OUT NOW: Modified Leadville Trail 100 Course

Life Time released the amended course for the 2026 Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik, bypassing wildfire closures.

The organization spent months testing new terrain, some of it overlapping with the Silver Rush 50 and the Leadville Trail Marathon. Early word was that the test routes were tough and genuinely rowdy. When the dust settled, Life Time went back to the traditional direction, with a handful of modifications to skirt the Willow Fire burn area.

The Skinny

• Distance: 102.1 miles, about 2 miles shorter than the traditional course
• Elevation gain: 9,916 ft, about 2,200–2,400 ft less climbing than normal
• Removes: Sugarloaf, Powerline
• Columbine: still the highest point on the course, topping out at 12,543 ft, about 100 ft higher than last year
• New pavement: nearly 14 miles of road right after initial St. Kevin's climb
• New section "Mini Powerline": very short, rough, steep, two-track.
• Adjusted Beltbuckle cutoffs: 8:15 for gold, 11:15 for silver, both faster than the usual 9:00 and 12

What's the Same

The bones of the course haven't moved. Start line at 6th and Harrison. St. Kevin's on both the outbound and inbound. Outward Bound, still at mile 22.7. Pipeline. Twin Lakes. The climb to Columbine, still exactly where it's always been.

Columbine is still the toughest, highest point on the course, and this year it goes even higher: 12,543 feet at the top, about 100 ft higher than last year. That sounds small, but riders now spend close to a mile longer above 12,000 feet before the route flattens out at the historic mine turnaround. Any extra time up there takes a toll.

The finishing stretch to the Boulevard ends the same way it always has.

What's New

Instead of climbing Sugarloaf and descending Powerline, riders will turn away and head down a screaming fast paved descent along Turquiose Lake.

A short double-track section drops in at mile 17.3. It's part of the LT100 Run course, run in the opposite direction, and it's brief but nasty: steep, loose, and littered with chunder. Runners call it Mini Powerline, for the power line running straight through it and the steep gradient.

Don't expect it to shape the overall race. On the outbound, with groups still bunched, that little descent is a heads-up moment more than a selector. On the inbound, tired legs and a short, punchy climb could open a gap late, but nothing decisive. Columbine has likely done the separating by then, and St. Kevin's is still ahead.

After that, it's nothing but pavement until they pick up the traditional course at the base of Powerline.

What's Gone

Powerline and Sugarloaf are out entirely. The new route bypasses both and rejoins the traditional course at the base of the Powerline descent, meaning the most challenging MTB terrain on the entire course is gone.

The bigger shift: cutting Powerline and Sugarloaf takes roughly 2,200 feet of climbing out of the race, depending on whose GPS you trust, replaced in part by nearly 14 miles of pavement starting after St. Kevin's. If Leadville already felt like a road race to you, buckle up.

The raw numbers say what they say: this is a shorter, less punishing course than the one Leadville has been known for.

What It Means

It's going to be a faster day. Cutting Sugarloaf and Powerline might look minor on paper, but Powerline is the most mountain-bikey descent on the whole course, and it's gone. It's also the most likely spot on course to have a flat, and its 20%-plus pitches on the inbound have ended plenty of days regardless of category. Take that away and the average rider's race changes shape.

For the pros, the racing still comes down to Columbine, where it's been decided in recent years. Less climbing and fresher legs by the return trip could make for tighter gaps and more group dynamics on the way back. Without Powerline to do the leg-breaking on the inbound, St. Kevin's is left to finish the job. Still a real climb, just not quite the same level.

Life Time worked with local officials, fire crews, and land management agencies for months to hold the race at all this year. The Willow Fire is mostly contained, but its full impact won't be clear for a while. Most riders will just be glad to be on the start line.