12 Hours of Snowbird

I will be heading back to Utah a day early this week so I can participate in the 12 Hours of Snowbird. One of my coworkers and I will start skiing tomorrow evening at 7pm and ski all night armed only with headlamps and a healthy supply of M&Ms. There are about 15 other teams that we will be competing against to try and get the most vertical feet skied in a 12-hour period. I just hope my legs hold out.

I got an e-mail about 6 weeks ago announcing the event. At first I thought it would be fun and so I showed it to one of the guys I work with. He is young and made me immediately sign up as his teammate. Naturally I did. Now I am committed to giving up a night's sleep in my own bed to participate in this folly. To be honest, I am kind of excited.

I was the start referee at Snowbird for a ski race and got the chance to talk with one of the 12 Hours of Snowbird organizers. His big concern was that we would get a lot of snow the night of the event. If that is the case, then they will have to cancel it due to avalanche danger. Right now, the weather report says there is only a 20% chance of snow. That shouldn't be enough to stop the all-night-ski-a-thon. I wonder if I will have enough gas in my tank to ski any the next day?