The Rut Mountain Runs Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer

Race strategy

Short race: go all out.

• Steep 54% wall. Control your pace and stay focused.
• High point at 3393m. Control your HR at altitude.
• Control your HR on the first climb.
• Start · 0.0km–1.4km · Race-day nerves push your heart rate up: don't follow the crowd, find your own rhythm.
• Home · 1.4km–4.4km · Climb of 1099m, high point 3393m. Kick for the line: give it everything you've got. Climb by heart rate or breathing, not pace. At altitude your pace drops, and that's fine. Hike the steepest pitches.

Course

The course climbs 1105m+. With 240m/km of climbing, the course is exceptionally steep, with long hiking-grade sections. By gradient, 100% of the distance is uphill, 0% downhill and 0% flat. The longest climb runs 4.4km at an average 24.9% grade (1099m of vertical). The steepest climb averages 53.6% over 0.5km. Flat-equivalent effort: 14.9 FlatKM.

Summits

The highest summit on the course is Lone Mountain (3397m), 4.4km from the start.

Poles

Trekking poles are strongly recommended: about 4.1km of the course is steep enough for them to pay off.

Quad damage

There is too little runnable descent to damage the quads: plan the race around climbing and fuelling.

Weather

On race day, start temperatures have historically ranged from 4°C to 15°C, with around 8°C at the highest point; the chance of precipitation is about 30%. Heavy rain of 10.0mm or more falls on about 3% of days around this date.

Results

385 finishers completed the 2026 edition. Men's winner: Cam Smith (United States) in 45:04. Women's winner: Camila Noe (United States) in 55:08.