On Brian's last day at Vail, I had to work, which sucked, because the mountain was gloriously covered in 9 inches of spanking new snow and I wanted to do nothing more than ski all over the place. Instead we got only 2 runs in the morning before I had to photograph the Pete Seibert Vail Mountain Marathon.

Pete Seibert's Vail Mountain Marathon is the step child of Warren Miller's Mad Mountain Marathon, a 150-gate end of season extravaganza for charity. That race that has been on hold for a few years since Mr. Miller moved away from Vail Valley. Pete Seibert, the son of the Vail's founder (that's him in the picture), revitalized the race this year. I was lucky enough to be chosen to shoot it.

I shot more than a hundred racers from 10 to noon. I got some decent pics. If I don't get too lazy I'll try to put a gallery with some of the best. The race went until 1, but I kept seeing the same faces (you could race the 50 gate course as many times as you liked for your 20 buck entry fee -- one kid went down 21 times - INSANE!), so I left to ski with Brian.

We spent the better part of the afternoon skiing Hunky Dory under Chair 3 enjoying absoltutely perfect conditions (great snow and blue skies) until hunger sent us up to the Wildwood Grill where I chowed down on a massive plate of waffle cut fries buried in chili, cheese and onions.

As the day neared an end, we made our way to gondola because I had an appointment to shoot a group of 34 people. They were incredibly cooperative. The shoot was quick, the pictures eminently sellable. Then we got in the long line to download the gondola to save our legs from the slop at the bottom of the mountain.

For both of us, it was a great way to end Brian's short visit to Vail. A perfect day with perfect conditons.

Pete Seibert's Vail Mountain Marathon hits Lost Boy Saturday

Nate Peterson

April 7, 2004

Get out your old prom dress. Pete Seibert's Vail Mountain Marathon returns to Vail this Saturday, and you're going to need something snazzy to run gates in.

This year's 150-gate slalom will take place in Game Creek Bowl down Lost Boy, starting at 10 a.m. and running until 1 p.m. with an awards party at the Kaltenberg Castle in Lionshead following at 3 p.m. Profits from the race will benefit both Ski and Snowboard Club Vail and The Colorado Ski Museum, the co-organizers of the event.

"This year we've changed (the name of the race) to Pete Seibert's Vail Mountain Marathon, because we're trying to make this event a real community event," ski museum executive director Katie Bartel said. "We want it to be something for families and the Vail community to come together to celebrate the end of the season, to dress up in costumes, be whacky and benefit two local nonprofits."

The marathon is open to teams of four or individual racers and will feature a number of prizes, including one for best costume.

Formerly known as Warren Miller's Mad Mountain Marathon, the race was on hiatus for a couple of years after Miller moved away from the valley. Last year, both SSCV and the ski museum got together to bring back the event, and switched out Miller's name with Seibert's in honor of Vail's founder but still kept the "Mad Mountain Marathon" moniker.

This year, in an effort to try to bring the community together and let local businesses compete against one another, the title was again tweaked.

"The Mad Mountain Marathon netted up to about 500 people at its biggest," Pete Seibert Jr. said. "There are certain people that come every year and we certainly want those guys to come. At the same time, we needed to put a little different spin on it. We wanted to get as many local business in it as possible. I wanted to get the whole community together at the end of the race at the party. I'd like in the future for the event to become the get-together that everybody goes to at the end of the season."

Seibert Jr., whose father heroically served in the 10th Mountain Division during World War II - which trained at Camp Hale - and suffered near fatal wounds in Italy, will be wearing a 10th Mountain uniform Saturday in honor of his late dad.

He will be racing on a family team made up of his son Tony, 14, his daughter Lizzie, 11, and his wife, Terry.

"With Pete Seibert Jr. out there plugging the event with the whole challenge theme - where different businesses challenge each other and put together teams - there's been a lot of interest," Bartel said . "Vail Resort and Beaver Creek Resort are challenging each other. A couple of real estate companies are challenging each other. Two delis are challenging each other. Bars are challenging each other.

"We haven't had a lot of preregistration but we're anticipating a lot of registration Friday and Saturday. We're hoping to get between 150-200 people to do the race."

Seibert Jr. says he is pleased at the number of businesses that have committed to the event, but also said that the most pleasant surprise was that the race served as a means of bringing together two sparring local officials.

"The biggest rivalry wasn't actually a business one," Seibert Jr. said. "Tom Stone challenged Arn Menconi on the radio this morning. Then Ann Menconi got on, since Arn was in a meeting. Because Tom skis and Arn snowboards, they decided to meet each other in the middle and tele(mark). But then the discussion went a little further, and they thought about putting together a county-commissioner team. The race actually brought them together."

Just like it was intended to.