2013 Mt Buller Sky Run

Race morning started with the Delatite River in my ears, the sun yet to reach into the deep valley where I was camped out at the start of the race. 

After 2 days of training in the Australian Alps area, I wanted to finish with what must be one of the most scenic race courses in Australia. The La Sportiva Mt Buller Sky Run is put on by Running Wild in Victoria, and has a non-nonsense Race Director that prizes the runners' experience above all else. This makes for a fantastic day out in the mountains and on the trails.

The start was in Merrijig, at the trailhead to the Klinsporn (not King's porn) trail. The climb is immediate, but unlike some of the other trails in the area, this one is quite gentle and slowly winds it way up to the summit of Mt Buller. 

Once above the tree line the views are never ending, the landscape incredible:

No need to rush when on the summit of Mt Buller:

 

From the Mt Buller Summit, the trail runs through the village and onto a trail that traverses across the saddle to Mt Stirling. The trail was dusty, rocky, and quite steep in sections,  requiring good footwork and a large amount of guts and balls to let it rip downhill.

Short climb back up to Mt Stirling Summit:

Mt Stirling Summit:

Looking across to Mt Buller, the ski runs visible down its side:

Trail winding beneath skeleton gums:

For the 36km distance, the runners headed down the Big River Spur for 15km of downhill. By now I was so grateful that my legs were still working, still moving and enjoying the downhill. I was able to lengthen the stride a little and just enjoy the changing scenery brought by the drop in elevation.

The trail down crosses the Delatite River 15 times across beautiful bridges made from old trees. With the last crossing done, I arrived back at the start to a finish line complete with home made baked goodies and nutritious soup, and old and new friends to catch up with! I was pretty happy with a finish time of 4:06 and 1st female in the 36km distance. Congratulations as well to Salomon Australia teamate Mick Donges who set a new record in the 45km distance!

Thanks to Simon Ferraro for allowing me to use his pics for the blog!

Running Mt Stirling and Mt Buller

With a week off from work the first stop had to be the Victorian high country and the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Alpine resorts. In Winter the resort is jam packed with Aussie skiers trying fit in as much time on the slopes as possible during the short lived snow season. Summer brings something new altogether. The two peaks are connected by amazing mountain bike and hiking trails, offering endless running possibilities and down time in a chilled out, near empty resort town. We spent our days running and biking, and then relaxing to a cup of coffee and 360 degree views of mountains disappearing beyond the horizon. 

We had marvelous weather and ended up staying longer than initially planned - it's just so damn beautiful . My first run was around Mt Stirling on the ~16km Summit Loop (see map of the trails here). The trail was initially a little overgrown, but soon connected on sections of fire trail and single track through beautiful snow gums and views out across the Australian Alps. It was great to run some bigger hills and then have the reward of a summit! The resort has  invested heavily in signage and free trail maps, so navigating is easy! The runs were also a good opportunity to test the comfort level of some new Salomon gear (Exo compression running shirts and shorts) - all I can say is that they are pretty damn awesome to run in. 

The start of the Summit Loop:

Emerging into the alpine and running amongst startling white Snow Gums:

Summer in the Australian Alps:

The summit of Mt Stirling (1749m):

Running across to Stanley's Bowl, Mt Stirling behind me:

The next run was on the Stonefly mountain bike trail starting at Howqua Gap. The trail is 6km of uphill (250m vertical ascent) on flowing single track taking you through Alpine Ash forests, across pristine stream  and into some pretty peaceful wilderness. The trail then loops around and heads back down for 4km. Because it is built for mountain biking it flows and allows runners to work on descending technique without too much fear factor involved. From there I connected on to trails to take me to the Mt Buller summit (1804m) to finish off a wonderful run.

Running up to the Mt Buller Summit:

Views out across the Australian Alps:

Evening sun across the summit:

Mountain layered upon mountain as the sun sinks:

Mt Buller ski slopes in summer: