Eric
Eric
 on 08/01/2020

Dubbed as “the hardest race you will ever love” the Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb is back. It’s a little different this year with a new route due to the Aerial Tram not running because of scheduled maintenance and COVID concerns. The race started at the base of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, up the Wildflower Trail to the Rendezvous Lodge, continuing onto the Cirque Trail and then utilizing the mountain road to circle back to the Rendezvous Lodge. See results below. 

Approx. 8 miles, 4,000 vertical foot ascent, and 1,200 foot descent on the mountain road.

At the shotgun start the racers quickly fell into their running order and began climbing steep single track winding up the Wildflower Trail for the first 3,000 vertical feet to the Rendezvous Lodge. The racers continued on twisting single track though fields of wildflowers up the Headwall on the Cirque Trail eventually passing underneath Corbet’s Couloir.

The elite men’s field jockeys for position at the start

As racers topped out on Tensleep Bowl they used to climb the ridge up Rendezvous Bowl for a final push to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain. Instead the racers were diverted onto the JHMR summer mountain road adding on two additional miles of high paced running on flats, a steep downhill and final uphill push back to Rendezvous Lodge.

Up the Headwall to Tensleep Bowl

This race wasn’t just about climbing prowess, and the racers needed the full bag of tricks to put in a winning time including: endurance, speed, downhill agility and determination to push to the top on the final grueling ascent. For the men Seth DeMoor from Denver, CO and last year’s Rendezvous Hillclimb winner took the top spot with a time of 1:04:35. Seth reached the top of Tensleep Bowl at a blistering fast time of 48 minutes. The one hour mark may have fallen this year if the course had not changed.

Seth DeMoor runs towards the finish

Seth was closely paced on the climb by Jackson Hole local, skier and runner, Stephen Mulherin. On the flats and downhill is where Seth solidified his lead by sprinting down 1,000′ vertical at astonishing speed. Stephen crossed the finish in line in second at 1:05:43 followed by Adam Peterman with a time of 106:34.

DeMoor followed closely by Mulherin up the Headwall

For the ladies, reigning champion, Samantha Diaz battled with Nicole Murray up the Wildflower Trail and the Cirque. In the flats and downhill portion Samantha took the lead and pushed through the final uphill. Samantha remarked at the finish line “the course was really fun with some downhill but the hardest part of the race was the last climb back up to Rendezvous Lodge.” Samantha put in a winning time of 1:22:46, Nicole Murray crossed the finish line in second at 1:24:47, followed by Katy Hollbacher in third at 1:29:04.

Diaz pushes through the final uphill to a 1st place finish

For a full list of results click below. Thanks for everyone who came out to support a safe and fun 2020 Hillclimb!

This non-profit annual race is run in honor of our friend and longtime JHMR Aerial Tram mechanic Chris Onufer (Captain “X”), who on March 7th, 2012 tragically passed away in an avalanche. And to keep the spirit of running alive for future generations, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort donates 100% of the proceeds to the trails division of Friends of Pathways, all in the name of Chris Onufer.