Leadville Advice/Crew & Pacers
"Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive..." Hope Pass, 1997 Leadville 100. At 12,000', Hope Pass gets all the love. However... Hagerman Pass [approximately 15/80 miles in the course] is the hidden beast in the LT100. Only 500' lower than Hope, disguised by a pole-line utility road so it doesn't say "big-assed mountain" quite so loudly. Brandon Sybrowsky paced me from WInfield to Fish—he at a low idle to my determined shuffling. Along the way we had some hilarious discussions on poisonous mushrooms, Mormonism, Copper Canyon in Chihuahua, and paleoarcheology. For starters. Around midnight, Bruce Hoff and I had come back over the top of Hagerman on the inbound leg, when Tom Sobal, Leadville Mountain Man, camping out with his kids, dryly observed "you don't have any time to waste, you're on the buckle bubble". He was right. I crossed the finish with 40min to spare, to get "La Plata Grande". Damn buckle's so big, I