from www.aspendailynews.com - February 9, 2006

Sunlight shines for 24 hours this weekend

By David Frey

Aspen Daily News Correspondent

For the sadomasochists of snow, for punishers in the powder, this weekend sound must sound like heaven.
Hike up Sunlight Mountain Resort -- a 1 1/2 mile trudge up a ski run with 1,555 feet of vertical gain. Ski or snowboard down.

Repeat.

For 24 hours.

Aspen mountaineer Mike Marolt doesn't look at it as punishment.

" It's a celebration of thanks," Marolt said. "Thanks for the good fortune that I have."

Marolt organized this weekend's 24 Hours of Sunlight, a first-of-its-kind event in North America where between 100 and 200 participants are expected to take part. It's a fund-raiser for the Heuga Center, an Edwards nonprofit for sufferers of multiple sclerosis. Marolt sits on the non-profit's board.

" The objective is to come out and do your best," he said, "but come out and do it for people with MS. These people get up in the morning. They don't know if their limbs are going to be working."

For the participants, their limbs are going to be working, all right. They'll start at 10 a.m. Saturday, and they won't stop working -- hiking, skiing and snowboarding -- for a full day.

For über-athletes, it's a grueling push for a record or a personal best. Canadian mountaineer Greg Hill is aiming to set a world record. Hill, who skied 1 million vertical feet last year, holds an unofficial record of climbing and skiing 40,170 feet in a day. He's aiming to make it official with some 26 laps up and down the Beausoleil run at the Glenwood Springs ski area.

Renowned Utah adventurer Andrew McLean is racing, too. So is Marolt.

" But 40,000 feet is just nowhere near my sights," he said.

For the everyday athletes, the endurance event offers a chance to test their mettle.

" It's not a race," Marolt said. "This is a personal achievement type of event. Yeah, you get a few guys who are out racing it. But this is something for anyone to have a go at. You can go out for an hour. A couple hours. Or 24 hours."
Marolt took a page out of the old 24 Hours of Aspen, a daylong ski racing event on Aspen Mountain. By comparison, that was for wimps. Sure, it had some pretty elite racers, but they got to ride the chairlifts uphill.

For the 24 Hours of Sunlight, Marolt wanted to make it an event open to anyone, just as long as they were willing to "earn their turns."

" Let people make it an absolutely pure event and see how many vertical feet people could actually ski," he said.
The event has also offered a dose of publicity for Sunlight. Best known as a low-frills family resort, it's gotten some unusual publicity in magazines like Outside and Powder that don't usually pay a lot of attention to Aspen's little neighbor.

" I would like to see this become one of our flagship events every year," said Sunlight spokesman John Seaberry, as crews were at work getting ready for the event. "The exposure's great. It's also an exciting event. It's a good cause."
Seaberry plans to pull his own all-nighter helping run the event. But, he said, he won't be participating.

" I just hiked up half of it the other day and I thought they were crazy," he said.
Sunlight may not have the glitz of Aspen, Marolt said, but it may be the ideal venue for backcountry skiers who look for more of a laidback experience.

" It's an experience to go there," he said. "It's not bells and whistles."

The event is being organized by Granny Gear Productions, which handles big-scale events like the 24 Hours of Moab endurance bike race.

While it's the first of its kind in Colorado, Marolt said he hopes to see it copied at ski resorts across the state.

Carbondale mountaineer Lou Dawson, a recent inductee into the Colorado Ski Hall of Fame, plans to be there, but he's not gunning for any records. He's signed on with his wife, son and some friends for a less competitive adventure.

" It's fun for a team of five just to see how much vertical they can all do together," he said. "That's what I was interested in. It seemed like a nice time to have camaraderie with friends and rub shoulders with these guys (the elite racers)."

Registration for the event is still open at the Sunlight sports shop in downtown Glenwood Springs. Information is also available at the Web site www.24hoursofsunlight.com.

dfrey@aspendailynews.com