Author: Peter Bakwin

On a crisp early fall day Stephanie said, "Let's go someplace warm this winter and do a long hike." This seemed like a good idea, but didn't take root until a while later when I got the flu for 2 weeks, giving me nothing to do but dig into the details of a trip plan. I could think of only one thing that interested me:…

The JMT, PCT, TRT, and lastly the AT ... what happened on the big trails in 2014? JOHN MUIR TRAIL (JMT) The JMT is one of the premier backpacking trails in the world, running 223 miles through California’s Sierra Nevada from Mt Whitney to Yosemite Valley. It is a fabulous route: remote, rugged, committing, but yet with generally good weather, excellent (though rocky) trails and…

Summer 2014 Mountain Madness Summer has wound down, and it was a hot one for FKT action in the mountains. Some people REALLY like climbing mountains ... LOTS of mountains! Let’s take a look ... [caption id="attachment_1721" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Andrew Hamilton on Capital Peak - photo Stefan Griebel[/caption] COLORADO 14ers Depending how you count, there are between 53 and 58 peaks in Colorado over 14,000…

"Hardrock".  The name evokes the unique aura of this challenging event.  The 21st running of Hardrock is July 11-13; let’s consider what makes it so special, mysterious, and, indeed, legendary. (NOTE:  The Author of this post is Peter Bakwin, who in 2006 began 48 hours before the race, ran the entire course, then did the regular race with the rest of the runners, finishing that…

June 21, 2014 - - - The “Tenmile Traverse” is a classic long mountaineering route near Breckenridge, Colorado, which links ten summits uncreatively named Peaks 1 through 10. But, the route covers only half of the Tenmile Range, and the lower, easier half at that. The true Tenmile Range Traverse” (TRT) is simply the entire range, which adds six high 13ers and some really gnarly terrain…

“Let your instincts guide your steps … he’ll take you where you most love.” – Kilian Jornet For several years I have maintained a simple website dedicated to recording and documenting Fastest Known Time (FKT) efforts on various trails, routes and mountains. “Fastest Known Time” essentially means the same thing as “Speed Record”, while acknowledging it is the fastest time that we know about, as some…

My family moved to Boulder in the summer of 1968. On May 5-9, 1969, hard rains produced the biggest flood in decades. As a 7-year-old the 3 feet of water in our (unfinished) basement seemed super cool, sort of like having an indoor swimming pool. Growing up in Boulder the “100 Year Flood”, was part of the local lexicon, like fallout shelters were for families…

I never intended to become a runner. As a kid I hated running as a sport... I never really thought of myself as an athlete. I didn’t do organized sports at school. Fitness and “exercise” were things I associated with that old dude in the sweats on TV. But I grew up skiing, and have been doing it as long as I can remember. When…

Running into the tiny village of Guipry, in France’s Brittany district, on August 31, 2002, I was feeling pretty worn. It was the fourth long day of La Transe Gaule, an 18-day stage race across France. I’d run maybe 25 km already that morning, and had another 45 or so to go – a typical 70 km day. This was beginning to seem like a…

Being wedged into a mass of humanity is not a novelty in Japan, but the crowd my wife Stephanie and I were stuck in clearly wasn’t going anywhere for hours.  I had visions of a Who-concert-style stampede and trampling, but of course the Japanese are used to this kind of thing and take it in stride, with their seeming infinite patience and courtesy.  Us Americans,…