This is the kit for the vertical kilometer: 1,000 meters of gain in less than 5 kilometers, the definition CU Boulder researchers used when they put mountain runners on a steep treadmill. It takes two climbs that come up a little short of the full thousand and make up for it in steepness. One is the Broken Arrow Ascent at Palisades Tahoe, a World Cup uphill that iRunFar calls “just shy of a vertical kilometer.” The other is Siphon Draw to the Flatiron above Lost Dutchman State Park, about 2,600 feet in three miles, with nearly half of it in the last mile.
The thesis is that on grades this steep you walk, and the kit is built for walking fast. A North Face Summit Vectiv Sky 2 for grip. LEKI’s lightest folding poles, a Naked band that holds them at your back when your hands go on rock, and half-finger Black Diamond gloves for the hand line, the ladder, and the wall. A Garmin HRM 600 for the effort number, one caffeinated SiS gel, PH 1500 for desert mornings, an Arc’teryx Norvan for the ridge, a Trails Illustrated map for the Flatiron’s unsigned upper mile, and an OR Sun Runner Cap. On the wrist, a Garmin Forerunner 970 that counts down the ascent left, and a Citizen Promaster Altichron that shows the climb with a hand.
Note.
Confirm current pricing at the retailer. Lost Dutchman charges a per-vehicle entrance fee, its trails are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., and walk-in entry and hiker drop-off are not permitted. Arizona State Parks does not recommend Siphon Draw in hot weather, and the climb to the Flatiron is not a designated, maintained trail all the way. The Broken Arrow Ascent is a mountain race with exposure, a hand line, and a ladder, and entrants must be 16 or older. If you are new to poles, practice with them before race day.
iRunFar · Jun 19, 2026
Up the ladder
“Top runners have no choice but to go hard from the start, and the Broken Arrow Ascent course doesn’t wait around either.”
iRunFar — 2026 Broken Arrow Ascent Results: Anna Gibson and Patrick Kipngeno Win Again (Justin Mock)
Justin Mock’s race report has the whole format in it. The 2026 Ascent ran 3.6 miles and 2,840 feet up Washeshu Peak to a finish at 9,000 feet. In his words, “That’s 5.6 kilometers and 865 meters, just shy of a vertical kilometer.” Anna Gibson won in 43:15. She trailed Kenya’s Joyce Njeru onto the Stairway to Heaven ladder and passed her late, and Njeru finished eight seconds back. Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya won the men’s race in 37:59, his second win there after 2024, and Cam Smith took the U.S. uphill title in 38:10. The race was part of the Mountain Running World Cup and doubled as the U.S. Mountain Running Championships uphill race.
Note the ladder. Near the top, a VK stops being a run and becomes a climb. The kit has to let go of the poles when your hands are needed, and then pick them back up.
Read iRunFar · 2026 Broken Arrow Ascent
From the lab
CU Boulder’s Rodger Kram on why VK racers walk: “For either running or walking, slopes between 20 and 35 degrees require nearly the same amount of energy to climb the hill at the same vertical velocity.” At the speed his team tested, walking used about nine percent less energy than running.
His advice, given a choice of trails up a mountain: “choosing the second trail (30 degrees) and walking as fast as you can within your aerobic capacity is the fastest way to go.”
CU Boulder Today · Optimal slopes for uphill running
Arizona · Lost Dutchman State Park / Apache Junction
Siphon Draw to the Flatiron
“This last mile demands everything you’ve got.”
Arizona Highways — Siphon Draw/Flatiron Trail (Robert Stieve)
The route starts at 2,058 feet inside Lost Dutchman State Park, crosses into the Tonto National Forest and then the Superstition Wilderness, and climbs into Siphon Draw to a saddle at 3,389 feet. From there it is a route-finding climb up a wash to the Flatiron at 4,671 feet, which Arizona Highways calls “an hourlong (at least) slog,” with an 8-foot wall of rock below the top. Arizona State Parks lists the Flatiron at 5.8 miles round trip and says it “is not a designated, maintained trail all the way.” The park recommends at least five hours, at least a gallon of water per person per day, and no attempt in hot weather. Trails are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Entry is $10 per vehicle with one person or $20 with two to four, and walk-in entry and hiker drop-off are not permitted.
Arizona State Parks · Lost Dutchman trails ·
Arizona Highways · Siphon Draw/Flatiron
California · Palisades Tahoe / Olympic Valley
Broken Arrow Ascent · Washeshu Peak
“In scenarios of adverse weather and/or high winds, the traditional tram download from High Camp may not be available.”
Broken Arrow Skyrace — Ascent
The race lists 3.61 miles and 2,840 feet from the valley to the 9,000-foot summit of Washeshu Peak, over technical off-trail talus, with a bolted hand line on the Headwall Ridge and the Stairway to Heaven ladder near the top. Most years runners ride the tram down from High Camp. In adverse weather or high winds the tram may not run, and you walk down. It is a WMRA World Cup vertical uphill and hosted the 2026 USATF uphill championship. Entrants must be 16 or older, and entry was $105 in 2026. The 2026 Ascent ran June 19, and registration for 2027 opens December 7, 2026.
Broken Arrow Skyrace · Ascent ·
iRunFar · 2026 results
Smartwatch + Analog
Watch Desk
Two lanes for a race scored in meters up. The Forerunner 970 counts down the ascent left on a loaded route and reads a chest strap. The Citizen Altichron is an analog altimeter, a hand on the dial that climbs while you do.
Smartwatch · ascent left + chest strap
Garmin Forerunner 970
47 mm GPS running watch with an AMOLED display, a titanium bezel and sapphire lens, offline TopoActive maps, a speaker and microphone, and a built-in LED flashlight. DC Rainmaker lists Garmin’s claims of up to 15 days in smartwatch mode and up to 21 hours in all-systems multi-band GPS. Photographed: Forerunner 970 Carbon Gray DLC Titanium.
DC Rainmaker’s Ray Maker, on a climb of his own: “ClimbPro showing my total ascent left on this particular climb, using navigation/routing.”
DC Rainmaker — Garmin Forerunner 970 In-Depth Review · Jun 16, 2025
Why 970 here: Load the course and ClimbPro counts down the vertical that is left, which is the only number a VK cares about. Pair it with the HRM 600 for heart rate from the chest. Honest caveat from the same review: the price “jumped a painful $150 more, up to a staggering $749.”
Analog · altimeter on the dial
Citizen Promaster Altichron
47 mm black ion-plated steel case, 200 m water resistance, anti-reflective mineral crystal, and Citizen’s light-powered J290 Eco-Drive with an altimeter, an electronic compass, a power-reserve indicator, and a date. Citizen lists the altimeter to 32,000 feet. Photographed: BN5058-07E.
aBlogtoWatch’s Ariel Adams: “an all-analog timepiece that combines time-telling with a compass and altimeter.”
aBlogtoWatch — Citizen Promaster Altichron · Nov 22, 2017
Why go analog on a VK: The race is scored in vertical, so put the vertical on the dial. Set the altimeter at the start (the Siphon Draw trailhead sits at 2,058 feet, per Arizona Highways), and from then on one glance at the hand shows how much of the climb is below you. There is no screen to wake and no data page to scroll with a pole in each hand, and the movement charges on light. Adams’ caveat applies: it is for “when altitude is needed, but not in a super precise manner.” Read it for progress and let the Garmin keep the splits.
Pair them. The 970 and the chest strap keep the effort honest, which is Kram’s “as fast as you can within your aerobic capacity.” The Altichron answers the question you ask at every switchback, which is how much is left. One gives you a number. The other gives you a hand that climbs.
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The North Face
Summit Vectiv Sky 2: a carbon-plated lightweight racer with 5 mm lugs.
iRunFar on the Sky 2LEKI
Neotrail Pro FX.One Superlite, a folding race pole, and the official pole supplier of Broken Arrow.
lekiusa.comGarmin
Forerunner 970 with ClimbPro, and the HRM 600 chest strap.
garmin.comCitizen
Promaster Altichron: an analog altimeter and compass on a light-powered movement.
citizenwatch.com
iRunFar · Jun 2026
Just shy of a VK
Justin Mock on the 2026 Broken Arrow Ascent: 865 meters to Washeshu Peak, a late pass after the ladder, and a second win for Patrick Kipngeno.
CU Boulder Today · Dec 2015
Walk the steep part
Rodger Kram’s lab found that from 20 to 35 degrees, the energy cost of climbing is nearly the same at the same vertical speed, and at their test speed walking used about nine percent less energy than running.
Arizona Highways
Siphon Draw/Flatiron
Robert Stieve on the Flatiron: route-finding in the upper wash, an 8-foot wall of rock, and a last mile that “demands everything you’ve got.”
