John Bowers
John Bowers
 on 08/07/2021

The Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb is well known as “the hardest race you will ever love” by professionals, seasoned running veterans, and annual competitors. This race has a deep history and background that was started in honor of longtime Aerial Tram mechanic Chris Onufer (Captain “X”), who on March 7th, 2012 tragically passed away in an avalanche. After working at the resort for several years and being involved with the race on a media side, mostly taking photos of the event, I finally said this was the year to buck up and run the Hillclimb to see if the hype was justified. To be clear, I am very much a casual trail runner. I didn’t run track or cross country growing up and I didn’t extensively train for this race outside of periodically trail running on days I wasn’t biking or climbing. I’ve also never entered a running race before. 

Runners kick off the race at the base of Teton Village on the Wildflower Trail.

First and foremost it’s important to get an understanding of the course and how brutal it really is. Same as last year, the course was modified from its original route to the summit that had been a staple until COVID-19 shined its ugly head. Modified? Yes. Easier? Arguably not. The new course adds approx. 2 miles of running bringing the total distance to nearly 8 miles and one heck of an impressive overall ascent of 4,000 feet. As a first-time racer, I broke the course into three sections thinking it would be easier to mentally digest the run during race day. 

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

The first section was from the start at the base of Teton Village, up the Wildflower Trail, and ending at the top of the Bridger Gondola. This section covered a huge chunk of the total vertical gain and mileage. It was also an extremely awesome single-track running with amazing views of the valley and lower mountain. Section two was the leg burner in my opinion. After ascending nearly 4 miles and over 2,700 vertical feet from the base to the top of the gondola, section two directed us up the Headwall via the classic Cirque Trail switchbacks to just below the top of Sublette where the trail hits the mountain access road. Those initial switchbacks on the Cirque Trail are steep, long, and tested every bit of stamina I had.  The turn toward the Headwall Bootpack was a short, welcome reprieve of vertical gain before the last ascent to the road in Tensleep Bowl. Now, onto the last section, the section I dubbed “The last gut-punch before the finish line”. Once the trail switches to the road it was time to stretch the legs, take full strides in the flat/downhill part of the course, and hopefully make up some time. Enjoying this section was only suppressed by knowing that a final stout last hill was waiting ahead before the finish line. The last hill hit hard. Hot, steep, and dusty made every step toward the finish line a small feat but that much more rewarding after crossing the finish line. Hearing everyone cheering on the last section of the climb to the finish was the perfect motivation to ramp up and finish strong.

High up on the Headwall a group of runner dig deep.

After completing the race and reflecting on the morning, I am a full believer that this race is “the hardest race you will ever love”. The hype is real. You will push yourself, test your stamina and in the end, fall in love with running up Rendezvous Mountain. I want to give a huge shout-out to all of the event staff, your work before, during, and after this race was exceptional. I also want to give a huge “Hell yeah!” to all of the competitors for completing the course. Enjoy a cold beverage and take a day off. 

OVERALL RESULTS

All photos below by Stephen Shelesky.