Cirque Series [Alta] – Race Recap!

Photo cred: JCE Photography (top and middle), Jana Herzog (landscape shots)

I had never heard of Cirque Series until Shannon had pitched it as an idea for a fall endeavor a few months back. I love hiking and running, but have not combined the two much, particularly at altitude.   After looking through photos and social media, it didn’t take much convincing for me or the others in our type-two loving group to sign up to run Alta.

Cirque Series, which just celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary, hosts races at 8 different ski resorts (and they just added a Washington option at Crystal Mountain, which is now at the top of my list) throughout the US. You start at the base, summit a peak, and head down to a festival finish.

• Mileage – anywhere from 6.5 to 9.4 miles
• Vert – anywhere between 2K to almost 4K

.  Each race also partners with local conservation non-profits and boasts some of the best energy I’ve ever experienced in the running world. 

   None of us had ever done anything like this. Shannon and I have tackled a few mountaineering pursuits like Baker and Rainier but no steep downhill running. However, what our group lacked in history we made up for in positive (delusional?) attitude and enthusiasm 

Our Airbnb was so convenient to the race start- we made it from our door to the start at Goldminer’s Daughter (8,650′) in less than 10 minutes (and also in style, Perry and I took the doors and top off our jeep like it was a Lego vehicle). 

When we arrived, our neighbors to the right were soaking their feet in an orange Home Depot contractors bucket – a scene that, despite never having experienced a mountain trail race, felt very on brand. The bucket was accompanied by a full tailgate spread, complete with a grill. Just a few cars down I noticed a purple metallic Lamborghini, proof that all walks of life were represented here.

Before heading to the vendor village, a girl pointed out that my bib number (218) was her birthday, which felt like a good omen. I joked about trading, but she laughed and said I wouldn’t want her chip time and I admitted she wouldn’t want mine either

Pre-race amenities were absolutely fantastic – because the race was small (500 participants), there was no pre race anxiety of getting to a porta potty in time (RIP to my nervous system at the United Half and Chicago last year). We were bestowed the luxury of real bathrooms – and as a bonus, the women’s bathroom had no line while the men’s snaked outside the door- a phenomenon so rare I felt like I needed to include it in this recap.

Kodiak cakes was on site cooking up flapjacks for participants, and a bunch of other vendors offered plenty of swag (Kudos to Backcountry for the Haribo, which gave us a big morale boost!). An unexpected surprise was Leki offering up tester poles which were a big upgrade from the generic carbon z poles I brought with me (and look, they’re on sale for Labor Day at REI!).

We had read that the cutoff was pretty strict – 30 minutes to get 1.7 miles up to the base of Sugarloaf chair. This is a rough pace of 17:38/mile or roughly 400 ft of climbing per mile. Our entire crew had been hyper-fixated on this metric, telling ourselves that we had to push for 30 minutes and then we could coast. At some point right before we got into the start chute, one of our group overheard that there was no longer a cutoff. We were THRILLED. All anxiety magically lifted off of us.

The race started at 10:00 a.m., which felt luxuriously late compared to the usual time that we need to start in Florida to beat the heat. The gun went off and we started running through the parking lot for an extra .5 mile loop, a detour necessitated by some construction going on at the base. Though we were at elevation, this first portion was deceivingly flat, and we had to remind ourselves to slow down and conserve energy.

The first few minutes when we made our way onto the trail were pretty mellow, but the course bottlenecked rather quickly as folks, include our foursome, slowed to a walk. The area was beautiful, with wildflowers peppered on either side of us. We walked passed a waterfall and got to fist bump a woman with the sweetest smile standing to the side.

We switched between walking the uphills and running some mellower grades and flats. At some point here, I did pull out those Leki poles (which were amazing. They’re definitely an investment, but I highly recommend if you have the cash) and was happy to have them. Eventually, we made our way to Alf’s mid-mountain, under the Sugarloaf lift (~9,200). Much to our surprise, a volunteer told us we had 5 minutes left before the cutoff!! I am so grateful we didn’t have that information earlier because I think we would’ve gunned it from the start, rendering us a mess for the steeper terrain that loomed.

We spent the next 1,000 ft or so climbing switchbacks – Claire and I trailed Perry and Shannon a bit, but our group did stop once through this section together to take a gel. Somewhere in the mid-way point between Alf’s and the Top of Collins (10,400′) I lost a bit of steam – Claire and I both were feeling the effects of the altitude (and perhaps a bit of DOMS as we had summited Hidden Peak the day before, YOLO) and were both excited about the aid station we could see to our right. Just before we climbed the last switchback, someone pointed out a moose! It was pretty far from us, but it gave us a bit of a trail magic power climb on that last uphill.

The top of Collins was a party! We re-upped our bottles with water and Skratch and had a little dance party before continuing on to the summit of Mt. Baldy (11,068′ – my Garmin shorted me a smidge). They didn’t provide any gels (a good thing, imagine the mess!) but I definitely took advantage of the unlimited liquid carbs.

This next section was one last gradual (compared to the scramble, anyway) uphill to get to the East Baldy Traverse/Sugarloaf Pass.

We had to do some light scrambling for a while before topping out at the summit – this is a short but technical section sometimes referred to as the “knife edge’ ridge. It is super steep vertical straight shot, and I swapped hands for poles to help hoist me up to the top. While it was steep, it never really felt like much exposure so it was more of a cardio blaster than anything “scary”. The views here were epic and I didn’t mind some of the bottlenecking as it gave me a change to soak up the scenery.

Once we got to the summit, our group had one last hug before we went on our way.

I am not a skilled descender, and much prefer uphill slogs. I will walk uphill for hours and hours without complaining (provided I packed light) and with a low heart rate, but I will perform poorly on the descents every time. I don’t know if it’s because I’m tall and just so far away from the ground or I just don’t practice enough, but I just don’t have enough faith in my footing and loose rock to hold me as I fumble-stumble down like an adolescent Clydesdale with one gear.

I was grateful for the weather as I couldn’t imagine trying to do this with microspikes or in the rain in a rush. Pretty early on, we saw a runner who had cramped up being attended to – the volunteers here were so on point and communicative – I felt safe and in the care of throughout the entire race. Thankfully, this was the only ‘injury’ I saw through the whole race.

After the trail finally mellowed out a bit, I found myself in the most stunning part of the course: a massive beautiful meadow, tall wildflowers lining either side, with a thin trail only wide enough for single file. It was almost deceptively steep towards the enough though, and all of a sudden I was speeding down at full tilt, my legs spinning out of control like they were moving without my consent. For a second I thought I would full send into a face-plant, but somehow I managed to stay upright.

Claire and I caught back up to each other at this point, and realized we were almost done. We had ascended about 5 miles up to Baldy, but the course looped to the finish line at only 2.75-ish miles from the summit. We ran at a good and comfortable clip when we could and walked some of the steeper sections, both laughing when we realized it was pretty hard to control our speed.

Once we saw the finish line, my road running mentality took over (Thanks runBMT!) and I sprinted to the finish. I had a shit eating grin on my face the entire time and it was such a joy to see Claire at the end and give her a hug.

Photo Cred: Katie Lasak

Once we finished, we made our way to the Backcountry tent for a la croix (the universe gifting me with unexpected la croix after full sends is a phenomenon I am very happy with) and to celebrate with Perry and Shannon.

The awards began and it was so inspiring to see all of the folks that worked so hard. Their times were absolutely unbelievable. To put it into perspective, I finished the race in 2:41:19, almost an hour and a half slower than the 21 year sport (this is the beginner/novice division) winner. The pro male, 27 year old Mason Coppi, finished in 1:00:36, which I can’t even fathom. The female pro finisher, Alexa Aragon, came in at 1:14:39, which is a 9:57 pace.

Something that I thought was really cool and unique about Cirque is they celebrated the oldest participant (a 75 year old from Montana!) and the youngest ones (these 9 and 10 year olds ran significantly faster than I did), not for time or pace but just for doing the thing. They also gave away a sweet surprise prize back for the person right in the middle of the pack. This really cultivated a spirit of community and all-inclusiveness – sometimes racing doesn’t feel like it’s for everyone, but I never felt that energy here. They also gave out a spirit award, named after founder Julian Carr’s dog Lexie, who inspired these races. This year’s winner works for one of the title sponsors and always said she wanted to do one of the Cirque races, but never took the leap until this year. She looked so proud walking up to the podium and watching her felt like a celebration of the human spirit.

After the awards, they started the raffle – the prizes were AMAZING. Free shoes from La Sportiva, dope gear from Mammut, gifts from Backcountry, Yeti, Nature’s Sunshine, Giordini, and more. Perry got called and scored a sweet Nomatic backpack and a bunch of other goodies (including Giordini socks that they gifted to me, finally thankful for my giant feet). It really was such a perfect end to the day, and the small size of the race felt almost intimate, making us feel like a true part of the community, celebrating and cheering on all of our new friends.

Photo cred L&R -(Katie Lasak) / Middle: Evan Jahn

In the last two years, I’ve run 5 road marathons. Despite PRs at each “A” race and how positive the trajectory looked on paper, the joy I got from running faster started to fade and I eventually experienced burnout. I shifted my focus to different pursuits and signed up for Alta without any real goal for time. I just wanted to go out there and experience a challenge in the mountains, which make me feel alive in a way that nothing else can.

Something about this endeavor, without hyperfixating on splits and data, felt incredibly calming to my brain and frazzled nervous system. I wasn’t chasing numbers, but leaning into a softer side that I honestly find hard to surrender to. The kind of satisfaction that comes from mountain sends reminds me of why I fell in love with endurance in the first place – that all encompassing feeling of being fully present and feeling small and alive.

If you’re on the fence about Cirque Series, I truly can’t recommend it enough, especially when experienced with the kind of top tier crew I had the honor and privilege to be a part of. There’s still a few races left in the series, though I’m not sure if they’re sold out yet – check out their website for details!

Next Up:

• Aug 30 – Targhee, WY
• Sept 6 – A’Basin, CO
• Sept 20 – Crystal, WA