Central Oregon’s Big Butte Challenge started during the pandemic, and it’s not stopping now. It’s an opportunity to climb a butte with your friends and enjoy a beer when the workout is over.
The race involves summiting eight buttes on the High Desert. You can do as many or as few as you want:
- Barnes Butte
- Bessie Butte
- Black Butte
- Smith Rock
- Overturf Butte
- Paulina Peak
- Pilot Butte
- Tumalo Mountain
Each climb is sponsored by a brewery. When you get to the top, you get a token for a free beer.
“We always encourage folks to have fun with it and to be engaged and go, you know, go out to do what we love to do here in Central Oregon, which is be active and then go celebrate that activity with with a cold beer,” said Scott Douglass, CEO of Cascade Relays.
You can do the climbs anytime from now through Labor Day.
Course routes are set one-way, from the trailhead to the summit. You can take any route you want back down.
This year, summits are not timed or tracked. All that’s required is you document your summit and submit it via photos or GPS from your phone, watch or other tracking device.
You’ll need to register at cascaderelays.com. It’s $60 to do all eight buttes or $20 for a single butte. For kids 15 and under, it’s $15 for all eight buttes. Registration includes custom merch, a swag bag, perks from the sponsors, and — of course — a free beer for every butte you summit.
