Been a bunch of bitching and arguing with Sunlight and the organisers of the 24hrs of Sunlight. Long story short.....the organisers pulled out and Sunlight is gonna do just a 12hrs of Sunlight instead. Major bummer. That was a great race. Don't know why these people can't just resolve this kind of stuff. Can't tell who's actually at fault (you never get both sides of the story). The organisers are thinking of trying to do the race on public lands, or, find another resort (which they say there are a couple that are interested). They definitely want to keep it on the western slope though. If they do it, it won't be until next year. For now we will have to put up with the "12hrs of Boredom" (Lou Dawson's words, lol).

That sucks

My girlfriends mom said something like "If 12 hours isn't enough, why don't you just do it twice?"
8pm to 8am at Sunlight is open to uphill traffic (as it is at all times), maybe we'll set up an informal system to track laps if people want to go for 24.

I heard from a Sunlight employee that the organizers have not paid the resort from last year. That is why Sunlight said nope.

Wow, that's not good. I heard last year that Laird was on the fence about running it but went ahead anyway. There simply hasn't been enough participation to warrant continuing it. I think Granny Gear was hoping it would turn into another 24-hours of Moab but not a lot of people like to freeze their butts off on a ski slope at 3 AM.

I've always wanted to organize a winter adventure race, you know, skiing, ice climbing, orienteering, peaks, that sort of thing. Too many liability risks, though.

Cheeseburglar wrote:My girlfriends mom said something like "If 12 hours isn't enough, why don't you just do it twice?"
8pm to 8am at Sunlight is open to uphill traffic (as it is at all times), maybe we'll set up an informal system to track laps if people want to go for 24.

I like it!

timd wrote:I heard from a Sunlight employee that the organizers have not paid the resort from last year. That is why Sunlight said nope.

And the organisers reply to that is that, in the past, they have used the preregistration money to pay for last year's event since it all falls into the same fiscal yr. Apparently it hasn't been an issue before but Sunlight decided to get pissed about it this time.

iceisnice wrote:

timd wrote:I heard from a Sunlight employee that the organizers have not paid the resort from last year. That is why Sunlight said nope.

And the organisers reply to that is that, in the past, they have used the preregistration money to pay for last year's event since it all falls into the same fiscal yr. Apparently it hasn't been an issue before but Sunlight decided to get pissed about it this time.

Paying it backwards? I wonder what they did with the $4k? Hopefully they bought some new skis and didn't blow it on a night out in Aspen.
I wish I could get people to let me pay my bills a year late with no penalty.
I talked to Sunlight and they say paying a year late was not part of the contract.

C'mon? $4k to let a bunch of really smelly people who aren't buying lift tickets take over most of the base area for 24 hours? Seems like a pittance. Say 200 racers, that would be about $20 per participant to the ski area. I'd like to see what Aspen or Vail would charge for that race.

By the way, when I talked to the ski area I mentioned that some people might be interested in going on after the end, say another 12 hours. They don't have a problem with it. Reportedly there will also be some kind of band this year.

now its been called off entirley

K, here's my take on it.

This event is/was produced by Granny Gear. That's the same folks who do the 24 Hours of Moab, 24 Hours of Vail, yada yada yada. This is not a group that's new to event planning and they have been extremely successful with a high percentage of events.

Small resorts in CO are kinda bitchy, in a word. I worked for Loveland for about a month until I discovered just how bitchy they were (and I worked for Winter Park for 7 years - it's pretty universal). It's all that little power-play thing that goes on with entities that have no cojones. And they make up all kinds of stories to support their argument. Little-mindedness.

Given that, I'm going to side with the 24-hours folks. I've talked with Laird and he's an up-and-up guy. I suspect that the resort folks are getting a little uppity for their britches and tough to work with. Goes with the territory. It's not like Sunlight is a terrific venue for the event - they have almost no useful amenities to support this kind of race.

Listen, there are a bazillion winter events in CO. Check out the COSMIC ski race. Ice, you have info on others that are pretty local.

So what's the big deal? Go do something else.

MarthaP wrote:K, here's my take on it.

This event is/was produced by Granny Gear. That's the same folks who do the 24 Hours of Moab, 24 Hours of Vail, yada yada yada. This is not a group that's new to event planning and they have been extremely successful with a high percentage of events.

Small resorts in CO are kinda bitchy, in a word. I worked for Loveland for about a month until I discovered just how bitchy they were (and I worked for Winter Park for 7 years - it's pretty universal). It's all that little power-play thing that goes on with entities that have no cojones. And they make up all kinds of stories to support their argument. Little-mindedness.

Given that, I'm going to side with the 24-hours folks. I've talked with Laird and he's an up-and-up guy. I suspect that the resort folks are getting a little uppity for their britches and tough to work with. Goes with the territory. It's not like Sunlight is a terrific venue for the event - they have almost no useful amenities to support this kind of race.

Listen, there are a bazillion winter events in CO. Check out the COSMIC ski race. Ice, you have info on others that are pretty local.

So what's the big deal? Go do something else.

Kind of seems like you've made some assumptions and jumped to some conclusions.
Side with 24 hour folks based on.... a conversation with someone? and your experience with a completely different ski resort?
COSMIC is a great race series, but is nothing like a 24 hour race. 3 hours for COSMIC vs a 24hr is like a 5 k compared to a marathon or a marathon compared to a 24 hour race...

Cheeseburglar wrote:

MarthaP wrote:K, here's my take on it.

This event is/was produced by Granny Gear. That's the same folks who do the 24 Hours of Moab, 24 Hours of Vail, yada yada yada. This is not a group that's new to event planning and they have been extremely successful with a high percentage of events.

Small resorts in CO are kinda bitchy, in a word. I worked for Loveland for about a month until I discovered just how bitchy they were (and I worked for Winter Park for 7 years - it's pretty universal). It's all that little power-play thing that goes on with entities that have no cojones. And they make up all kinds of stories to support their argument. Little-mindedness.

Given that, I'm going to side with the 24-hours folks. I've talked with Laird and he's an up-and-up guy. I suspect that the resort folks are getting a little uppity for their britches and tough to work with. Goes with the territory. It's not like Sunlight is a terrific venue for the event - they have almost no useful amenities to support this kind of race.

Listen, there are a bazillion winter events in CO. Check out the COSMIC ski race. Ice, you have info on others that are pretty local.

So what's the big deal? Go do something else.

Kind of seems like you've made some assumptions and jumped to some conclusions.
Side with 24 hour folks based on.... a conversation with someone? and your experience with a completely different ski resort?

And YOUR assumption is based on...what? Have you talked with Laird? You say you've talked with Sunlight but you've gotten their one-sided opinion - what do you expect? Have you worked at a CO resort to get the scoop from inside the industry? Seems you've missed my point. And missed my CO experience.

Cheeseburglar wrote:COSMIC is a great race series, but is nothing like a 24 hour race. 3 hours or COSMIC vs a 24hr is like a 5 k compared to a marathon or a marathon compared to a 24 hour race...

Oh bull. Folks make the 24-hr what they will and some only do one lap. Some folks only run 5k in a marathon. What's the diff with the Cosmic or the 24-hr? Or are you getting elite on us?

Like I said, don't like it? Go do something else.

Sorry Ma'am. I didn't realize who you are.

Who is Laird? Is he your boyfriend? Why isn't he defending himself?

The You're Going the Wrong Way team will be doing the 12 hour race.
We'll probably wear the capes again unless a better costume comes up.
I'll have a beer and/or shot of tequila for summitpost members who show up.
Should be a nice day walking up the hill!