Everesting Mt Evans
As someone who enjoys a good endurance adventure, Everesting has always been on my mind since I first heard about it roughly 4 years ago. What is Everesting you ask? Well, it’s a pretty simple concept. Find climb and complete repeats on said climb until you accumulate 29,029 ft of elevation gain — the elevation of the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest.
This year with the unfortunate pandemic, it has left my travel and competitive schedule wide open…others as well. With these voids, has come the opportunity to pursue some of the rides and adventures that I have put on the back-burner. At the top of that list was my Everesting attempt.
Living in Colorado there is no shortage of hills or mountains to pick from. I knew I wanted to pick a climb that offered an unforgettable experience: big views, elements of unpredictability, challenges beyond the act of just climbing and fitness, not overly steep, low lap count, etc. With all that in mind, I chose Mt Evans, the highest paved road in North America. Starting at 10,800 ft, this climb switchbacks for 14-miles up to just over a breath taking 14,100 ft. To achieve the Everesting status I would need to make 8 trips to the summit and back down. An added bonus this year is the road is closed to cars due to the current pandemic. Other cyclists, runners, hikers, marmots, goats and sheep were the only other ones sharing the mountain with me.
Equipment would be important, both for reliability, comfort and weight. I chose the Canyon Endurace — a relaxed geometry road bike with an ultra-endurance pedigree — 100% bred for comfort, distance, and performance. Because of the unique demands of the challenge, I did make a few equipment adjustments from the stock build — easier gearing, lighter wheels and lighter tires.
Bike: 2020 Canyon Endurace CF SL Disc 8.0, Size M
Components: Shimano Ultegra 2 x 11 mechanical with 11–34 cassette
Chainrings: Absolute Black Oval Sub-Compact 46/30
Saddle: Ergon SR Pro Carbon Men, size M/L
Wheels: DT Swiss CRC 1400 Spline
Tires: Maxxis High Road, 28c, Tubeless
Bags: Topeak BackLoader 6L, Topeak FastFuel M
GPS: Garmin eTrex 32x
Lights: Topeak (bike) and Black Diamond (helmet)
One of the biggest concerns with Everesting on Mt Evans is the weather. The mountain is known to see late afternoon thunderstorms. Even snow is common all through the summer. In fact, I had to abort my Eversting attempt the weekend prior due to upwards of 4 inches of snow that fell and covered the road above 12,500 ft. Fast-forward a week and I was back at it, launching from the Mt Evans Entrance Station on Saturday at 3:45 AM.
I was very fortunate to get a “Yes!” response from local Vail Valley photographer Linda Guerrette after I told her what I had planned and if she wished to document it. Her work speaks volumes and tells the story well! All photos associated with the piece are by Linda Guerrette.
Saturday at 3:00 AM I began to gathered my gear and prep to pedal off from Echo Lake and the Mt Evans Entrance Station. At an elevation of 10,800 ft, temps were sitting right around 50ºF. My pacing plan? Just pedal. Keep the effort easy and light. No burn in the legs and no heavy labored breathing. The entire effort was based on perceived effort. No HR monitors. No power meters. Just pedal. This effort was for me. No records or anything like that to be had.
Starting at 3:45 AM made for perfect timing to catch the sunrise, which I had mentioned to Linda was “nuclear.” So red and so orange…it lasted for what seemed like hours. All while below in the dark the city lights flickered from the Denver metro area.
With the sun starting to brighten things up I started to take in what would be my views for the day. It also brought to light how damaged Mt Evans road was from the consistent year round freeze/thaw cycle. Fresh snow lingered on the grass above 13,000 ft…and random ice on the road up higher. It’s pretty much a given…if it rains in Denver, it snows on Mt Evans. This round of snow remains from what fell the day prior.
Trees are not common on this climb. The first 2-miles of the climb you are surrounded by pines, grass etc….but as you continue to climb life cannot sustain itself at altitude. Trees are quickly replaced by alpine tundra, which is then replaced by rock. Life ceases to exist.
My first few ascents I had the road to myself. If I recall correctly, I saw one other cyclist going up while I was coming down on lap 2. As the day lingered on and temps warmed, there had to be 150 cyclists on the road at one time. Mt Evans is very popular with cyclists and with it’s close proximity to Denver is an easy day-trip for many adventurous cyclists.
Every trip back down the mountain had roughly 500 ft of climbing, which counts towards the goal of 29,029 ft. I actually hit 29,029 ft while climbing on my final descent.
As you can imagine, food was a big component. A high carb diet helped to keep energy levels high during the nearly 24-hours on the bike at altitude. Yes, some GU sports nutrition was used, but a lot of real food was as well: pizza, PB & J, Coke, cookies, bananas, pretzels filled with peanut butter, fig bars, chips, trail mix, tortillas filled with meat and cheese…and the list goes on.
The Mt Evans entrance station stands closed and deserted due to the current pandemic. On a typically summer day there are 2 lines of 20–30+ cars backed up waiting to pay a small fee to drive to the top. Not this year.
The draws to this climb for me are the views, the environment and the difficulty. More often than not you are eye level with the clouds. In some case airplanes are flying below you rather than above. It’s pretty special.
Behind me the big mountains of Colorado continue to shake up the landscape. Over my shoulders in various directions are the world renowned ski destinations of Breckenridge, Vail, A-Basin, Loveland, Keystone, etc, etc.
The Front Range looms low off in the distance some 35-miles away as a crow flies. Squint hard enough maybe you can see Kansas?
Buckled and broken. The road around Summit Lake (mile 9) is less than desirable. Buckles in the road that you can catch air on and cracks that want to eat your wheels made for some interesting and cautious riding…especially at night.
Fresh hot coffee was a nice added boost to get me through the last 2 laps. On lap 7 I got chilled on the descent, so I took the time to warm back up before lap 8, my final lap.
One of the challenges aside from the physical effort, was having along the gear to stay comfortable on the way up and down. Night laps had me carrying down jacket(s), down pants and down gloves, while one day lap had me carrying a full rain kit as the skies looked threatening…but never materialized. One of my biggest fears with this attempt was getting 1/2 way up the mountain only to have to retreat due to lightning or other severe weather.
#8. All of my GU bottles were numbered 1–8. It was a way to organize what I needed each lap….but also a way to keep track of what lap I was on. Putting bottle #8 into the Topeak cage was welcomed sight, as I knew this was the last trip up the mountain.
Rolling out on Lap 8, the last time around the gate.
After 230-miles and 29,086 ft of climbing I was done…physically and mentally. I was relieved when the Garmin ticked over to 29,029 ft….the total ascent needed for Everesting recognition. I knew the challenge would be difficult and the last 2 ascents proved that.
Heavy eyes from fighting the sleep monster, sun burn, wind burn, swollen everything…it was good to be done. Water was the only thing that sounded good at the time as I sat on the edge of the Ergon van wearing 2 down jacket and down pants. The final trip up and down was super cold. I am willing to bet air temps were at freezing while the 30+ mph winds dropped the wind chill well into the twenties.
Would I do it again? Maybe. But not anytime soon. I’m hoping this inspires some of you to give it a go…whether all 29,029 ft or even just 10,000 ft.
The Strava and GPS file can be viewed at https://www.strava.com/activities/3683830094
A special thanks to Linda Guerrette for taking the time out of her weekend to document the journey, QuietKat of Eagle, CO for the loaner ebike for Linda and to those bike industry brands that support my good bad ideas.
