Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Ahhhhhhh.......memory the second thing to go. There are no14,000 foot 
peaks in the Utah. The highest ski area in the US is Arapaho Basin 
(where I have skied and ski paroled many a day ) in the CO front range 
which tops out at about 12,500. I suspect the peak altitude at Brianhead 
was probably about 12,000 - which is still a feat make no mistake about it.

The feedback I heard was it was an unbelievably difficult trail on a 
very hot day with little water on the trail. A trail that was just too 
tough for most of horses and riders.

Truman



Laura Hayes wrote:
> I can give you some insight into this ride---I crewed for the winning 
> team, Brian Weaver and Annalea Moonbeam, both from Pennsylvania. I was 
> dating Brian at that time (ah, we were soooo young back then!!). The 
> ride was held at Brianhead Utah, which is a ski area way south of Salt 
> Lake. I am not certain of the exact elevations, but I think I remember 
> that base camp was near 10,000 feet and the ride climbed to over 
> 14,000. The landscape was absolutely unforgiving with rocks, 
> elevation, not alot of natural water, and heat. Wayne McMinn and I 
> drove well up the mountain above all the other crews and since we 
> didn't know if we were actually allowed to be there, we crewed every 
> horse that came by, not just our own. We made sandwiches for exhausted 
> riders and watered every horse, using all of our available water. John 
> DePeitra was making a video and came along and filmed us. I hadn't 
> seen the video until a couple years ago - too funny!!
> Brian is an incredible athlete, and at 25, was probably in the prime 
> of his fitness. He actually ran on foot for most of the up hills and 
> all the down hills. When you watch the video of horses going by on the 
> trail, he is always the only rider on foot. He wasn't exactly built 
> like a runner, either, being about 5'5" and fairly 'sturdy'. At one 
> point in the video you see him swing up from the ground at a trot- 
> pretty cool.
> Brian's MO was to sit back, save horse and win in the end, and just 
> like twice at the OD and twice at Big Horn, among many others, he did 
> just that at ROC. He was midpack for most of the ride. At the last 
> check, he had a sandwich and a beer and started out in 4th or 5th 
> place, going down the mountain to the finish in the dark. He crossed 
> the line alone---one of the most thrilling moments of my endurance career.
> It was a brutal trail, though and those that were not lame or tired 
> and pulled, were overtime.
> Interestingly, Brian didn't own Beamer, and had never ridden him 
> before that day. Beamer had won the ROC a couple years before with his 
> owner, Annette Taschner.
> I just talked to Brian a few days ago, he is going to break my four 
> year old for me--he is an excellent horseman, and made endurance look 
> easy - even on other people's horses.
> Laura Hayes


--

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


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