The Slowest, Hardest 10k You Will Ever Love

The Rendezvous Mountain Hillclimb is so steep you can see the finish line from the start line.  

Yup, that’s it, the top of the tram, 4,000+ feet of elevation gain up to reach the summit of Rendezvous Mountain at 10,450 feet.  You toe the line for that moment in time when everything slows down. Your thinking becomes frozen with each step.  Usually, an effort like this one produces “the zone” and a personal record or near best time. This 10k, however, will be your slowest.  

Embrace it and earn your personal slowest time.

I like to break this course up into three sections.  Get to the first aid station at Casper Restaurant too fast and you will be cooked just like the beef chili served up in the restaurant come wintertime.  Your ego has to stay in the pocket this early because your next target is the Bridger Gondola and the Headwall – where aid station number two lies.  It’s not fair, but as you run up blues and blacks – you remember you are part of the 1% who can run this race, a race that takes twice as long as the usual charity “off-the-couch” 10k.  

Right now though, getting to the Headwall is your only goal, this aid station marks two-thirds of the way to the top. But it is steep, so steep that the second aid station comes into view like the Empire State Building does in New York City. So steep you can’t even look up because it takes too much energy. This is your moment of truth because it is really the moment of doubt for your legs and lungs.  

The Headwall; where things begin to feel possible.  This last section on the Cirque Trail from the Headwall to the Tram is not as steep, but then again you have 9,000 to 10,000 feet of altitude thrown down your throat and bleeding out of the pours of your legs. 

It is possible because you can always just hike.

Then you begin to see the ridge that will lead you to the tram with the famed Corbet’s Couloir to the lower right side of your quick, ‘how much further’ glance.  Your heart pounds harder and harder. Not because of your effort or the 4,100+ feet of uphill running, it is beating out of your chest because you finally realize the epic nature of what you are achieving. Each section has its own challenge, it’s own story to tell.

You have to run up, what people ski down. Yes, it was your personal worst 10k, but sucking at something never felt so rewarding.

Ready to take on the race? Sign up for the Rendezvous Mountain Hill Climb HERE.

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Eric Orton

World Renown Run Coach and author of The Cool Impossible

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