Musco Lighting - 24 Hours of Aspen

24 Hours of Aspen
Presents Diverse Challenges

More than 300,000 watts of light are needed to light up the racecourse during the night which covers 3,267 vertical feet from the top of the course to the bottom. A Musco Light™ placed at the bottom of the mountain was just one of the pieces of equipment used to achieve 300,000 watts of light.

What Is
24 Hours Of Aspen?

24 Hours of Aspen is a 24 hour endurance race that raises money for charity. Deemed the 24 Hours of Pain, the event is the most grueling endurance ski race in the world.

Aspenite Ed McCaffrey founded the race. Motivated by his father’s suffering from MS, McCaffrey wanted to make a statement about endurance and raise money to fight the disease.

Skiers race in pairs and must remain within a few feet of each other. They often “slingshot” or trade drafting positions during a run (much like a car or bicycle race).

The race begins at noon on Sunday and ends at noon on Monday. The winner is determined by the team who has made the most laps in 24 hours in the fastest time.

Ten teams representing eight countries consumed 600 bananas, 50 pounds of pasta, and 20 pounds each of rice and potatoes to surmount the grueling 12th annual 24 Hours of Aspen endurance ski race.

More than 300,000 watts of light are needed to light up this three-mile, mountain-side racecourse. Working only after the mountain closed at night, Musco techs began setting up a week before the race.

“The race was interesting this year in terms of lighting because it was very cold. We experienced power surges because so many people were using heat that it effected sources of power on the mountain,” stated Nancy Scheinkman, event director for the Aspen Skiing Company. “It presented challenges, but ultimately . . . this was one of the safest races we’ve ever run.”

The Musco crew faced multiple safety issues even before the race. Recalled Project Manager Brett Paulsen, “We got three feet of snow before setup, plus the locations were in high positions on the mountain and off the main trail. We had to dig on hillsides and pull our equipment up on sleds. We actually built a second generation of custom sleds to haul the light bars up.”

Thriving on the challenges, Musco’s crew came through again. “They really do a great job lighting up the course,” summed up Rose Abello, ASC’s director of communications. •