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Boston 2022: Setting high expectations

By Andrew Skurka / April 4, 2022 /

The 2022 Boston Marathon is just two weeks away, and the most difficult and most revealing workouts of the training cycle are now behind me. So where am I at, and what am I expecting on race day? Goals I think it’s useful to include some degree of flexibility when setting goal times for a…

Flattering: 179 testimonials about our 2021 guided trips

By Andrew Skurka / December 14, 2021 /

Since 2014 I’ve asked our clients to complete a post-trip survey to gather feedback about our guides, locations, meals, and curriculum, plus their overall satisfaction. Reviewing the results is a multi-day project but entirely worthwhile: they confirm what we’re doing right, and they give me a checklist of improvements for the following year. Among our 2021 client…

Blowdowns & wildfires: Pfiffner Traverse conditions update

By Andrew Skurka / July 12, 2021 /

Several sections of the Pfiffner Traverse were significantly impacted by wildfires and storms in fall 2021, including both on- and off-trail portions, and both the Primary Route and Section Hikes. These events caused an official area closure by the National Park Service and de facto closures on NPS and US Forest Service lands because of…

A 7,000-mile hike || The Earth Beneath My Feet

By / June 7, 2021 /

Like millions of people – like you perhaps? – I grew up in the sprawling suburbs of a city. I spent my childhood with carpet and concrete underfoot, not the wild earth. But from the second I saw my first mountain at the age of fifteen the city faded into insignificance.  Trouble was, the city…

76 testimonials about our 2020 guided trips

By Andrew Skurka / December 2, 2020 /

Since 2014 I’ve asked our clients to complete a post-trip survey to gather feedback about our guides, locations, meals, and curriculum, plus their overall satisfaction. Reviewing the results is a multi-day project but entirely worthwhile: they confirm what we’re doing right, and they give me a checklist of improvements for the following year. Among our…

Photo of Iceberg and Barker Lakes WRHR

Trip Report: Wind River High Route, Loop 6 || An extraordinary trip for an ordinary hiker

By Erik Van Os / November 25, 2020 /

I’m not an elite endurance athlete, a long-distance thru-hiker, or a climber.  I respect those things tremendously, but that’s just not me. That probably puts me with most others who visit this website: I love backpacking and keep in reasonably good shape, and I enjoy chasing spectacular scenery and the challenge that it provides. Let’s just…

Glacial Melt Stream

Trip Report: Wind River High Route || Just wow!

By Patrick Mason / November 13, 2020 /

The Wind River High Route is measured at 97 miles, with 65 miles of off-trail travel and over 30,000 vertical feet of climbing. Like other high routes, the general idea is to maintain the highest line of travel through a given area without involving technical climbing. For an overview of the route, make sure to…

FKT attempt: Pfiffner Traverse

By Andrew Skurka / August 3, 2020 /

Starting at 4 AM tomorrow morning I will attempt an unsupported fastest known time (FKT) on the Pfiffner Traverse, a 76-mile high route through Rocky Mountain National Park and the Indian Peaks and James Peak Wilderness Areas. This project has been on my radar for years, and the pieces have finally aligned to make a…

8 very adventurous loop runs & hikes in the Colorado Rockies

By Andrew Skurka / May 19, 2020 /

For the first time since 2013, this year I didn’t race and I won’t log at least 3,000 miles. Nagging injuries, lack of race entry luck, and a growing guiding program all played a role, as did an absence of desire — whatever I’d been running towards in my mid-30’s, I felt like I’d reached…

Slideshow: Great Western Loop || 6,875 miles around the American West

By Andrew Skurka / January 9, 2020 /

In April 2007 I began my second mega long-distance hike, the Great Western Loop. Unlike the first one, during which I walked east to west across North America, this was predominately a wilderness experience: I linked five existing long-distance trails and a DIY route across the desert Southwest to create a 6,875-mile circumnavigation of the…