RUMFORD, Maine — Among Maine’s alpine ranges, Black Mountain in Rumford is not a daunting task. For decades, it has played little brother to the nearby and sprawling Sunday River resort.
While Black's ticket prices and terrain attract families to town, for the second year in a row, the slope stood eager to torture a hearty group of athletes.
On Friday morning, 150 skiers lined up, off to the side on the groomed mountain, and then co-founder Monte McIndoe yelled for them to set off.
Using special skins attached to the bottoms of their skies, the men and women trudged out of sight below the base lodge, looped back around, and began their journey up the mountain. Once at the top, they would take the skins off and ski back down across the finish line.
They had one hour to achieve all of this. Those who finished early could eat, sit, and even take a nap. Then they lined up once more at the top of the next hour and did it all over, again and again, until one skier remained.
"It’s a horrible idea, but it’s a great thing to watch," McIndoe smirked.
He and some friends also host a Last Runner Standing Event and, one year, runners responded to a questionnaire, writing that they wanted to try a similar ski race. It arrived in 2020.
"These are all positive people doing great things, and seeing where their limits are," McIndoe said. "They’re not competing against each other. They’re competing against themselves."
Rick Chalmers won the inaugural competition.
"Thirty-four hours, I never got tired," he said of his winning time. "Twenty minutes after the thing ended? Garbage pile," he added.
Hilary McCloy was the last woman standing in 2023.
"You’re not going fast or hard, so it’s like this low-grade uncomfortable feeling that you just get used to," McCloy said calmly, before cracking up at the notion.
Just as the sun was rising Monday morning, Justin Lagassey turned his skis downhill for run #76, capping off his victory. He shredded, looking as spry as most of the mountain's visitors did on their first run off the chairlift the prior afternoon.
"The worst part, or the best part, about this event, is the person who finishes doesn’t know how far they can go," McIndoe said.
Maybe there is a moral to this absurd test: It’s about pushing your limits, and the winner just might never find theirs.