2011 Run To The Top

RayK Sunday~Monday 09/4~5/11
Monday 09/05/11 - The RTTT (Run To The Top) was canceled less than an hour into the race.
The Forest Service and Sheriff's dept. determined that there was too much lightning danger in the area.
Anyway.... back to Sunday 09/04/11...
I hiked up around 2:00p on Sunday to spend the night on top.
I do the timing at the top Finish Line.
It was a bit cloudy and there were a couple of rain showers as I drove up to the top of lift #4.
Nothing horrible, it had stopped and was clear by the time I reached the top of the lift.
The hike up to the top where I camp was uneventful.
Some friends setup camp about 200 yards below where I was camped.
They set up a nice camp, although they had no tent.
I set up my spot, I use a Eureka Solitaire solo biv tent, it has a rain, wind fly.
Everything in my camp was setup and secure.
I hiked around the top and down to to the lift and back up without the 40# pack I had taken up.
30# was my stuff and 10# the clocks and radios for the run tomorrow.
It was a beautiful evening, good pictures, a couple of micro showers, all good.
There were both clouds and clear sky with stars, and a few more showers, and some lightning somewhere north.
I turned in at 10:00p.
09/05/11
At 3:00am all hell broke loose... The sky opened with a loud crash.
A thunder, lightning, wind, and rain storm, with temperatures of 40 degrees was raging outside.
There was so much rain, lightning, . I wasn't able to stick my head out without getting soaked.
It was nice, dry and warm in the tent, although scary because of the lightning striking all around.
I stayed awake, cooked coffee and breakfast in the tent.
There were several of these storms before 6:00am when the lightning and rain finally stopped.
The rest of the RTTT crew was showing up about 6:30~7:00
By 7:00 it had cleared and we were ready for a race.
Made contact with the start crew below and there was a successful 8:00am start.
The clocks were running. Around 8:30 we heard that the race might be canceled.
At 9:00 before the first runners make the top, we got word that it was canceled,
and that about 100 runners had started and were running before the cancellation.
We, the top crew, decided to stay and time the few that would be at the top.
At 11:30, 200+ had crossed the Finish Line, and were happy to get run times.
11:45 We got word to close it down, the sheriff's had to sweep the hill.
BTW: there was no lightning or rain after 6:00a.