Race Report - 2018 Matterhorn Ultraks 50K Sky Race

Glacier view from Gornergrat.

I had registered for this race or the past 3 years, never actually making it to the start line in Zermatt, Switzerland. The Matterhorn Ultraks had been on my bucket list of must do mountain races for a very long time and this year, it just lined up perfectly, well, kind of. It fell on the weekend before my second UTMB, but since my training ramp up hadn't been what it used to be in the past when prepping for 100 mile races in the mountains, I figured I could kill 2 birds with one stone. Check a race of my bucket list AND use it as the final tuneup/long run before UTMB. I know I know, its probably too close to the actual goal race, but I found that I don't do well with long tapers. I prefer "crash tapers", one week of basically no running or maybe a single shakeout run prior to the goal race, so this would fit in with that approach.

Waterfall on the course.

I had recruited my brother Andy to join me as crew for UTMB, so I figured why not have him join me the weekend prior to hang out in Zermatt before during and after the race before we'd make the drive over to Chamonix, France for UTMB the following Monday. We both arrived in Zurich on Thursday evening and after a couple of near major screwups including a missed train and a screwed up rental car reservation, we eventually got into a rental car on made the 3 hour drive from Zurich to Zermatt. 

Clouds moving in quickly over the glaciers.

However, the travel adventure wasn't quite over yet, as we realized that what I initially suspected to be a toll road was actually a car train, i.e. the only way to get to our final destination without backtracking for a couple of hours. It ended up being quite the experience, albeit another somewhat expensive lesson learned to go along with the missed train and uber expensive car rental adjustment.  

Clouds accompanied us for much of the race, especially at the higher altitudes.

Thankfully, we finally made it to Täsch, the final stop before boarding the train to Zermatt, which is the only mode of transportation available to visitors. Zermatt is a nearly automobile free zone. While some locals are allowed motorized vehicles, taxis, shuttles, etc. are all electric and visitors may only travel to Zermatt by train. It is an ingenious idea and the only drawback is the inability to hear taxis and shuttles as they buzz past you on the narrow pathways of Zermatt:-)

I had booked a small one room apartment via Booking.com at a very reasonable rate just a few minutes walk from the center of Zermatt and the race start. Similar to Chamonix during UTMB week, Zermatt was abuzz with runners and their friends and families for the various races during the weekend. One important thing to note his the high cost of living in Switzerland, so I was glad to see that our small one room apartment with a balcony and an amazing view of the Matterhorn also had a small kitchenette, allowing us to prepare a few meals rather than eat out. The trip had already gotten more expensive than originally planned due to the traveling fiascos, so any additional savings were welcome on my part.

One can never have too many pictures of glaciers.

We checked into our room and went straight to the center of town, where the start and finish area for all races was located along with a massive tent and a small race expo. There were quite a few events taking place around the race itself, but I was trying to keep it simple and just pick up my race bib, get some groceries for dinner and call it a night. A 7AM race start just 10 minutes from our hotel meant a full night's sleep. 

The weather forecast was iffy at best, predicting rain for much of the afternoon. That would likely mean pure visibility all day and probably no views of the actual Matterhorn peak at all. Bummer, but I reminded myself that just running in this area would be rewarding enough. Ultimately, the weather didn't quite move in as originally predicted, so I did manage to get juuuust a few decent pictures of this amazing race course. 

One of the many ridge lines runners would cross.

 As has been the case in a few of the more spectacular European races I have been able to run, I was able to connect with Bryan McClure, who is currently living and working near Frankfurt, Germany and who lived in Huntsville, Alabama near our local "mountain" prior to moving there. Kind of ironic, me, the German living in the US and he, the American, living in Germany. Anyway, we make a point of trying to connect at races whenever our schedules allow and this was one of those events. 

 We had discussed our race plans and as had been the case at Zugspitz-Ultratrail last year, I wanted to run with him for at least the first half of the race and see what happens. Unfortunately, Bryan ended up with some issues very early in the race, so I ended up running pretty much solo for most of the race except the final 10K. I am happy to say that Bryan was able to finish the race overcoming some issues along the way.

Majestic Matterhorn peak.

My plan had been simple. Run this amazing course at a reasonably easy pace early on, keep the heart rate low, take lots of pictures if possible and pick up the pace later on if I felt good. After all, there was no point in pushing the pace in a race with 12,000ft of vert over 50km, when I still had a 100 miler with 33,000ft of vert ahead of me for the following weekend. I kept a steady pace and felt good pretty much all day. Thankfully, altitude was not an issue for me either.

One of the race checkpoints below.

The miles kept ticking away quickly as I took in the scenery. Unbeknownst to me, I was slowly passing people throughout the day. The race tracking app would provide great detail of how the race went for me on paper and it was really neat to see that after the race. I had zero ambition other than finishing the race feeling good, so that was my only focus. I kept checking in with myself. How are my legs? Quads, calves? How are my feet? Any hotspots? Everything went near perfectly and I didn't even feel like I was in a race until the final 10K, when I would start to feel the effort of the day jsut a bit.

Massive waterfall along the race course.

 Without going into too much detail about the race course and the profile, I identified 6 climbs on the course. 2 extremely long climbs and 4 slightly less severe climbs. All of them put together make for a very challenging 50K race. Some of the highlights of the race include Gornergrat, a hanging bridge, a massive waterfall and, of course, spectacular views of majestic Matterhorn. Yes, the peak revealed itself just long enough (just a few minutes, in fact) to allow me a few pictures. However, the most impressive feature along the course were the glaciers visible to our left as we crossed the Gornergrat. I could not stop taking pictures, it was so spectacular.

Beautiful blue lake just below Gornergrat.

 As expected, the course kept delivering, both in challenging terrain with barely a flat section to be found and with the views, one better than the last one. While I worked my ay through the course, I came across yet another friend from the trails, Oliver Schmidt, a fellow German from Hamburg near my hometown of Flensburg, whom I'd met a couple of years earlier as we both suffered through the final stages of a similarly challenging 50K in the South of Switzerland, the Scenic Trail 50K, taking both of us much longer than expected, mostly due to unexpectedly hot temps. Anyway, it was great to see another friend on the course. Unfortunately, we only saw each other briefly in passing as he was helping a friend finish her very first 50K. Thankfully, they both succeeded as well.

During the final 10K, I fell in with another German, born in Hamburg, but living in Amsterdam for most of his life, Leonard Faeustle. We ended up running about the same pace and decided to just run it in together, chatting the entire way as we made the final long descent to the finish line. We crossed the finish line together and I was glad to see that my brother Andy had managed to track me during the race to be there to see me finish. Looking at the splits and the overall results later on, it looked like I had actually stuck to a good plan, starting fairly slow and picking up the pace ever so slightly.

 I had recovered enough on the following day to make a recovery hike up to Matterhorn basecamp, the Hörnli Hut, where climbers spend the night before making their climb up to the peak. This race was everything I had hoped it would be and I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

  

Cool suspension bridge high above the valley below.

What are you looking at?

  

  

View from the center of the suspension bridge.

View showing the steepness of the terrain.

Observatory atop Gornergrat overlooking Matterhorn.

    

Smiling above the clouds.

Obligatory selfie of Bryan and I before the race start.

Leonard and I finishing the race, smiling from ear to ear.

Race Report - 2018 Volcanic 50

Entering the final 10k of the race after having nearly completed the circumnavigation of Mount St. Helens volcano.

I had the fortune of spending a week in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado recently, where I met one of the awesome photographers in our sport, Paul Nelson, who told me about this amazing race that had runners circumvent volcano Mount St. Helens. Circumnavigations of various volcanoes and mountains had been on my bucket list already, so here was an opportunity to do so in a fully supported fun setup. Even better, I had to be in Portland for work, so clearly things aligned for a reason:-)

I realized very quickly that while the Volcanic 50 was a fairly young race, it had been running for 7 years, it was organized and run by a very professional crew. The race course itself starts and finishes at Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument near Cougar, Washington, taking runners on a 33 mile circumnavigation of Mount St. Helens with nearly 7500 feet of vertical gain. Runners travel across lava and pumice fields, cross rivers, through dense forest, deep ravines and even the blast zone.

16yo running his first ultra marathon.

 I decided to travel to the race start from my AirBNB in Portland on the morning of the race, but many other racers decided to take advantage of the car camping option offered my the race organization directly at the site of the race start/finish area. It created an awesome atmosphere. On top of that, race organizers provided hot coffee on race morning while waiting in line to show your mandatory gear and to get your race bib. In addition, they sold some pretty sweet race swag, truckers, hoodies and shirts.

Orange cones pointed the "path" through extensive volcanic boulder fields.

My race plan was simple, take it easy and take plenty of photos. This was a training race for me in prep for UTMB and more importantly, I wanted to enjoy the journey and take in the amazing landscape. I realized quickly that running too fast wasn't going to be a problem. I also figured out why finishing times seemed rather slow when compared to other 50K races. While 7400ft of vert is certainly challenging, the real effort was the result of the large volcanic boulder fields requiring not only navigational skills but also mental focus to avoid stepping into a gap between rocks and boulders to prevent serious injury. It was as much an adventure as it was an ultra. 

Above the clouds.

Sticking to my plan, I lined up in the middle of the pack of about 280 runners and once the start signal was given, we started the gradual 3 mile ascent towards Loowit Trail that would take us all the way around Mt St. Helens before descending again to the finish.

 The initial climb was pretty challenging as I was working to keep my heart rate reasonably low in the excitement of a semi frantic race start. The front of the field of runners took off and were out of sight pretty quickly. It allowed me not to worry or even think about keeping up with the front of the field. I had had a pretty rough experience the previous month in a race in the Swiss Alps were I pulled the plug after 80k and I had no desire for another rough day on the trails.  

Actual "trails" through boulder fields were not the norm.

With last month's DNF and with UTMB clearly on my mind as the goal race, I had no problems keeping my pace easy. I had no idea where I was in the field and I did not care. I kept my iPhone close and ready to take pics along the course. Looking at my pictures after the race, I am glad I did. This race offers not only some of the most challenging terrain, it also provides some of the most spectacular views, which easily explain why the PNW is such a popular trail runner destination.

Runners had to navigate through volcanic rock and boulders by spotting either orange cones or wooden posts.

Just a couple of miles before the first aid station, someone yelled "Yellow Jackets"! Oh great, I thought. I left my Epipen in the car to safe weight, instead opting for a tiny ziplock bag of Benadryl pills. Hopefully, they would leave me alone. Nope, they didn't. Instead, I got stung 4 times, both in my ankles and on my back. I responded by quickly chewing 2 Benadryl and washing them down with Nuun electrolyte drink and slowing down even more. 

I would keep an eye on my response to the stings and decide if I could continue once I reached the first aid station. Speaking of aid stations, they were more proof for an exceptionally well organized race. All of the food and water had to be carried in by volunteers the same way we came as this is a very remote area. Some of them had to carry it in days before the race. Thanks to all those volunteers and to the guys that marked this beautiful course.

"Bouldering" required 100% focus to prevent injury and I loved every minute of it:-)

 After arriving at the first aid station, I realized that I would be able to continue. Other than swollen painful ankle and back, I seemed to be fine. No swelling of the hands and face indicated that I should be ok to continue, so I did.

I settled in with a group of runners for most of the race and didn't really run alone until the final 10K. Even then, I "teamed up" with another runner as we pushed each other to the finish. Sub 7 hours was now the goal and we did everything we could to accomplish that. 

 Unfortunately, while I did manage not to fall the entire time we crossed some of the more treacherous boulder fields, I did take a hard fall on the final 2 mile downhill section when we tried to pick up the pace. It took me a minute to gather myself. Thankfully, the runner ahead of me turned around and helped me up. I was a bit dazed, but slowly started to move again. Adrenaline made me forget much of the pain I would later experience following the race. Nothing serious, just a few cuts and bruises that still haven't completely healed nearly 3 weeks later.

Spectacular views in every direction and beautiful single track trail the entire way.

I crossed the finish line in 7 hours and 1 minute, more or less in one piece. If you want a blow by blow report of this amazing race course, you should go and check it out for yourself. Trust me, it is well worth the trip. Remember, how often do you get a chance to circumvent an active volcano:-)  

 Check out the 2018 Volcanic 50 race results here.

Runners were dwarfed by the majestic landscape.

Hard-packed single track provided a nice reprieve from the more technical sections.

A couple of sections required "repelling" into and climbing out of ravines by rope.

There were surprisingly lush sections of landscape and trails in start contract to the volcanic blast zone (Plains of Abraham) we crossed.

The only way around these volcanic ravines was through the ravines.

Add caption

Climbing out of one of the larger volcanic ravines.

"Backside" view of Mount St. Helens.

The varied terrain challenges even the most experiences ultra trail runners, sometimes soft, sometimes hard-packed and sometimes massive boulder fields without a distinguishable path.

Lots of photo ops along this most beautiful volcanic circumnavigation.

Beautiful single track as far as the eye can see.

Isolated Spirit Lake at the "backside" of Mount St. Helens.

Mount St. Helens as seen from the trails across the Plains of Abraham.

Early trail section after the initial 3 mile climb to Loowit Trail.