Despite persisting snowpack, Vail HillClimbers enjoy dry trails at 43rd annual race

Nearly 300 people took to Vail Mountain for the 43rd annual Vail HillClimb on Saturday.

This season, the race comes amid an off-the-charts weather year, where persisting snow at elevations above 10,000 feet and a rare July peak in mountain runoff threatened to affect the course. 

But while the large amount of remaining snow was surprising to see, the short section of shaded single-track near the top of the course was in great shape for racing, organizers said. 

“Nobody was getting in snow,” said Kip Tingle with the Vail Recreation District. “But when you got to the finish, you’re looking up at Look Ma, and South Look Ma, and there’s still lots of snow up there.”

’30 feet high’

Local runner Cameron Wolfe, a recent Vail Mountain School graduate, was participating in his first Vail Recreation District race of the season on Saturday. 

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“Actually this is the first time I’ve been on Vail Mountain all summer,” Wolfe said Saturday. “After the race I did a cool down run, and over by Eagles Nest, I was amazed at how much snow was still there from the sledding hill. It was probably 30 feet high in one place.”

Beth Pappas with the Vail Recreation District said that while the HillClimb is the third race in the summer series, this year was the first race where muddy trail conditions were not a factor. 

“It was nice to finally have the summer trail running series feel like summer,” she said. 

Problems were not a problem

Pappas said construction on the mountain and course changes due to the Lionshead gondola not being operational created some challenges for this year’s race, but the Vail HillClimb has seen a couple changes in the course in recent years which made the last-minute course switch easy to manage. 

“Last year we ended at Mid-Vail, and this year we were going to end at Eagles Next, where it has historically ended, but with the gondola not running, we switched back to Mid-Vail,” Pappas said. 

The plan to move to Eagles Nest from Mid-Vail was prompted by the construction of new snowmaking systems in the area; across Vail Mountain more than 30 miles of pipeline is being installed. 

Wolfe said as a local who is always curious about what is happening on Vail Mountain, participating in the HillClimb was a good way to see things first hand.

“I got to see how fit I am, see all the construction and see the mountain, it was good,” he said. “I’ll probably do the 10k at 10,000 in August.”

The recreational district’s 10K@10,000 Feet race also takes place in the area surrounding Mid-Vail, and will be the sixth race of the summer trail running series, taking place on Aug. 24. Leading up to it will be the Camp Hale half marathon on July 22, and the Berry Picker 5k on Aug. 5. The series concludes with the MeadowGold 10K and 5K on Sept. 16. For more information visit vailrec.com.

Complete results

Male top-3 overall
1 Joseph Gray 51:30
2 Tyman Smart 56:07
3 John Luna-Lima 56:26

Female top-3 overall
1 Bailey Kowalczyk 1:03:04
2 Genevieve Harrison 1:07:40
3 Anne Nevin 1:07:53

Male 19 and younger
1 Tyman Smart 56:07
2 Colin Szuch 57:43
3 Jordan Leblow 59:43
4 Jason Macaluso 1:02:43
5 Andrew Rogers 1:02:50
6 Hunter Prather 1:03:23
7 Cameron Wolfe 1:03:59
8 Sven Nevin 1:04:13
9 Jeffrey Fiantaca 1:08:57
10 Luke Morrissey 1:10:13
11 Dimitri Grewal 1:14:24
12 Ryan Heller 1:19:26
13 Tyler Wright 1:23:58
14 Kyle Stiebeling 1:25:05
15 Bill Adams 1:25:14
16 Tyler Stogsdill 1:26:36
17 Hayden Krueger 1:29:40

Female 19 and younger
1 Grace Johnson 1:12:15
2 Lanie Szuch 1:13:29
3 Elliot Pribramsky 1:14:55
4 Selma Nevin 1:15:04
5 Ellie Smith 1:15:55
6 Lindsey Whitton 1:28:49
7 Sydney Robinson 1:39:21
8 Kate Robinson 1:39:22
9 Meaghan Forbes 1:52:27

Male 20-29
1 John Luna-Lima 56:26
2 John Oneill 56:43
3 Nick Noone 1:00:00
4 Logan Greydanus 1:00:48
5 Nathaniel Badger 1:01:25
6 Koltin Hammer 1:08:40
7 Zachery Hensel 1:10:39
8 Jared Leblow 1:12:20
9 Conor McCaffrey 1:14:21
10 Carder Lamb 1:18:18
11 John Crawford 1:22:09
12 Sam Distler 1:30:45
13 Dominick Cappadona 1:32:10
14 Phillip Lorenzo 1:40:22
15 Ryan Case 1:56:52

Female 20-29
1 Bailey Kowalczyk 1:03:04
2 Shannon White 1:11:44
3 Megan Rossman 1:16:59
4 Cassie Gills 1:18:32
5 Maddie Stevens 1:19:44
6 Zoe Snow 1:25:16
7 Carsyn Bock 1:25:42
8 Lauren McVey 1:27:52
9 Lindsey Lowry 1:32:08
10 Molly Leno 1:33:33
11 Clare Baker 1:33:57
12 Ande Sieker 1:38:23
13 Amanda Herrera 1:38:58
14 Kellie Shaltes 1:51:22
15 Alyssa Slaimem 1:54:26
16 Chloe Wheeler 1:58:04

Male 30-39
1 Joseph Gray 51:30
2 Joshua Smith 59:43
3 Davide Giardini 1:02:23
4 Javier Torres-Hughes 1:03:29
5 Ben Boese 1:05:02
6 Jimmy Daly 1:06:39
7 Anthony Agnello 1:07:34
8 Cryus Severance 1:12:03
9 Alex Brown 1:12:05
10 David Gifford 1:15:08
11 Shea Phelan 1:16:23
12 Walt Bleser 1:16:58
13 Anthony Salomon 1:17:02
14 Jonathan Zeschin 1:20:57
15 Kevin Medrala 1:21:35
16 Mtthew Danner 1:25:57
17 Tom Ewert 1:27:34
18 Juan Lecumberri 1:27:40
19 Kevin Winchester 1:27:55
20 Antonio Leon 1:28:02
21 Nate Lowe 1:29:49
22 Brent Cunningham 1:30:28
23 Stephen Hill 1:33:10
24 Michael Haubert 1:33:53
25 Matt Zehner 1:35:01
26 James Coomber 1:35:35
27 Santiago Feliciano 1:38:12
28 Monish Luthra 1:43:46
28 Matt Lee 1:44:51

Female 30-39
1 Genevieve Harrison 1:07:40
2 Jill Seaver 1:09:52
3 Rachael Cuellar 1:12:00
4 Kristin Renshaw 1:16:00
5 Sarah Ellefson 1:16:23
6 Marina Hand 1:17:10
7 Alexandra Metzl 1:17:13
8 Kristin Thomas 1:17:26
9 Celeste Hawthorn 1:17:53
10 Kristina Zoller 1:20:17
11 Deborah Oakes 1:22:01
12 Emily Selonick 1:24:00
13 Kendall Wilson 1:24:30
14 Sarah Hahn 1:25:11
15 Jessica Darby 1:26:28
16 Shannon Schroeder 1:27:24
17 Julia Cortada 1:28:18
18 Catherine Zirker 1:29:30
19 Marian Cartin 1:31:33
20 Jessica Rethman 1:34:58
21 Kim Fuller 1:37:16
22 Elizabeth Eubank 1:39:54
23 Beth Birchfield 1:41:29
24 Connie Leaf 1:41:32
25 Kori Oosina 1:42:21
26 Pam Bunz 1:44:26
27 Lorraine Bulla 1:55:22
28 Sara Stallings 1:56:11
29 Katrina Major 2:02:29
30 Emilie Stewart 2:10:25

Male 40-49
1 Galen Burrell 59:11
2 Dan Weiland 1:02:33
3 Rich Airey 1:04:33
4 William Desportes 1:05:18
5 Peter Krzanowsky 1:10:14
6 Matthew Tonn 1:14:35
7 Bill Dieter 1:14:54
8 Kevin Andrus 1:15:00
9 Josef Schroeder 1:15:39
10 Bernardo De la Garza 1:15:45
11 David Hile 1:19:18
12 Scott Kozney 1:19:26
13 Brady Renshaw 1:19:55
14 Jonathan Byers 1:21:12
15 Christopher Lyons 1:22:24
16 Grant Langham 1:22:52
17 Joshua Metzl 1:23:59
18 Joseph Park 1:25:28
19 Chip McKeever 1:28:42
20 Alejandro Vivanco 1:32:36
21 Jared Lovenduski 1:33:40
22 Jeff Fleming 1:34:53
23 Erik Springer 1:35:12
24 Travis Pahl 1:35:22
25 Benjamin Friedland 1:35:43
26 Jason Curtis 1:35:43
27 Mark Scheel 1:35:48
28 James Coope 1:37:14
29 Tom Robinson 1:39:28
30 Jerod Raisch 1:39:34
31 Matt Marshall 1:40:04
32 Joe Millspaugh 1:43:11
33 Chad Jenkins 1:43:15
34 Joel Moser 1:45:20
35 Neil White 1:46:11
36 Alexio Sipiriano 1:48:50
37 Michael Suarez 1:51:21
38 Geoffrey Grimmer 1:59:37
39 Daniel Volpe 2:07:37
40 Jaska Cason 2:10:25
41 William Cutler 2:35:08

Female 40-49
1 Anne Nevin 1:07:53
2 Corrie Crane 1:23:52
3 Angie Hayes 1:29:11
4 Ingrid Middaugh 1:30:35
5 Kate Allen 1:32:32
6 Nancy Mires 1:33:30
7 Yvonne Dawsey 1:34:28
8 Lisa Hile 1:35:29
9 Ashley Roach 1:36:48
10 Prairie Robinson 1:39:27
11 Paige Millspaugh 1:43:11
12 Jennifer Lunn 1:43:16
13 Melanie Mitchell 1:43:25
14 Kristi Bronkan 1:43:27
15 Marcianne Jenkins 1:43:39
16 Beth Olson 1:46:31
17 Alana Hurst 1:47:13
18 Jessica Raab 1:49:08
19 Stacy Mullikin 1:50:55
20 Stepphanie Ward 1:52:24
21 Elizabeth Wodrich 1:52:50
22 Joy Schawk 1:53:04
23 Marigny Klaber 1:54:25
24 Wendy Officer 1:56:31
25 Blair Blackwell 1:57:41
26 Amy Bamford 2:05:23
27 Wendy Schoomaker 2:05:24
28 Jamie Stephen 2:06:25
29 Missy McCullough 2:07:44

Male 50-59
1 Mark Tatum 1:04:43
2 Ted Leblow 1:09:32
3 John Goodloe 1:10:43
4 Eric Black 1:10:59
5 Doug Johnson 1:12:34
6 Mark Pribramsky 1:15:02
7 Paul Macaluso 1:17:29
8 William Heller 1:19:26
9 Rob Collins 1:20:23
10 Karl Edgerton 1:22:14
11 Bret Kort 1:22:34
12 Morgan Addis 1:22:39
13 Doug Camann 1:26:44
14 Karl Krueger 1:28:01
15 Dan Timm 1:28:45
16 Jeffrey Bernardy 1:28:46
17 Tom McGonagle 1:29:20
18 Brad Ackerman 1:30:14
19 Rich Klaber 1:30:32
20 John Dawsey 1:31:50
21 Robert Cappadona 1:32:10
22 Gavin Richardson 1:32:54
23 Steven Kobrine 1:34:21
24 Steve Angeles 1:35:20
25 Douglas Granat 1:38:03
26 Michael Richey 1:41:21
27 Jarrett Davis 1:44:15
28 Taner Kodanaz 1:51:41
29 Corbett Whitton 1:53:26
30 Michael Wheeler 1:58:05
31 Joseph Gibbons 2:37:42

Female 50-59
1 Tammy Jacques 1:11:53
2 Kathy Wickum 1:16:41
3 Colleen Ihnken 1:26:05
4 J’ne Day-Lucore 1:26:54
5 Julie Levan 1:27:43
6 Karen Lapides 1:27:57
7 Rachel Kodanaz 1:28:33
8 Donna Miller 1:30:08
9 Megan Morrissey 1:30:46
10 Hilary Petrowski 1:32:42
11 Katherine Aalto 1:34:07
12 Debbie Corr 1:35:32
13 Diana Tzinov 1:35:56
14 Marilyn Goodloe 1:36:57
15 Jennifer Kemp 1:38:06
16 Nicola James 1:42:23
17 Carrie Larson 1:43:52
18 Amber Prince 1:46:16
19 Susan Babcock 1:47:05
20 Robyn Bryant 1:47:14
21 Stephanie Stevens 1:47:49
22 Joyce Benson 1:48:13
23 Gerle Shagdar 1:51:19
24 Monica Lacroix 2:04:48
25 Mary Jastrab 2:06:28
26 Cheryl Jensen 2:08:17
27 Maria Dieter 2:24:37

Male 60-69
1 Jim Telling 1:11:25
2 Nicholas Fickling 1:23:41
3 Brian Dunfey 1:26:07
4 Peter Dann 1:26:27
5 Greg Birk 1:28:46
6 Victor Selenow 1:33:14
7 James Morton 1:34:49
8 Pete Seibert 1:37:08
9 Robert Russo 1:37:12
10 Mark Dykhouse 1:37:41
11 James Shelden 1:38:14
12 Burt Levin 1:42:12
13 Rufust Firefly 1:43:53
14 Mark Stiebeling 1:45:12
15 Jesse Sommer 1:47:09
16 John Blair 1:47:54
17 Donald Mann 1:56:37
18 Tim Schlough 1:56:55
19 Mark Benson 1:58:33
20 Gregory Peacock 1:58:39
21 Michael McCullough 2:05:03

Female 60-69
1 Barbara Dolan 1:24:20
2 Terri Sommer 1:37:24
3 Carol Babb 1:45:21
4 Alyn Park 1:46:45
5 Elizabeth Conner 1:47:42
6 Theresa Daus-Weber 1:53:43
7 Sally Clair 1:55:16
8 Kathleen Gebhardt 1:56:03
9 Kathy Forbes 2:00:00
10 Diane Hughes 2:01:28
11 Carol Mullikin 2:02:17
12 Virginia Bradley 2:08:16
13 Cynthia Gordon 2:08:17

Male 70 and older
1 Richard Katz 1:19:04
2 Frank Kunkel 1:35:46
3 Roman Hought 1:54:36
4 Jay Wissot 1:55:46
5 Tom Edwards 2:02:53
6 Jim Mykleby 2:07:47
7 Marlin Smickley 2:08:57
8 John Storb 2:11:07
9 Greg Bennett 2:24:50
10 Bill Moyle 2:44:00

Female 70 and older
1 Peggy Nicholls 1:53:50
2 Gail Scoby 2:00:39
3 Kate Sweeney 2:02:17
4 Jo May 2:05:02
5 Bj Smith 2:11:49