UD Athletes Establishing New FKTs

As FKTs gain more and more recognition in the sport of trail/mountain/ultra running, bigger, tougher, and faster routes are being established. The sky’s the limit for the FKTs we have witnessed recently. The UD Team is proud to have some athletes that are creating and completing incredible routes.

Scott Jurek

Scott completed his “masterpiece,” a nearly 2,200 mile quest on the Appalachian trail, spanning from Georgia to Maine in 46 days, eight hours and eight minutes on Sunday, July 12, surpassing the previous record by just over 3 hours. Check out Scott’s Signature Series of UD products, complete with our best-selling Ultra Vest.

Justin Simoni

Justin completed the Tour 14er last summer, a quest that would require him to bike to every Colorado 14er, and run/hike to the top. The rules? He would have no outside assistance, no crew, and no motorized vehicles, and must do it faster than 37 days, 12 hours. Justin carried the UD PB Adventure Vest with him for 387.9 hiking miles, 1,609 biking miles, and over 151,000 feet of elevation change during each. After 34 days and 12 hours, Justin broke the record that had stood since 1995.

Andrew Hamilton

Andrew just broke the record of the Colorado 14er Speed Record, climbing all 58 peaks in 9 days, 21 hours and 51 minutes. This equates to an average of over 6 14,000ft peaks per day. He was allowed to use motorized transportation from trail head to trail head, so long as he still gains at least 3,000 feet while hiking on each peak.

His route:

• • June 29: Windom Peak, Sunlight Peak, North Eolus, Mount Eolus, El Diente Peak, Mt. Wilson, and Wilson Peak
• • June 30: Mount Sneffels, Handies Peak, RedCloud Peak, Sunshine Peak, Uncompahgre Peak, and Wetterhorn Peak
• • July 1: San Luis Peak, Little Bear Peak, Blanca Peak, Ellingwood Point, and Mount Lindsey
• • July 2: Culebra Peak and the Crestones (Crestone Needle, Crestone Peak, Kit Carson Peak, Challenger Point, Humboldt Peak)
• • July 3: Pikes Peak and the Sawatch Mountains (Mount Antero, Mount Shavano, Tabegauche Peak), then Mt. Princeton
• • July 4: All of the Elks (Pyramid Peak, South Maroon Peak, North Maroon Peak, Snowmass Mountain, Capitol Peak)
• • July 5: Castle Peak, Conundrum Peak, Mount Elbert. Mount Massive, and Mount of the Holy Cross
• • July 6: Mount Yale, Mount Columbia, Mount Harvard, Mount Oxford, Mount Belford, Missouri Mountain, and then Huron Peak
• • July 7: La Plata Peak, Mount Sherman, the Mount Lincoln Group (Mount Democrat, Mount Cameron, Mount Lincoln, Mount Bross), and Quandary Peak
• • July 8: Torreys Peak, Grays Peak, Mount Evans, Mount Bierstadt, and finished with Longs Peak

Britt Dick

Britt made an attempt at the unsupported Nolan’s 14 FKT from August 24-26, 2014. The route is gaining popularity in the trail/ultra community, due to leaving the route up to the creativity of the athlete and its extreme difficulty. The route summits 14 of Colorado’s 14,000ft summits in a linear fashion from Mt. Massive in Leadville to Mt. Shavano near Monarch. The route is between 90-110 miles long, and has over 45,000 ft of gain, which must be covered within the limit of 60 hours.

Britts unsupported attempt lasted the entire 60 hours. She was faced with treacherous lightning/snowstorms throughout the attempt, which pinned her at the treeline many times. “I would wait at the treeline for weather to get better.” The waiting cost time, but in the chilly, wet, snowy weather, it was also a risk to maintaining body temerature. “The best feature of the Fastpack 20 was the expandable top. I’d stuff it with a bivy since all it did was rain, and I carried a light sleeping bag for my 2 hours of sleep.”

The weather was a constant battle, making her attempt very stop-and-go. “After a long wait I had a small window to make a run for it up the final few hundred feet of Mt. Harvard, but the lightning came in again and I just couldn’t risk it.” Britt recalled. “I do plan to try again. I am trying to work something out for a supported attempt on Labor Day weekend…” UD can’t wait to see what happens.

Britt has a mention in the Nolan’s 14 film as well, which highlights some of her journey on this immense and monumental route. Check it out for a great story, complete with breathtaking landscapes.

Candice Burt

Candice has the FKT for the Wonderland Trail, which circumnavigates Mt. Rainier, Washington. She has also made a couple of very solid attempts at the Tahoe Rim Trail FKT. When she isn’t out going after or setting these FKTs, she is setting up, directing, and fastpacking the Bigfoot 200 and Tahoe 200, both which occur in the aforementioned areas. Check out these races and Candice’s other races here!

Nick Pedatella

Nick Pedatella and Scott Jaime set an FKT on the Kokopelli Trail in March, running the 141 miles from Loma, Colorado to Moab, Utah in 30:20:58. Though it’s a popular course for mountain bikers, the Kokopeli Trail is rarely completed in a single effort on foot. By finishing in less than 32 hours, Pedatella and Jaime surpassed the previous record of 32:47:41 held by UD Athlete Peter Bakwin and his wife, Stephanie Ehret.

Heather Anderson

Heather Anderson is the FKT holder of the self-supported Pacific Crest Trail. She completed the hike during August of 2013. Her time of 60 days and 17 hours and 12 minutes bested the previous record by nearly four days. You can read her awe-inspiring story of 2,500+ miles of canyons, deserts, mountains, and forest here.

It is exciting for us to be involved in a sport with such broad possibilities of routes, being taken on by a resilient community of athletes and crews. We look forward to seeing what comes next in FKTs, and wish the best of luck to all the attempts. For more information on FKTs and established routes, see http://fastestknowntime.proboards.com/.