Snowy Ridge Classic
Absorb this landscape and celebrate its heritage.
More than a 100-mile race, the Snowy Ridge Classic is an invitation to experience a remarkable piece of Montana, embrace the challenges of wild country, and become part of a community built around respect for the land and the people who call it home.
How the Classic came to be
By Steven Graham, Founder & Race Director
Nearly a decade ago, while training for ultramarathons, I discovered the Big Snowy Mountains of Central Montana. I knew immediately that I'd stumbled upon something special. Hidden in plain sight, these mountains offered genuine wild country, remarkable solitude, and an old-school Montana character increasingly difficult to find.
In those early years, I rarely encountered another soul. No other runners, and only the occasional hiker. Over time, the Big Snowies became a place I came to know as my own. A place to explore, test my limits, and develop the skills and endurance that would carry me through some of my proudest accomplishments in ultrarunning.
But what I found here extended far beyond athletic achievement. There was something deeply rewarding about the difficult miles, the solitude, and the self-reliance required to travel through this country. These mountains offered more than a place to train. They became a place to grow, reflect, and appreciate the quiet satisfaction of moving through wild country under my own power.
As the years passed, that experience gradually became something shared. A few other runners found their way into these mountains, and what began as a solitary pursuit grew into a small circle of people drawn to the same challenges and experiences. Even today, our ultrarunning community in Central Montana remains remarkably small, but our connection to this landscape runs deep.
Along the way, my relationships with local ranchers and private landowners became another important part of this story. Their connection to this country runs generations deep, and their willingness to work with us has opened the door to creating something that extends beyond the running community.
The Snowy Ridge Classic grew from a desire not only to share these mountains with other ultrarunners, but to bring people together around the landscape, the community, and the Western heritage that make Central Montana unique. What began as a personal connection to a quiet mountain range has become an opportunity to build something lasting, bringing runners, landowners, volunteers, and the surrounding community together through a shared appreciation for this place.
Raised in a cowboy family
Raised in a cowboy family, learning from old-school Montanans whose lives felt almost poetic to me. From a young age, I learned to sit a horse, read a cow, and stretch a fence. Just as importantly, I was taught the value of hard work, responsibility, and seeing a job through, regardless of how difficult it became.
That upbringing led me into professional rodeo, where athletics and Western heritage came together and allowed me to live out some childhood dreams. Having grown up working with my hands, I became a contractor and built my own business. These practices in work ethic proved invaluable in wild country. Mountain sports and outdoorsmanship were part of who I was long before ultrarunning entered the picture.
But life wasn't always as romantic as the life I admired and was starting to create for myself. Long before the mountains or my rugged upbringing had mostly shaped my character, life had already given me an education in suffering. Hardship came early. And somewhere, somehow along the way, I made a decision to lean into the struggle rather than let it have its way with me, a trait that has stayed with me to this day.
Over the better part of a decade, I've covered countless miles exploring this range. On foot and on skis, through every season, year after year, I've returned to these mountains, picking this country apart, learning its terrain and developing an intimate understanding of its wild character. Somewhere among the long climbs, difficult miles, and solitude, I began to recognize something in myself that had been there all along. In the midst of struggle, there was a quiet triumph in simply being present, an appreciation for the wild country and a clearer sense of who I am.
I don't believe a race like this creates character. It reveals it. What you see, feel, and experience in totality in those mountains, that's the story written long before you ever set foot on that starting line.Steven Graham
I've learned I'm not alone. Even in our small Lewistown circle, others have found something profound in the difficult miles. Different stories, shared understanding. Somewhere along the way, that personal connection became something we wanted to share. So we're bringing the Snowy Ridge Classic to life: an invitation to meet this landscape and celebrate its heritage.
Ranch families
The race starts and finishes on working ranch land, with access granted exclusively for the Snowy Ridge Classic by the Butcher and Miller families. That access is a privilege extended for race day only. It does not permit scouting, training, or future recreation on private land.
Public lands
Most of the course travels through the Helena–Lewis and Clark National Forest, including two Wilderness Study Areas, and uses trailheads managed by the Bureau of Land Management's Lewistown Field Office. We run with a Leave No Trace mindset and the goal of leaving with greater knowledge of how to steward all lands.
Volunteers
Each aid station has a volunteer medical lead and a team led by experienced ultrarunners. Backcountry stations are supplied by pack horses, in cooperation with the Judith Basin Backcountry Horsemen. Want to help? Get in touch.
Lewistown, Montana
The Big Snowy Mountains rise south of Lewistown, in the geographic center of Montana. Lewistown is roughly two hours from Great Falls and Billings, and about three from Bozeman and Helena. The nearest commercial airports are in Billings (BIL) and Great Falls (GTF).
The course is remote. Cell coverage is unreliable in the mountains, and crew access roads are gravel. Plan fuel, food, and lodging in Lewistown, and expect to be self-sufficient once you leave town. Details on the start venue, parking, packet pickup, and the pre-race briefing will be published with final race materials.
Organized by Snowy Mountain Adventures · Race Director Steven Graham · Contact
