A NOTE FROM CHRIS CLOYD:
Donner Party MOUNTAIN RUNNERS!
It’s been a personal goal of mine to wait until the very last minute and then spring a 50k beer run on all of my friends with 10 days notice and HERE WE ARE.
Come meet me Sunday, October 17 at 8 AM at Alibi Brewery & Barrel House in Incline Village [204 E. Enterprise St, Incline Village, NV 89451] We’ll toast the Donner Party (we’ll be providing beer from Alibi, but you’re more than welcome to bring your own whiskey/cider/La Croix/whatever if beer’s not your thing), we’ll toast the Castle Peak 100k finally happening again after a bunch of biblical shit, and we’ll toast each other – the men and women that make our club special and make surprise 50k beer runs a fun thing.
We’ll then run together [**this is important – this isn’t a race, and we’re all hanging out for at least a little bit. If you want to race, sign up for Castle Peak next year**] at least until the bottom of the Tyrolean Downhill. After that it’s all fair game. Once we’re on the Tyrolean DH we’ll run up a mountain bike downhill course to the Incline Flume. There, we’ll turn right and run down (!) the Incline Flume through a wild display of fall colors before joining the Marlette Flume and running up to Marlette Lake. For those of you scoring at home, that’s 10 consecutive miles of flattish/runnable terrain in one of my beer runs! That’s a first!! You’re welcome. After reaching Marlette Lake, we’ll climb the newish Marlette Creek Trail and then crash back down to the South Shore of Marlette Lake (bathrooms here) before climbing up the fire road to rejoin the TRT near Marlette Peak. Off course but close to the trail is a campground with a water pump that should still be functional and may be worth the detour. Instead of staying on the TRT, we’ll add the Marlette Peak loop and get some extra vert and miles before tagging the overlook on Herlan Peak. Good times. You might hate me by now, but other than a few small bumps it’s a rollercoaster downhill all the way to Tunnel Creek and then a road (kill me) shakeout mile to get back to Alibi.
Here’s the map: https://caltopo.com/m/30KSK (you can download the Caltopo app and use the map in real time on the course to find your way!)
The map shows lots of detail, but let’s discuss: Alibi is marked by the medical cross labeled “beer”. The blue line is the full 50k, the orange line is a 30k fun run, and the yellow line is a 20(ish)k fun run. This zone has lots of options to shorten/lengthen your day’s outing, but I wanted to outline some options. My goal is to get as many Donner Party Mountain Runners out as possible, so come run whatever distance and pace gets you fired up. Or just meet us at Alibi and drink beer, whatever suits your fancy. The map shows confirmed water sources that are well-placed throughout the course – bring a water filter or run with someone who has one and you should never run out of water, no matter which distance you run.
Here’s a link to a folder with PDF maps of the course (usable in Avenza Maps on your smartphone) and GPX files of all 3 routes: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1fEt6UD7T0f5AjUfmIFHLnlVrzTpmAqDY
If you use these tools (or the Caltopo app and link from above) you will not get lost.
This is a NO AID run. There will be no food or water on the course except for natural creeks and lakes and what you bring yourself. DPMR will bring some space food/race candy to the start line so you can fill your pockets before leaving Alibi in the morning. DPMR will also be providing pizza for the finish at Alibi so you’ve got some grease in your gut to help soak up the beer.
If you have any questions, save them for the morning of the run and I’ll answer them vaguely while drinking with you at 7:46 AM.
RUN FAST TAKE CHANCES
-Chris
Leave a Reply