WATCH: The original WAM course
See the original version of the Whistler Alpine Meadows races, showcasing stunning terrain in the Sea to Sky Corridor
Just in case you haven’t heard enough about last week’s Whistler Alpine Meadows (WAM) race put on by Geoff Langford, Gary Robbins, and the Coast Mountain Trail Series (CMTS) team–you’re in luck. Jeff Pelletier’s video highlights the original WAM race courses, showcasing waterfalls, glaciers, and alpine lakes in British Columbia’s Sea to Sky Corridor. The 2018 and inaugural 2019 WAM 100-miler required organizers to reroute due to grizzly bears loving the original course even more than trail runners.
RELATED: Alpine meadows, glaciers, waterfalls, and grizzly bears
Everyone has their reasons for venturing long and high into the trails and mountains. For CMTS, one of those reasons was to create an ultra race course on the spectacular Skywalk trail pioneered by Whistler locals Don MacLaurin and Kevin Titus. The original route for the 25K, 55K, 110K, and 100 mile races included old growth forests, waterfalls on 19 Mile Creek, Screaming Cat Lake, glacial moraines, and alpine meadows.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2-K6DSHZr7/
The best ultrarunners and ultra race organizers know how to adapt when Mother Nature changes the plan. The current alternative route across the highway on Whistler and Blackcomb is just as stunning and challenging. So far, no ultrarunner who has crossed the 2018 or 2019 finish lines has complained. It remains unknown whether one day race organizers and grizzly bears will co-ordinate a way for everyone to enjoy the original vision of WAM.
RELATED: WAM: Whistler’s first 100 mile race
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