Is the Mountain Mist 50K the toughest ultra in north Alabama or, perhaps, the state?
Last week I asked the Run256 group on Facebook this question: I’ve heard this batted around a time or two but want input: What is the toughest trail run event in the Huntsville area?
Examples I gave were Mountain Mist 50K, Wade Mountain Marathon, Wild Thangs final event in August (heat, Death Trail), Smoke Rise (half), Grand Viduta (3-day), Eagle Ridge 50K and “others.” I forgot to include the McKay Hollow 25K, but it certainly belongs on the list. Even the McKay 12K now includes Death Trail, so it’s not a romp through the spring buttercups, either.
Veteran trail runners responded with some great answers. The overwhelming response was Mountain Mist is the toughest. Wade Mountain and McKay Hollow were in the top three. Here are some of the responses:
Matthew Jones: Aside from Mountain Mist? McKay Hollow Madness has done me in once or twice. Wade Mountain is straight up tedious.
Brian Beall: Mountain Mist 50K. Folks (me included) write checks they cannot cash on the front half and it comes back to bite us all on the back half. 
Not a loop, not an out-and-back course, and the sequence of Oak Park, Dummy Line, Waterline, and McKay Hollow for climbs can be downright mean.
James Falcon: My opinion is a double McKay is harder than Mt Mist. It’s hard to compare different distance races.
Caleb Sherill: Mountain mist and Eagle Ridge would be your two toughest. Grand Viduta is its own type of tough, with it being a 3-day stage race (running on tired legs, the mental challenges of racing 3 days in a row, recovery/nutrition). Smoke Rise is a rocky, technical course but very runable for large portions and the Wild Thangs series ranges from flat quick trails to a climb up McKay Hollow to round out the series.
Kathy Faulkner Youngren: Mountain Mist stands alone in this category. The placement of the climbs and most technical parts of the course in the second half, make it by far the toughest around. (And at the same time the most fun).
Graham Gallemore: I’ve done most all of the races mentioned: Mountain Mist (x11), Grand Viduta (x9), Wade Mountain (1M & 6HM), Wild Thangs (multiple), Eagle Ridge HM, Smoke Rise 10K, McKay Hollow (multiple). Most definitely MM is the hardest (that’s why it’s my favorite race!!!).
Kelly Scott Clary: Nothing rivals Mountain Mist.
Eric Fritz: Definitely Mountain Mist for me. Technically I’ve not run a lot of the other ones but I have run the trails they are on and feel Mtn Mist is toughest. McKay Hollow is possibly a tougher course, pound for pound, as it packs a lot into the shorter distance. But suffering through twice the distance, even if easy trails, pushes things to another level.
Cody Bellomy: I’ve not done Grand Viduta but I’ve either run the courses of each that you’ve listed or raced them and my vote would be Mountain Mist. That course is designed to break you by the fact that hardest section of the course is at the end. I would also give McKay Hollow an honorable mention.
The Mountain Mist 50K is sponsored by Yellowhammer Brewing, which contributed 800 cans of locally-brewed beer, and Gold Strike Coffee. Huntsville Track Club facilitated the scoring and course management.
