#158 - Aaron Barber, Race Director of Flagstaff Skypeaks

The mountain weekend Flagstaff has been waiting for just showed up with big legs and bigger lungs. We sit down with race director Aaron Barber to unpack how Flagstaff Sky Peaks evolved from a “nice race in the pines” into a full three-day festival at Arizona Snowbowl, built around steep ski runs, high-altitude ridgelines, and a finish-line scene right by the lodge. From a Friday uphill lung-burner to Saturday’s slate with a 2,500-foot opening climb, fixed-time vert loops, and distances from 5K to 50 mile, to a Sunday point-to-point that tops out near 11,500 feet, this is mountain racing with teeth.

Aaron shares the playbook behind the overhaul: hard-won permits through Coconino National Forest, alignment with resort management to unlock summer terrain, and a design that prioritizes big climbs, real technicality, and community. We dive into the 50-mile circumnavigation of the San Francisco Peaks caldera, why short doesn’t mean easy, and how gnarly ski-run grades change pacing, fueling, and gear choices. If you’re planning a late-summer or early fall schedule, we lay out who should target which race, how to prep for altitude swings and unpredictable weather, and why descending on tired legs might be the weekend’s real decider.

We also explore the competitive layer: potential prize purses, what scalable anti-doping could look like, and early conversations that align the event with skyrunning-style courses and live coverage. Flagstaff’s running culture, from Buffalo Park sessions to big-vert weekends, frames the story, while the Snowbowl venue adds food, beer, and an easy basecamp to keep the community together between efforts. Whether you chase the uphill, stack a vert challenge, or go all-in on the point-to-point, Sky Peaks now offers a sharper test for elites and everyday mountain runners alike.

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James L'Oriello. Today I am so excited to welcome Aaron Barber, race director of the Ara Viper race series, the Flagstaff Sky Peaks. Excited to have Aaron on for a chat. About a few weeks ago, maybe two weeks ago now, there was some breaking news that the Flagstaff Sky Peaks had completely reinvented the race series itself, adding an uphill uh race that's going to be happening on Friday, and a new point-to-point 20K mountain race happening on Sunday, along with another looped uh mountain classic race that will happen on Sunday in tandem with the mountain race as well. Um definitely some cool new developments of the race brought Aaron on to talk about the race itself, the race series, its roots, where it comes from, the goals that it has, pressed them a little bit to see if maybe it'll be a member of that new uh Skyrunner uh national series, if and one that's ever announced, wink wink, um, and a few other things that it was kind of fun. Good chat, really fun one. Want to thank Aaron so much for coming on and uh hope you guys enjoy this one. Without further ado, Aaron Barber. Ladies and gentlemen, we uh love. All right, Aaron Barber, welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How's it going, man?

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Hey, thanks for having me. Having a great day so far.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Yeah, yeah, same, same, same. It's uh yeah, it's a I guess it's a mild uh January day for us in Colorado. I don't know how it is for you guys. Are you you're down in Phoenix era?

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I'm in Phoenix. It's like 70 and partly cloudy today. It's I guess I can deal with it. So jealous. So jealous.

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Uh well listen, man, I'm so excited to welcome you to the pod. Uh, I think this was a great conversation I've been wanting to do for uh a little while now once the Flagstaff Skypeaks uh information kind of came out as far as some changes that were going to be made to the race this year. Um maybe introduce yourself, talk about your role and what you do. Um and uh we'll go from there. We'll talk about Flagstaff Skype.

Aaron’s Role And Race Directing Background

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Sure. Um I work for Aero Vipa Running. I'm sure if you're in this realm, you've heard of us. I'll put on uh I think we're over 70 events nationwide um throughout the year. Um I'm a race director for Aerovipa, and I do, I think last time I counted, it's somewhere around 17 events that I direct personally, and then um I help out at other events when I can. Um my biggest ones are probably the whole Desert Runner Trail series, um, including Coldwater Rumble 100. Um I do Tushers in Utah, um, and then Flagstaff Sky Peaks, all the Flagstaff races that Aero Vipa does, I actually direct those. Um so yeah, I spend my life uh race directing basically as a full-time job, um which I love.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

Busy guy, busy guy. I like it. I like it, man. Um all right, let's kind of get into a little bit. You guys came out wait maybe about a week, two weeks ago, somewhere in that range, about some massive changes that were going to be happening to Flagstaff Sky Peaks. Obviously, this race has had a huge name over the years. Uh, it's been a Golden Trail series race at one point. Um, then it kind of uh I guess you kind of reduced it a little bit, and then now it seems to be to where you guys are stepping it up to making it like a three-day event, which I think is really neat. You added an uphill, you're adding all of these unique things to it. Uh so I'll let you take it away as far as some of the changes that you'll be making in 2026. Um I'll kind of ask you questions from there.

Why Reinvent Flagstaff Sky Peaks

Partnership With Arizona Snowbowl

Three-Day Festival Format Overview

SPEAKER_00 4:15

Sure. Um I guess yeah, the the history with Skypeaks, um it's it's kind of bounced around um just uh with permitting and what we're allowed to do in the Flagstaff area. I know um before I was around at Aerivaipa, it used to be a point-to-point race. Um we've hosted it out of uh the Hotshots Ranch. Um recently it's been at Fort Valley Trailhead. Um, and I've always called it like a nice little race up in the pines, but I didn't think it was quite doing um justice for Flagstaff being like a running Mecca, a trail running Mecca. Um, and it has mountains. So we try to like have a couple climbs as much as I could, but again, it was a nice little race in the pines, some decent trails, but I don't think we were really attracting Flagstaff local runners because it's kind of like just the normal trails they can use every day. Um so really when I was hired, that was one of my goals was the first thing was to beef up Sky Peaks. And originally my thoughts were to make it a stage race. Um and then uh we kind of went by that, um, played with that idea a little bit, um, and then we wanted to switch it to kind of a more of a running weekend um and just have like kind of a festival type um atmosphere of races. And really the last thing uh that we had to check was getting on board with uh the ski resort up there, Arizona Snowball, um, which we haven't been able to in the past. Uh when we had the Golden Trail World Series there, we were able to go on to Snowball property, and then we weren't, then we were, and it kind of went back and forth. Um but recently, I believe new management, they reached out to us, they wanted to partner with us. And when they when I got that green light, I was like, I've got these plans, I have ideas for the race, let's uh go full force with this. Um we did make it a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday event um with Friday being kind of like the welcome day. We're gonna be doing a hill climb that start every the whole of events now is hosted right at Snowball Base, like uh right next to the lodge, right near where the gondola goes up. So Friday will be like the hill climb. Um that's it for Friday. Saturday is like the full slate of racing. And then aside from changing the venue, we've changed the courses to include big climbs up to the up to 11,500 feet. Um so everything except the 5k starts uh with a massive uh 2,500 foot climb in the first 1.7 miles. Um then you're kind of loop off of a resort property and then carry on to your course, uh, whether that's the 10K or all the way up to the 50 mile. Um in addition to that, we do we did add some fixed time races. That was kind of what I've always wanted to do. It was a fixed-time vert type things. So it's a little three-mile loop, 2,000 feet of gain per loop, and we're doing a six hour and a 12 hour. Um that's everything on Saturday, and then Sunday, we got some fun little mountain type races where it would be a 6K with a boatload of climbing, and then we're gonna do a point-to-point where we shuttle runners off of snowball property, get them to start weight, and snowball properties at like 9,500 feet. We'll shuttle them down to like 7,200 feet. They'll run all uphill to snowball property, and then keep going up to the top of the gondola and then finish back by the lodge. So it's a climb from 7,200 feet, basically unbroken to 11,500, and then the last mile and a half will be bombing down um to the finish line.

unknown 7:28

Wow.

Big Climbs, Vert Races, And New Courses

SPEAKER_01 7:28

I mean, those two core I I feel like what intrigues me the most is obviously the Sunday races, and then of course the addition of the uphill uh vertical or a kill climb race, if you will, which I think is kind of a cherry on top, especially for making it a true like festival type event or weekend type event where you'll have runners there all three days. Um I gotta ask you, like, what was the I guess the notion or or motive to want to add these races? The only reason I ask is because I know Golden Trail series hasn't announced a calendar yet. And I also know that US Skyrunning is trying to come into the states and stuff like that. You might not be able to give anything away, but is there some potential or ideas maybe in the future to maybe try to get this race back on the world skyrunning series or sorry, get this back on the um Golden Trail series or potentially make this an addition to um what hopefully will be a North American regional skyrunning series one day?

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Um uh as far as I know, we have not been in talks with Golden Trail. Um, as far as I know, I don't think any of these changes to the race would hurt though, so we'd be open for it. Um we have had talks with Skyrunning, and I guess I'll just leave it at that.

SPEAKER_01 8:35

Okay, okay. We can talk offline actually. Uh I I feel like I'm getting good at picking which one. It kind of makes sense. Um yeah, no, that's super cool. And I think it's great, man. I think that the addition of these courses just adds something for everybody. Like that loop course that's on Sunday, that's not the 20K. It's uh there was a special name for that loop, uh the Maricopa loop or something like that you had named for it.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Uh the Agassiz loop.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Agassiz loop, thank you. Um yeah, that's like what a sick little course with you know, it's almost like a 5k in distance, maybe a little longer, with over 2,000 feet of vertical. Like it's a perfect little mountain classic. Like there's just a little something for everybody there.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I think it's fun. Like I think people forget like you get to these mountain type races, and I love the hill climbs and everything like that, but I think running downhill, big, big descents on tired legs, um, will be something to see too.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

Yeah, yeah, no, for sure, for sure. Um, other than I I mean, one of the things that really uh you know caught me as well on the ultra side I thought was interesting, and maybe you can add more to this, um, is uh the I guess it's the 50 mile distance that kind of goes entirely around. Can you talk a little bit about that one? Because it's almost like a full circumnavigation uh distance of the like of that like massif, which is kind of neat.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

Yeah, so um up there, the San Francisco peaks, it's big, you know, um dormant volcano, I guess it would be. Um, and we're basically running around the entire caldera of it. Um and that was the idea for the 50 mile to do that has has been around for a bit. Um we used to take like Waterline Road and had some other connector roads that we can't use quite yet. Um, but we did change the 50 mile a couple years ago just to make it an out and back, and there was a lot of backlash from the runners. Everyone like the 50 mile being able to run around the San Francisco peaks, um, I think is like a staple of the race, and we plan on keeping that. Um but I think adding a bit of climbing, because if you take out the first climb, um you're at elevation, you'll always be between like 7,200 and 9,500 feet. But you take out the the big climb on the ski resort, it would be a pretty flat and fast 50 mile because the trail's up there fairly smooth on the Arizona trail, and there is a bit of forest road, so it's actually like being called sky peaks. It's actually a pretty beginner-friendly 50 mile. Uh but then we just threw in, you know, it's a mountain town, it's flagstaff. We got to have them go up some mountains. But um that I don't think that's gonna go anywhere, keeping it um circumnavigating the peaks. I think that's kind of a cool thing to do. You look, you can see those mountains. It's not a range, it's just kind of uh one big or massif, and you can see it from hundreds of miles away. So being able to say you ran around it is pretty cool. Yeah.

Sunday Point-To-Point And Classic Loop

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Can you talk about the, I mean, just from a race director's perspective, what the permitting process goes through, especially for trying to put something like this together? Because I I I feel like some it doesn't have to be inside baseball, but just understanding the type of role and what that means. Because for some of these races, especially ones that will border wilderness and things like that, there's a lot that goes into it. And there's a lot of private landowners and all these different easements and things. How does it work uh on your end trying to put something like this together?

Skyrunning And Golden Trail Possibilities

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Um this one, fortunately, it was meant has been on the easier side, uh, just because we're really dealing with uh just like two entities, which would be uh the big one's Coconino National Forest. Um so national forests, pretty fun to work with, and it depends on which forest you're working with and what their expectations are for the race, because I work with a few of them uh for the races I direct. Uh Coconino, pretty strict uh with what they're gonna allow, I'm sure, with Cocodona. We've all heard about the owls and things like that. Um, this time of year, it's not owl mating season, but um there is some endangered flowers on the resort. Um I don't know exactly which ones they are, but that's always um an issue if there's anything endangered. Um they have like a certain radius that you can't go near those. So uh the biggest part with the National Forest is just getting the courses exact exactly where you're gonna be and like number of runner passes. Because they'll they'll definitely say no to certain things and put limits on the race. And it might not be for every trail, but it might be one section of trail, you can only have X amount of runners, and that might limit your entire course because it might be a pretty critical section. Um and then especially if you're getting like to off trail type stuff. Um I see that a lot with tushers. If you're like up in the tundra, then it's it's almost a no-goal. Definitely wilderness, even if you're like skirting wilderness edges um and the trail happens to cross into it for like 10 feet, um, they'll they'll nix that. Um aside from that, it's just snowball property and snowball, the resort, is on a land lease from the national forest. Um, so that was pretty pretty seamless there. But you can definitely have races where you're going through BLM land, state land, national, like you're dealing with different levels of government, and everyone has different A application processes, types of paperwork. Um sometimes entities are really responsive. Sometimes it takes months to respond and get an answer. Uh so just starting to work early is kind of the biggest thing with permitting. Super cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah, it's uh it's always an interesting thing. I'm uh I'm always like, I don't know, perplexed on how it's all put together just because there's always so many stakeholders and it's just very I don't know, it's very interesting putting on uh races in the United States. Um shifting gears a little bit. So what I like to do is we cover cover the sport of short trail, right? Like we're covering, we're looking at things like Kendall Mountain Run, the Cirque Series races, Pikes Peak, all that stuff. Um, but a lot of elites, soon-to-be elites, aspiring elites, mid-packers, there's a lot of people that listen to the podcast on just like wanting to know more about races and where to show up and where to be for the summer. And I feel like Flagstaff is, in my opinion, just a very underrated place to, I mean, obviously it's a great place to go train on the marathon side, but from a trail racing perspective, this is one of those events where you can kind of go, you get to explore, you get to spend some time in the town. Can you uh sell it to me as far as like selling it to the athletes and uh why this would be a great stop on on the calendar for kind of late season, September-ish, um, you know, when they're building out their calendar for 2026?

The 50 Mile Circumnavigation Vision

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yeah, I mean, you can take all your summer fitness and put it to the test. Uh, you're gonna get some some good turnover uh with shorter type courses, you're gonna get some fantastic vert, um, and it's all at altitude. Um so it's definitely a lung burner. Everything's gonna go up to 11,500 feet um at least. And then weather could come into we've had this race, it's been snow, there's been rain. Last year it was pretty hot, so it could be a little bit of anything. So if you're kind of like gearing up, or if you've been practicing um all summer in the mountains, it does give that true mountain race feel. Um the town is awesome. Uh it's it's great for running. Like Buffalo Park, you've got you know, Jim Walmsley and Abby Hall that live and train there, and uh, I could keep going with names for forever. Um, but the the town itself really embraces it. It does feel like um a mountain town. Um I know Arizona doesn't have a ton of those, and people think just desert, but this is just it's ponderosa pine trees, uh, there's snow on the peaks, um, they're really high, great trails. Um it it doesn't get any better in my book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, I feel like and it's such you guys are positioned in such a good time of year, too. I feel like if you're looking for like a nice early fall, like a late summer vacation, like that's that's the place to do it and throw a race on top of it and get it.

SPEAKER_00 15:51

Yeah, aspens should just be starting to change color about then. Um that was a big thing too. It used to be an early October race, um, and then to jump back with the National Forest. We got pushed off those dates because there are so many tourists in the area, um leaf peepers, uh, to come take pictures of the aspens changing colors. Um they didn't want us on the peak tourism weekends. So I'm happy with that. The trails are less uh crowded. Um and you know, we want to do our part to preserve like the usage numbers and keep the trails in good shape. Um but moving earlier, we're gonna miss peak aspen turning, but um having less people on the trails and there'll still be some good amount of color up there. Oh, for sure, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

I want to ask you about the course uh specifically, but the the course in the snowball, is it gonna be uh especially for that the loop um and just kind of the stuff that's taking place on on resort property? Is it a good mix of cat track? Is it single track? Is it like more ski runs to where you're like off trail and you're just running down the ski runs like for deer like whole?

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Yeah, mostly it's probably uh there's some like service road type stuff, but I'd say the majority of it, especially the climbs, are gonna be directly on the ski runs. Um so it's gnarly, it's like big tufts of grass, there's rocks, um, there's the berms they put for erosion control. So um sometimes that's great, sometimes it's not, where it might be just like you know, 40, 45 percent plus, and you get those berms and it gives you a step, but sometimes it's annoying to keep going over them, um, which is what I love. Like I think like if you want something simple, there's always road running. Um, so this is a little bit more challenging. Um and then same thing on the descent, it's uh it's more trail on the descent, um, but there it's a good amount of ski runs as well. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

What's the uh I mean this might be hard to answer because I know different races go through like different metamorphoses, right? Obviously, we've kind of talked about kind of the history of this race, but long-term vision, like is this a I don't know, it's just really been really cool on Aero Vapis side to see what Coca-Dona's kind of grown into, how that's a trail fest for the long, like really long trail stuff. And it's this whole uh, you know, you get to have this just celebration of distance and there's uh live streams and things like that. Is there potential for something like that in the future for this race? Like, is there is there can be a hill climb and stuff like that? Yeah.

Permitting Realities And Land Agencies

SPEAKER_00 18:07

There I'm we haven't talked at length about it, but I'm sure live streaming um this race will will definitely be a presence this year. I don't know exactly which ones, whether it's Friday, Saturday, or Sunday or all of them. Um, but I really wanted to jump in full force with this model of the Friday, Saturday, Sunday racing. Um so I think that would be really good for the community um in Flagstaff. Um the ski resort was really happy to have us there. And I think um just like diving in onto that sense of community where you can camp there and see the same people every day. And there's like the war stories to tell, like, oh, we gotta go up this again and again and on Sunday after everything is all said and done, I think it'd be pretty cool. And then um A, building this race into um, I don't know if the Friday thing is gonna be popular, I don't know if Sunday's gonna be popular, but we're just gonna give it a shot this year and see what works and what doesn't, and then we'll lean into the things that do, and then also replicating that uh moving forward to some other ski resorts, uh maybe they're in Arizona or New Mexico or Utah. Um, but it would be great to use that um this product and this design um to see what we can do other places. Very cool, very cool.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Um I lost my training. Oh, the uh that's what I was gonna ask you. For the elite side of the sport, I know Aero Vipa, one of the one of the big things um has always been a strong commitment to anti uh drug testing and things like that in lieu of prize money. For a race like this, is there potential for private sponsors to put up prize money, especially if there is for the like the you for it's like the uh Sunday mountain race and things like that? Is there a potential for that to happen?

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah, that I'm actively working on that right now. Um I'm kinda I'm wrapping up my busy season in Phoenix um races. So actually, even just today, it's been all Sky Peaks focused. Um so I'm leaning into sponsorships and partnerships for Sky Peaks, um prize money. I'm always down for prize money. I think that draws out, I think A, it's good for the elites and the aspiring athletes just to help them out because I know this war can get expensive. Um, but I think it I I like having that sense of competition. I think it's it brings out everyone's best. Um and then drug testing, that would it just depends if it makes sense money-wise. It's uh I'd love to see it at every race, um, especially like if it involved prize money. Um I handle the the drug testing for like Javelina and Black Canyon. Um, it does get expensive um for those races, so it just depends if it would make sense in terms of like initial revenue numbers and sponsorship and just kind of see how it's going. If we get a big enough prize purse, it would draw out a lot of talent. And I think it'd be more important to have drug testing if it's a smallish prize purse and it's gonna this year, if it's a smaller size race, I could it would probably not be drug tested. Maybe it will be. I don't want to just say that.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

No, yeah, yeah. No, but it makes sense for at least the for the early years. It would make sense. Unless you're getting like, I don't know, tons and tons of like a solid elite field of like, you know, super deep, then it would make sense. But you know, like your block came into the world. Like that, that obviously gels, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Yeah. So and fortunately, with the experience of those two races and working with Usada, um, I'm familiar with the whole process. I know the guys over there and gals. Um so if we have if it's in the budget and uh I'd we'll definitely do it, even if it's just you pay per runner that you want to test, even if it's just um doing one test uh per like one male and one female or something like that, I think it'd be worth it. I think just having drug testing at races, um, even if it is the n equals one number, it just kind of sets the tone for the whole event.

Why Flagstaff Is A Perfect Late-Season Stop

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Yeah. No, dude, I couldn't agree more. I could do a whole nother podcast on that. That'd be that's a good that's a good conversation to have. Um very cool. Is there a chance? I mean, I don't know if you can give any uh inside baseball of this. So I'm in Colorado Springs and I you I know a few of the Aero Vipa Colorado folks, good people. Like I I like the organization. Um is there a chance we get more. races in the future, maybe at like ski resorts and things like that. I think that's always been something that like they do a very good, really good job at putting on like local trail races, especially on the front range. But I feel like there's this need or could be a potential need for more ski resort type races with more vertical, more mountain races, if you will, kind of over the summer.

SPEAKER_00 22:22

I guess the short answer is yes. The the the long answer is uh Sky Peaks would be pretty important to test that model. Okay. And then we can I know we do have like the parent company for Snowball would like to bring this model into other resorts. Off the top of my head I don't think there's one in the Springs area. I think they're purgatory in Colorado.

SPEAKER_01 22:46

Yeah it's in Durango that'd be a good one. It's a sweet little area. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

So there but that doesn't stop us from approaching other resorts. And I think I mean Colorado just makes it it's too easy. Like it just makes total sense to to do that. But we'd like to test the model at Sky Peaks and see how it works. I like I'm all in for it. Like I said from day one I thought this could be a success and getting back on the mountain and doing a weekend of racing. I think it's something that the ski resorts want too they're always looking for summer revenue just from like we're going to pay them our event fee but hosting it right next to the lodge, it's kind of a win-win uh for the resort. Like I don't have to worry about getting a liquor license. I don't have to worry about bringing in food trucks. I can say there's a a lodge right there that's going to serve food and serve beer and then they're getting the revenue for that and it takes something off my plate.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Yeah it does make life easier. I mean the model itself is interesting too like I feel like um like the Cirque series I feel like really just set the standard for these like mass participation things and you know you come in on a Saturday it's a giant party and I mean obviously putting together the events a difficult situation trying to figure all that out but just the amount of people it's a good revenue model. At least it makes sense. I mean I don't know as far as like the the true like economics of it work but it it's a great thing for the rudder.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

So yeah like we'll just I hope it gets some good buy-in so far um traction has been good everyone I've talked to the race about thinks it's awesome but I think it's just changing the mindset too of uh the community that you can do cool things without running a ridiculous distance like it can you can do something like pretty badass and keeping it you know to a couple hours.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

Yeah no for sure it's a I mean that's a whole nother podcast and a good conversation I know you're an end. So yeah what do you think about that? Like do you think I I mean obviously I think that's like kind of an untapped resource in the North American market that I think is starting to grow. Whereas in in America we've always been more uh I guess you could say ultracentric. It's been more of the attractive thing. But yeah I think in the short trail side it's just such a more um like easily easy approach point for athletes and for really every person in the sport it's just an easier to get into and convince me to do I don't know an 11k with 2,000 feet of vert versus a 50k with 7000 feet of vert, right?

Terrain Mix On Snowbowl: Runs And Trails

SPEAKER_00 24:58

Yeah and I I would like to get away from that thinking that you know it has to be ultras and it has to be longer distance. Because even if like if you want to prove yourself as an athlete um it could be way harder to just go balls out for you know an 11k 20k 30k type distance that has a lot of Vert and is a really challenging course. Or just like if it's a really competitive race like you're I know person I've I've been way more gassed at the end of a 30K than I've been after a 50 mile sometimes just if it's a competitive shorter race like that and you're just redlining it the entire time. But I think like that's something personally like that I've tried to build and Air Vipe has tried to build uh like even in Phoenix with our focus on like the middle distance kind of stuff uh just ripping these like kind of desert courses. I'd like to see people buy into that more and I think adding a challenging element um helps with that a bit. I think it's like it's probably easier to get behind like embracing the achievement of going up a mountain and down at high elevation. It's really hard stuff because you know people are traveling to to Snowball to Hike Humphreys and that's like if it's just a an average tourist like that's like their year achievement is just walking up the mountain. And then we're like if you're in the 12 hour you're gonna be doing in essence that I don't know six times.

Live Coverage Plans And Model Expansion

SPEAKER_01 26:20

Good luck with that one. Yeah I do have a question for well actually not less a question more a statement. I mean like my favorite race that Air Vipe has always put on has been the Kendall Mountain run. I've had success there. I've I love that race. And I tell all of my friends go do that race if you're looking for something to just kick your butt. And uh yeah I mean if you guys can create especially because I feel like so many um folks from that area from Phoenix and from kind of like um just between like that whole geographic area come up into the San Juans to see what that's all about. And a lot of them wind up doing that race. If you can create something like that, you know a lot closer to home that's proof of concept. That's that's pretty sweet.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

Yeah that like this uh this whole idea definitely had some Silverton vibes in it. I did kind of want to capture I love Kendall like I've done that. I love going up to Silverton like our whole Phoenix contingent that's like our our summer camp is Silverton weekend uh just because like we're putting like everyone from Phoenix wants to work that race just I mean it's 110 degrees here and then you just and it's brown and everything's dead and then you just go up and there's life and it's cool and you get to climb mountains and stuff. But I definitely like I did it once I don't know a few years ago ran Kendall and I was blown away by it. I just thought it was like so cool starting downtown and just sprinting out of town and everyone saying like we're all going way too fast and everyone agreed and everyone still did it and then just try to like gasping for air and the little scramble at the top I thought it was great.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah yeah yeah like I said if you guys can create something like that it'd be amazing. With a couple minutes left on our time what uh what are you racing this summer? Like what do you got planned for your schedule?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

Okay. I have uh the big ones uh Mogian Monster 100 um that'll be in September that's like the big one I'm on the I'm pretty high up on the wait list for hilo uh so I'm thinking I'll get into that I'm like uh 20th or something like that. Um so I'm like right on that borderline but I'll train for it like I'm gonna get in. Um I've got Machete Madness 100k in California in April and then some smaller stuff. Just I like to race like our Air Viper races, Copper Corridor 30K, um Crown King the 50k there. So some small ones like that and then uh the big one will be Moge and Monster and hopefully high lonesome fingers crossed nice the high lonesome course is gorgeous.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

Like I I've been out trading on a few sections of it and every part of it's just yeah yeah that's a 10 out of 10. 10 out of 10 and Mogian Monster is a beast dude would you use that as like a hard rock qualifier or is it even I think it is still hard rock okay very it'll be uh it's a double qualifier this year actually so uh states and hard rock so sweet man well listen Aaron I want to say thank you so much for coming on the show I uh super excited for Flagstaff Skypeaks this year like I um you know I hope the audience listening to this gets really excited about it and hopefully we get a nice solid elite field out there and it's gonna be a fun successful year.

Prize Money And Anti-Doping Considerations

Prize Money And Anti-Doping Considerations

SPEAKER_00 29:14

So yeah stay tuned I'll be working all s all systems go for Skypeaks for the next few months for me. And registration is open right it's open right now um there might be some tweaks to the to the property the courses on the property but it'd be very minor but what you see on the website is in essence what you're gonna get.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Awesome man well appreciate it appreciate your time and uh yeah man appreciate thank you. Cheers. Yeah cheers. Well what'd you guys think? Oh man uh thanks so much to Aaron for coming on the show. Always fun to chat all things when new races pop up and uh new exciting potential events for athletes to go attend uh kind of come into the fray. Um guys if you're interested in attending Flagstaff Sky Peaks go ahead and hit the sign up the sign up is already um available now you can hop on over to uh airviper running dot com or uh find it on uh ultra sign up both places you can go and uh hit that uh hit that sign up and those Sunday races look pretty cool the uphill race looks pretty dope as well um there's a little bit something for everybody I mean this is not just a uh ultra marathon I mean or just a set of trail races there's like I said a really cool they're 50 mile distance is sick uh completely circumnavigating the entire like massif um uphill is dope and then you know for guys and gals like myself uh the Sunday mountain races are where it's gonna be it's it's a dope little thing uh so yeah definitely check them out um if you're an elite athlete interested in registering for the race uh if you can if you can uh reach on out to Aaron directly or Aaron Vipa and uh get that conversation going. And uh yeah hit the registration button and go from there. Guys if you've been enjoying the podcast please give us a five star rating review on Apple Spotify YouTube or wherever you consume your podcast. Genuinely appreciate your support. Definitely hit that subscribe button on YouTube. We're trying to grow that area of the show if you will that's the only place you're gonna be able to get me on video this beautiful smiling face as well as my guests beautiful smiling face. Yeah if you want to watch it in 4K video check that out. So have a great rest of your week