combined waitlist for all three divisions (foot, ski, bike).
This is a winter event where calorie needs run higher than a comparable summer 100, and aid is spaced widely, roughly every 20 miles at the four checkpoints, plus a snacks-only trail shelter at mile 91. Checkpoints stock warm food like meatball soup, baked potatoes with sour cream and bacon, homemade bread, brownies, cookies, coffee, hot chocolate, and soda, along with hot and cold water. Carry enough food and water to sustain yourself between checkpoints and during a potential survival situation, since the official gear list calls this out as strongly recommended.
The overall time limit is 40 hours, from an 8:00 AM Sunday start to an 11:59 PM Monday cutoff. Given the foot course record sits at 17 hours 6 minutes and the women's foot record at 22 hours 1 minute, most finishers need considerably longer than the fastest times, and the 40-hour window reflects how much winter conditions can slow travel on this route.
The race entry itself gates this somewhat: participants must show they are capable of safely finishing this winter 100-mile event, with decisions at the race director's discretion. Wind, Arctic temperatures, and water crossings are common, and racers must be experienced in their chosen mode of winter endurance travel and fully self-sufficient between checkpoints. Build real cold-weather and self-sufficiency experience before treating this as an entry-level winter ultra.
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<a href="https://runsummitline.com/guides/white-mountains-100">The White Mountains 100 course guide</a><iframe src="https://runsummitline.com/embed/race/white-mountains-100" style="width:100%;max-width:420px;height:180px;border:0;" loading="lazy" title="White Mountains 100 course guide by Summit Line"></iframe>This guide is independent and for planning only. The course details, dates, cutoffs, and lottery rules 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.
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