The focus of this camp will be running and tuning into the simple pleasure of traveling through these beautiful landscapes by our own power. It is our belief that nurturing this free form, child-like pleasure of mountain running is the most effective way to become stronger runners.
There is of course more to running than having fun, and there will be ample opportunity for participants to improve their "hard skills" while at this camp. A lot of this stuff will come up naturally throughout the week, and there will be unlimited opportunity for discussions in which we will explore various topics related to trail/mountain/ultra running.
In short, the goal of this camp is to have an amazing week of running in some of the most beautiful terrain in the world, but also for each participant to walk away feeling that they have gained new perspectives and new tools that they can use to become stronger runners.
This is a camp designed for long distance trail runners who are in shape upon arrival. The timing of these camps will make them a great training session for some of the summer's big races - Western States, Hardrock, Vermont, White River, Leadville, UTMB, Wasatch (to name a few). To get the most out of your time at camp it is recommended that you feel confident that you can run up to 20 hours with upwards of 20,000 ft. of vertical gain/loss over the 5 days. It is however not necessary to be a top level runner. This camp is intended for in shape runners of all levels. We will not be in a hurry when out on runs. Much of this running will be very slow, hiking up the steeper trails into the mountains, and running leisurely along ridgelines. It is unlikely that we will be doing much more than 60 miles of running in the 5 days, and participants will always have the option of taking days off, or running shorter runs. We will have at least 2 local runners who know the Juneau trails out on every run, so any participants who want to do a shorter (or longer) run will generally have that option without being left on their own. As said above, the primary focus will be enjoying our time out running in one of the most beautiful places on the planet to run. Those that want to push themselves at a faster pace will have that option at various points during many of the runs, but certainly this will not be the main focus of our time spent out in the mountains.
