As 2018 was coming to a close, I thought back on the exploring that I had done throughout that year and came to a conclusion. While I had done a lot of cool stuff, I had also done entirely too much driving to get there.
I live in a location with an abundance of outdoor recreational opportunities, and that is a huge part of why I live here. I decided to come up with a project for 2019 that would underscore that quality of my chosen home, and at the same time make my recreational choices a bit more environmentally friendly. So I laid out a set of rules:
- At some point during each month throughout 2019, I would find my way from my front door to a named mountain summit without using a motor of any kind.
- Each of the 12 summits must be different.
- Any mode of self-powered transportation would be on the table – hiking, running, snowshoeing, skiing, cycling, anything that did not involve a gas or electric motor.
- To make the challenge a little bit more interesting and encourage me to get out of my comfort zone a bit, each summit would have to be one that I had not reached without motorized transport prior to 2019. This ruled out 4 or 5 summits that are very close to home.
The idea of spreading them out, one per month, would ensure that I would see a variety of conditions and modes of transportation.
Now 2019 has come to a close, and the project is complete, which means it’s time to run some numbers! These are the totals for the 12 activities that comprised this project.
Miles traveled:
- Cycling – 309.77 miles
- Skiing – 36.46 miles
- Foot travel – 97.17 miles
- Total – 443.4 miles
Vertical feet climbed:
- Cycling – 24,326 feet
- Skiing – 12,209 feet
- Running/Hiking – 26,063 feet
- Total – 62,598 feet
Moving time:
- Cycling – 26 hours, 57 minutes, 29 seconds
- Skiing – 11:05:22
- Running/Hiking – 24:16:57
- Total – 62 hours, 19 minutes, 48 seconds
The summits:
- January – Woody Mountain (bike-ski)
- February – Stuart Peak (bike-ski)
- March – Miller Peak (bike-hike)
- April – Point Six (bike-ski)
- May – Sheep Mountain (bike-run)
- June – Mosquito Peak (bike-run)
- July – Lolo Peak (bike-run)
- August – Iris Point (bike)
- September – Mineral Peak (bike)
- October – Bonner Mountain (bike-hike)
- November – Mitten Mountain (run)
- December – Blue Mountain (bike-run)
The map:
Miscellaneous stats:
- Adventure buddies – 10
- Bikes used – 3 (Orbea Terra, Cannondale Scalpel, Fixed-gear frankenbike)
- Running shoes used – 4 (Saucony Peregrine, Hoka One One Torrent, Salomon Sense Ride, Saucony Razor Ice)
- Pairs of skis used – 1 (Atomic Backland UL65)
- Times I wished I brought snowshoes – 3
- Times I brought snowshoes – 0
- Lookout towers climbed – 2
Wishing everyone happy adventures in 2020! If you have the chance, I encourage you all to take some opportunities to make them self-powered!
