Leadville 100 RUN

The route

The Leadville Trail 100 Run starts and finishes at 6th and Harrison in downtown Leadville, Colorado, at 10,200 ft, on a Saturday in August. It is a pure out-and-back: west around Turquoise Lake to May Queen, over Sugarloaf Pass and down Powerline to Outward Bound, through Half Pipe to Twin Lakes at mile 38, then over Hope Pass at about 12,600 ft to the turnaround at Winfield, and back the same way. The traditional course has about 15,500 ft of climbing, nearly all of it above 9,000 ft.

Hope Pass is the crux, and finishers cross it twice, the second time in the afternoon with the return climb straight up from Winfield. Powerline comes at about mile 80 on the way home. The cutoff is 30 hours; finishers under 25 hours get the big buckle.

In 2026 the Willow Fire forced a one-off reroute that skipped Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf and Powerline, In 2026 the Willow Fire forced a one-off reroute that skipped Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf and Powerline, sending runners out and back around Turquoise Lake instead.. This sculpture follows the traditional course but we can also create it with the 2026 course upon request.

What the sculpture shows

Hope Pass and the Sawatch Range dominate: the ribbon climbs from Twin Lakes over the pass and drops into the Winfield valley, with Mount Elbert and Mount Massive beside it. Turquoise Lake sits at the north end. Out-and-back courses read as one line, so this is a single ribbon, 50 miles each way. The terrain is zoomed out, so the peaks read as a range.