Yakima Skyline 50K

Yakima Skyline is a true Washington classic trail ultramarathon that takes place in April each year. I have run races all over the state, but I did not feel that I was a true Washington runner until I toed the line at this beast of a run. The race covers a treeless ridgeline boasting over 9700 vertical feet. To my knowledge the race has undergone minimal course changes over the year, but it has essentially followed the same trajectory. The 2025 iteration is the subject of this post.

I knew my spring calendar was ambitious, in January I won Bridle Trails 15 miler, then in February I was finally able to take the top spot at Run Forest Run 50K, and in mid March I cracked the top 10 at Santa Barbara Nine Trails, which is perhaps the only spring 50K that is actually harder than Yakima Skyline. With less than a month to recover and build for Yakima, I was not sure how my body would respond, but I gave it a try anyway. We drove over the pass to Ellensburg and continued south along the Yakima River to the start/finish area of the race. 

We started at 0800 under sunny skies with temperatures the low 40s. This was ideal considering I was expecting anything from snowy with temperatures in the 20s to sweltering with temperatures in the 80s. The course began winding through Umtanum Recreation Site (1330 feet) and crossing the Yakima River before funneling onto the narrow Vista trail. The Vista trail passed through a bustling riparian corridor which stayed flat for almost a mile before beginning to climb towards the first high point. While we followed the creek and there were some low growing trees and shrubs near the start of the climb, but it did not take long for these high shrubs to shrink in size to half a meter sagebrush. 

The entire course is exposed, there is no escaping the wind, heat, cold, sun, or sight of pursuivants. The vista trail tops out at 3430 feet at the junction with Umtanum Ridge Road. Some of the gradients near the highpoint exceed 40% gradient. Even though the first climb is only 2100 feet, there is only 1.2 miles to disperse the vertical gain, making it an average of 33.1% gradient. The single track gave way to a wide pothole riddled forest road. The road surface was packed clay and undulated slightly over the exposed plane. I think I was in third or fourth place here, but I cared very little about my position at this stage in the race. 

Over the next two miles the course stayed fairly level (by Yakima Skyline standards) before making a 2030 foot plunge down to Roza Aid Station (1:13:53, 7.6 miles at 1270 feet). I refueled and joined Carl Koopmans through Roza Creek Valley before the next climb. The next climb topped out at 2980 feet with 1710 feet of climbing at an average of 10% gradient. Carl and I assumed first/second place at this stage and maintained this all the way to the finish. Although the second climb was not as intense as the first, it was still quite difficult due in large part to the strong winds that were sweeping across the ridgeline. After topping out, the next 2.5 miles descended and then climbed again before sharply descending to the Buffalo Aid Station at mile 15.5 (2:34:07 at 1320 feet). 

There were several people right behind us because Carl and I are not the best descenders. Most of the time we gained on the ascent evaporated on the technical downhill. Generally I think Carl and I were fairly evenly matched, he was climbing slightly better but I was descending slightly better. We put some time back on our pursuers in the next section as we tackled the 1400 climb back towards Umtanum via the Skyline trail. This climb was 2.3 miles with average gradients of 11.5%. We had to dodge dozens of runners coming back the other way while fighting the strong headwinds and crosswinds. Additionally, the sun was still unobstructed and temperatures were climbing into the upper 60s. 

We reached Roza Aid Station in 3:56:14 (mile 23.5) with a time split of 1:22:07, which was only 1:53 slower than our outbound time. Again there were two runners very hot on our heels when we hit the final climb of the day. I lost contact with Carl on this 2.9 mile 1230 foot climb that averaged 8% gradient. He continued to pull away on the forest road section and I lost sight of him at the start of the descent. I was concerned about the chasers and tried my best to bomb down the hill but with 40% gradients, and loose slippery soil, that was difficult. I managed my way down to the flat trail near the river and was confident I would hold second but gave up hope to catch Carl. I crossed the line in 5:23:51 for second place. My final split was 1:27:37, which was 13:44 slower than my outbound split. This was disappointing and led to a 15:37 slower inbound split. 

Overall I was happy with another podium position, I would have liked to best Carl after he beat me at Teanaway 100 back in September of 2022, but he is a strong runner and put in a great final surge. Thank you to Rainshadow Running for putting on another topnotch event, thanks to all the volunteers, and thanks to Dad and Maryann for accompanying me to the race.