Annals of Obsession

Tuesday, April 10, is the 100th day of 2007. For Boulder’s Scott Elliott, the day will mark the successful conclusion to his campaign to run up 8,461-foot Bear Peak 100 times in 100 days. These past few days have brought a spring storm with persistent cold and a glaze of ice over every street and trail. But only a fool would bet against Elliott’s success.

Elliott, a 42-year-old Macintosh computer tech, is no ordinary mountain runner: He has won the 13.3-mile, 7,815-vertical-foot Pikes Peak Ascent eight times. If not for a certain Pikes Peak runner named Matt Carpenter, Elliott would be the most famous name in that brutal race’s history.

Bear Peak is the middle of a trio of high peaks over Boulder’s beautiful Flatirons. The shortest route up the peak is up Fern Canyon: approximately 2.7 miles and 2,700 vertical feet, with most of the gain coming in the second half, on a seemingly endless series of punishing stone steps and switchbacks. In normal conditions, Elliott usually runs the round trip in about an hour and a half, according to a Clay Evans article in the Daily Camera. (Evans also took the photo here, showing Elliott fastening his Kahtoola crampons for the icy trails.) Unusual conditions—and there have been a lot of them this winter—might slow him to two and a half hours. Elliott has encountered chest-deep snow and nearly 100 mph winds during his “runs.” Because of work commitments and the short winter days, he often goes after dark.

With the 100-day mark approaching, Elliott has had to make up for some missed days because of work and races, and so he’s been doing two-a-days. As I write this, at around 11 a.m. on Saturday morning, it’s 25°F with freezing drizzle. At least the trails won’t be crowded.