Climbing in the Rockies

Sunday, June 17

It’s Father’s Day in the States, so happy Fathers’ Day to all you fathers! 

Gunnar pushed on past Durango another 54 miles to Pagosa Springs before calling it a night yesterday at 2:30 race time.  Another short night of sleep and he was on the road again at 5:30 dressed in his winter clothes because morning temperatures were down around 10 degrees C. 

As of 12:00  race time Gunnar had passed TS17 at South Fork, Colorado (48 miles down the road) and was heading on towards TS18.  The 48 miles to South Fork included the ascent to Wolf Creek Pass at 10856 feet above sea level, and the Continental Divide of the United States.  Hurrah, Gunnar, you’ve come over half a continent!  Only a little over 300 Swedish miles (or 2032 miles) to go!

The scenery here in the mountains of Colorado is gorgeous, magnificent, rugged, and AWESOME!  It’s like Norway and Switzerland combined - only more so.  It’s cooler here in the mountains and a lot greener than it was in the dry of the desert.  But, that said, day-time temperatures are expected to be above 30 degrees Celsius.

Some sad news today was that one of the racers we had been following, the Czech Jiri Hledik dropped out of the race this morning upon reaching Pagosa Springs.  We are truly sorry for him and his crew.  But the statistics show that only one of two solo racers finish.  This truly is a demanding race. 

We’ve been reading Gunnar messages from the blog at stops.  He wants to thank you all for your support.  If you leave a message we’ll get it to him.  From all of the crew genom Alice O.