Black Packing Light
  • Sections
  • Today’s Features
  • Subscribe
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • Email Newsletter
  • Membership Info
  • Articles
    • Recent Features
    • Gear Reviews
    • State of the Market Reports
    • Gear Guides
    • Gear Lists
    • Skills & Techniques
    • MYOG
    • Science, Technology & Testing
    • Stories
    • Calendar
  • Education
    • Podcast
    • Webinars
    • Masterclasses
    • Online Courses
    • Guided Treks
    • Education Portal
  • Forums
    • Forum Index
    • Recent Forum Posts
    • Gear Forums
    • Gear Swap (Buy/Sell)
  • Gear Recommendations
  • Gear Deals

Backpacking Light

Pack less. Be more.

You are here: Home / News / Expedition News / Jeff Garmire is Attempting an Unsupported FKT of the Colorado Trail

Jeff Garmire is Attempting an Unsupported FKT of the Colorado Trail

by Ryan Jordan on August 28, 2020 Expedition News, New Features

UPDATED (6-Sep-2020) – Jeff set a new FKT (unsupported) on the Colorado Trail today with a time of 9d 8h 18m. Watch my post-trek interview with him here:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Ryan Jordan and Jeff Garmire chat about running out of food, hallucinations, mangled feet, and everything else that goes into hiking 485 miles in 9 days, 8 hours, and 18 minutes. – #backpackinglight #coloradotrail #fkt #fastestknowntime #hiking #backpacking #adventure #optoutside #getoutstayout #freeoutside #run #trailrunning #takelessdomore #summer #wilderness #choosemountains #timetofly #fastestknowntiger

A post shared by Backpacking Light (@backpackinglight) on Sep 7, 2020 at 5:56pm PDT

Original Article:

At 6:30 am US Mountain Time today, Jeff Garmire started an unsupported FKT attempt of the Colorado Trail (related forum thread). Jeff is hiking from west (Durango) to east (Denver).

IMG 0507

Jeff and Maggie this morning at the southern terminus of the Colorado Trail. Thanks to Maggie Slepian for providing details about Jeff’s attempt for this article! Photo provided by Maggie Slepian.

Jeff elected a W-to-E strategy in order to get the more challenging San Juan section out of the way on fresh legs (albeit with a heavier pack).

This is particularly notable because it’s an unsupported attempt – Jeff is carrying all of his food and gear for the 485-mile trail on his back. There will be no resupply or other outside support.

In 2004, Demetri “Coup” Couponas became the first (known) person to have completed an unsupported attempt of the Colorado Trail. He completed it in about 20 days, which wasn’t exactly a race pace, but it set the bar.

The current unsupported record is held by John Zahorian, founder of Pa’lante Packs. John’s record, established in 2016, is 9d 12h 32m. He traveled east to west. A claim on John’s record was made by Bronson Hargreaves in 2016 for 8d 18h 17m but is not recognized by the FKT community due to incomplete tracking information.

  • More: FKT source data, and the history of FKT on the Colorado Trail here.

Why the CT?

From Maggie:

Jeff chose the Colorado Trail because there were so many things that didn’t happen this year. He had big goals (PCT FKT, AT FKT, Barkley Marathons) that were crushed by COVID, so he recalibrated and started training again a few months ago without a real goal in mind other than he wanted to go after a prestigious trail record. The Colorado Trail made sense in the amount of challenge it presented with elevation gain and distance, as well as adding the challenge of doing it entirely unsupported as both an extra challenge and pandemic precautions.

The Challenge

In addition to the obviously physical and mental challenge associated with a hike like this, energy management and figuring out how much food to take is critical.

At 485 miles with 75,000 feet of elevation gain, the Colorado Trail has an energy-mile equivalent of about 605 miles. If a hiker expends about 200 Calories per energy-mile, you’d be looking at more than 120,000 Calories required to complete the CT (not including basal metabolic needs at around 1,500 to 2,000 Calories per day).

Highly-trained athletes undergo extensive training in order to minimize the “number of Calories per mile”. So getting this number down to 150 would be entirely reasonable – for a long-distance hiker. But this is an FKT attempt, so additional fitness is going to be invested into additional speed.

Jeff’s starting pack weight is about 30 pounds, of which 18 pounds or so is food (his average Caloric density came out to around 150 Cal/oz). He budgeted about 5,200 Calories per day for 8 days and 4,000 for a ninth day. That’s 45,600 Calories, or 75 Calories per energy-mile. That’s a razor-thin margin that will require a careful balance of minimal sleep with maximum time on the trail. Such is the nature of modern-day FKT attempts on major trails like this.

So with Jeff carrying 45,600 Calories, that means he may need to make up 70k or more with body fat reserves. That could be up to 20+ pounds of body weight (less if he moderates his pace), depending on how efficiently he can burn fat vs. muscle. Jeff is highly trained, and lean, so he won’t have access to much more than that. If he moves too fast (too many Calories per mile), he’ll run out of body fat. If he moves too slow (higher basal metabolic load), he’s going to run out of food. This topic is addressed in more depth in Roman Dial’s How Far, How Fast, How Heavy: Calculating the Range for Unsupported Long-Distance Hiking.

The Colorado Trail climbs more than 75,000 feet of elevation as it traverses eight distinct mountain ranges. Its average elevation is more than 10,000 feet. Modern FKT attempts are enormously challenging and debilitating. Coup lost 25 pounds on his 20-day unsupported CT hike in 2004. Paul Pomeroy – a highly-trained athlete – lost 16 pounds on his 9+ day unsupported FKT in 2006.

IMG 0506

Preparations. Photo provided by Maggie Slepian.

Jeff’s Gear List:

Pack/Pad:

  • Custom tiger-striped LiteAF pack and 1/2 length foam pad

Shelter/Sleep:

  • Six Moon Designs Deschutes Zero-G tarp
  • Katabatic Gear 20F quilt

Tech:

  • Coros Vertix GPS watch
  • SPOT Gen3
  • iPhone 8
  • AirPods
  • Nitecore rechargeable headlamp
  • Charging cords

Clothing:

  • Walmart shorts
  • Tiger hoodie
  • Marmot Bantamweight rain jacket
  • Custom LiteAF rain skirt
  • 9-year old REI synthetic insulating jacket

Food and Water:

  • two Smartwater bottles
  • bleach drops
  • no cooking – all food is cold snacks, and includes almonds, mixed nuts, chocolate, peanut-butter pretzels, and high-fat protein bars

Other gear:

  • Pocket Osmo camera
  • Gossamer Gear LT5 Trekking Poles
IMG 0504

Photo provided by Maggie Slepian.

  • Related Forum Thread here

Colorado, colorado trail, fastpacking, fkt

Get ultralight backpacking skills, gear info, philosophy, news, and more.


Comments

Home › Forums › Jeff Garmire Starts FKT Attempt on Colorado Trail Today

Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 49 total)
1 2 →
Forums are supported by our merchant partners (disclosure)
REI (Coupons) • ZPacks • Hyperlite • Patagonia • Arc'teryx • RBTR • Drop • Backcountry • Feathered Friends • CampSaver • Gaia • Mountain Hardwear
Gear Deals • Gear Search
Login to post (Basic Membership required)
  • Author
    Posts
  • Aug 28, 2020 at 8:39 am #3673455
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies
    • See the related article about Jeff’s Colorado Trail FKT attempt: gear, food, tracking info, and more.

    Good luck, Jeff. This is a big one.

    Aug 28, 2020 at 9:55 am #3673461
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    best of luck!

     

    that’s a fair bit of calories to carry, but avoids the  hassle of food drops

    Aug 28, 2020 at 9:58 am #3673462
    John Vance
    BPL Member

    @servingko

    Locale: Intermountain West

    Is carrying all food from the beginning  a first for the Colorado trail?

    Aug 28, 2020 at 10:31 am #3673474
    Monte Masterson
    BPL Member

    @septimius

    Locale: Changes Often

    Excellent. I really enjoyed Jeff’s podcast after his Long Trail FKT last year. I can’t wait for his post CT FKT podcast. I hope he says more about gear and food choices though. I liked the idea of the big number of frozen burritos he packed. Jeff said he had semi-hallucinations on the LT, so I’m thinking with the higher altitude and longer distances of the CT he might go into a full blown altered state.

    Good luck Jeff!

    Aug 28, 2020 at 1:45 pm #3673523
    dirtbag
    BPL Member

    @dirtbaghiker

    This guy is legit NUTS!! I love him!!! Currently reading his book and really enjoyed his podcast episode on Hiking Thru. Amazing what he has done and I have no doubts that he will continue to amaze and inspire not only myself, but everyone who follows him and knows him.  I am looking forward to hearing more about this!

    Aug 28, 2020 at 3:06 pm #3673542
    Greg Mihalik
    BPL Member

    @greg23

    Locale: Colorado

    @ John Vance

    No.

    Aug 28, 2020 at 9:49 pm #3673630
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    As of about 9:20 PM local time (Jeff started at 6:30 AM this morning), Jeff passed Blackhawk Mt and is about 51 miles in.

    His plan is to get about 4-5 hours of sleep each night, so we’re expecting him to roll for another hour and a half maybe. This is when his pack is heaviest, it’s about 30 pounds today.

    He’s already rolled through the biggest climb of the trail (> 4k). Easy peasy from here ;)

    His goal is to finish in 9 days, which means an average of about 54 miles/day. So to have completed mileage like this with the heaviest pack on the hardest section has to be a good morale boost for him. Hopefully his head and body and feet are doing ok, he’s off to a fantastic start.

    Of course as with any FKT, the moment you leave the trailhead is the moment decay starts, and these things can go off the rails at any time.

    Aug 29, 2020 at 8:25 pm #3673795
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    As of about 8pm US Mountain tonight, Jeff is about 95 miles in. He had a pretty slow stretch as he started up Elk Creek today and then turned on the afterburners and he seems to have had a pretty strong evening. He’s certainly ahead of an FKT pace right now, but ya know, it’s early.

    But we are rootin’ for you, Legend.

    Aug 30, 2020 at 11:15 am #3673867
    John S.
    BPL Member

    @jshann

    That DJI Osmo Pocket camera seems super cool. One thing left out of his food list is the Charlie Sheen Tiger Blood.

    Aug 30, 2020 at 4:35 pm #3673944
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    Jeff crossed Spring Creek Pass a little while ago and as of about 4:15 Mountain Time (~2d 8h 45m), is around 135 miles in. He suffered a bit in the high elevations of the San Juans. Altitude and storms/cold took a bit of a toll. Today he’s reportedly looking strong and he’ll start a substantial descent soon.

    He’s ahead of an FKT pace, and has two huge things going for him right now: he started with a very light pack and that’s only getting lighter; and the San Juans are behind him.

     

    Aug 30, 2020 at 4:38 pm #3673947
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    At Spring Creek Pass (photo: Elisabeth Tizekker) –

    Aug 30, 2020 at 4:54 pm #3673952
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    Ryan- I didn’t see a link for his tracking; you have one you can post

     

    Danke

    Aug 30, 2020 at 4:55 pm #3673954
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    @mtwarden – Jeff’s team asked me not to post the tracking link publicly. They’re trying to prevent people/press from intercepting him at road crossings, etc., so he can just focus on his hike.

    Aug 30, 2020 at 4:56 pm #3673955
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    Ahhh- no probleeemo- thanks

    Aug 30, 2020 at 5:26 pm #3673961
    Greg Mihalik
    BPL Member

    @greg23

    Locale: Colorado

    Is he doing the traditional “East” leg of the CT?

    Aug 30, 2020 at 6:08 pm #3673966
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    @greg23 – yep, Collegiate East.

    Aug 30, 2020 at 10:01 pm #3673992
    wansun s
    BPL Member

    @songsta

    Looking forward to following along

    Aug 31, 2020 at 8:31 pm #3674131
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    As of 8pm tonite, Jeff is 189 miles in (39% complete) after about 3d 13h 30m which puts him on track to finish in just over 9 days at the current pace. He had a pretty good day today considering that it was another bad weather day up high, with cold temps – 30s and precip up there.

    Of course, it’s early still, and the body will continue to decay.

    But he’s got a pack that’s now about 8 lbs lighter than when he started. And the hardest stuff is behind him. And the weather outlook is terrific for the next several days.

    Aug 31, 2020 at 10:31 pm #3674145
    Greg Mihalik
    BPL Member

    @greg23

    Locale: Colorado

    I’m about 40 miles northeast and the weather for tonight isn’t encouraging.

    I wish him well.

    Sep 1, 2020 at 7:41 am #3674171
    Joseph P
    BPL Member

    @josephcpratt

    Incredible effort, I wish him well! Regarding his gear: bear bag? Bear spray? I assume the bleach drops are for water purification, is there a particular brand? Why the Spot Gen3 vs the Garmin InReach Mini? What shoes/boots? Any details would be great!! Thanks…

    Sep 2, 2020 at 6:11 pm #3674524
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    As of 5:40 PM tonight, Jeff was at mile 284 or so, in the northern Collegiate Peaks, after 5d 11h 50m. Extrapolated finish time is thus around 9.3d, which means he’s still on a strong pace for the FKT.

    Sep 3, 2020 at 5:48 pm #3674624
    Mark E
    BPL Member

    @mepley

    Godspeed Jeff. Watching closely. Thinking you often. Thanks for your inspiration.

     

    Sep 3, 2020 at 10:03 pm #3674654
    Ryan Jordan
    Admin

    @ryan

    Locale: Central Rockies

    As of 9:30 this evening, Jeff has 139 miles to go. He is at 6d 15h right now which puts him on pace to finish at about 9d 8h, a little more than 4h ahead of the FKT pace.

    Sep 4, 2020 at 6:49 am #3674675
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    Wow- good on him!

    Sep 4, 2020 at 9:13 am #3674691
    Sam C
    BPL Member

    @crucial-geek

    Locale: Mid-Atlantic

    I am not into the whole FKT thing, in particular because I believe that two more categories should be added.  That is, instead of a distinction between supported and unsupported there should also be a hiking/fastpacking and trail running categories for each.  Granted it’s a toll on the mind and body, I’m just not impressed by those who make miles by sleeping/resting less instead of actually moving faster.  I mean, there is nothing athletic about sleep deprivation.  Then again, there is something to say about the sheer will to succeed.

    I hope that Jeff makes it.  If anything just because he is not wearing short shorts, is using two trekking poles, and his pack has a hip belt.  He is definitely making a statement here.

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 49 total)
1 2 →
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Log In

Want outdoor gear and skills info you can really trust?

Get our Handbook - the resource you need to make intelligent decisions about gear, safety, comfort, and pack weight.


Today's Gear Deals

Guide’s Gear Recommendations

Find out what gear our guides recommend if you want lightweight gear that is durable and versatile.

guide's gear logo

Gear Recommendations

  • Publisher’s Gear Guide
  • Staff Picks
  • Guide’s Gear Recommendations
  • Our Lightweight Gear Recommendations for REI Members
  • Today’s Gear Deals
  • Search for Gear on Sale

Subscribe Right Now

Receive new Members-only content, gain access to 2,000+ articles in the archives, and become a part of the most passionate community of backpacking experts in the world.
Subscribe Now
  • Backpacking Gear Reviews
  • Backpacking Skills
  • Backpacking Trips
  • Backpacking & Outdoor News
  • Outdoor Recreation Science & Technology
  • Backpacking Courses, Webinars & Other Events

Follow Us

Get outdoor skills and gear info you can trust.

Download the Backpacking Light Handbook to help you make intelligent decisions about gear, skills, ultralight philosophy, and reducing your pack weight.

Join Now: Support fair and objective product reviews.

Something for everyone: Basic, Premium, and Unlimited Membership options available.

View Subscription Options

More @ Backpacking Light

  • About Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise with Us
  • Write for Us
  • Submit a Product for Review
  • Diversity Grants
  • Help / Support / Contact
  • Terms & Policies

Call Us

Membership Sales & Support: 406-640-HIKE (406-640-4453) | About

© Copyright 2001-2021 BEARTOOTH MEDIA GROUP, INC. | U.S. Library of Congress Serial Registration ISSN 1537-0364
BACKPACKING LIGHT® and the FEATHER/MOUNTAIN icon are registered trademarks granted for exclusive use to Beartooth Media Group, Inc. Subscribe here.

  • Subscribe
  • Log In
  • My Account
  • Forum Profile
  • Private Messages
  • Newsletters
  • My Course Enrollments
  • Unlimited Membership Portal
  • Help / Support / Contact