BY ESZTER HORANYI
On July 15, Andrea Sansone and Andrew Hamilton established a co-ed supported fastest known time (FKT) on the Colorado 14’ers. They summited all 58 Colorado peaks over 14,000 feet in 12 days, 6 hours, and 43 minutes.
The duo is known for their many efforts in the Colorado mountains, including Sansone’s women’s supported FKT on the Nolan’s 14 route and Hamilton’s men’s supported FKT on the Colorado 14’ers, among other impressive efforts.
To date, this is the first co-ed supported effort for the Colorado 14’ers. For comparison, Hamilton’s men’s supported FKT is 9 days, 21 hours, and 51 minutes, and Danelle Ballengee has the women’s supported FKT in 14 days, 14 hours, and 49 minutes.
Good logistics
This co-ed supported FKT is also a feat of logistics, as the 58 peaks are scattered throughout the state and range from easy walk-ups to technical scrambling. There’s no set route for completing the peaks, but a person has to climb and descend at least 3,000 feet to the summit for it to count. There are then hundreds of miles of driving in between the peaks, ranging from good highways to difficult four-wheel-drive roads.
Sansone and Hamilton’s deep experience in Colorado allowed them to tag the summits as efficiently as possible, often using some of the more direct routes between summits to save time and elevation.
Descending off of Mount Harvard under a stormy sunset.
The pair started the effort on July 3 at 4 am local time, with the original goal of beating Hamilton’s 2015 men’s supported FKT. But issues plagued them from the start, and they soon fell behind their aggressive goal splits.
The day prior to the effort, the Durango-Silverton train, which they were using to reduce the approach distances to the four Chicago Basin 14’ers in the San Juan Mountains, was stopped by mudslides. Undeterred, they walked the extra miles instead of rescheduling. By the time they tagged the peaks and returned, the train was running again, and they could get a ride back to civilization.
Early problems
Storms, knee issues, rockfall, and various other issues slowed the pair down. By Day 3, they realized they wouldn’t be able to hit their target time.
“The whole thing in terms of our original speed estimates kind of fell apart at the end of Day 3,” says Hamilton. “We actually had great weather, but then as we were doing this thing called the Gash Ridge from Blanca [Peak] to [Mount] Lindsey, it’s like you’re kind of down-climbing the stuff, and my memory is so bad. I had told [Sansone], oh, it’s just one hard down climb, and then it’s a piece of cake. Well, it wasn’t a piece of cake. It’s actually really hard. And then the next day, I think after being cold for several hours, our legs just never really came back.”
Andrew Hamilton descends Gash Ridge on Blanca Peak.
Sleep deprivation also took its toll, especially during the first half, which featured the more technical peaks.
Hardest peaks first
“It ends up being really front-loaded with all of the really hard ranges,” said Hamilton. “And so by the time you’re on Day 4 or 5, you’re kind of brain-fried. You’re on no sleep. We’re very confident climbers, but on no sleep, you just kind of forget who you are in climbing and being comfortable with your climbing skills.”
To the pair, it felt like nearly anything that could go wrong went wrong. “It’s like, okay, what are we going to get hit with next?” said Hamilton. “It’s really hard to find joy while you’re doing it and enjoy it because you just keep getting slammed in the face with all of these obstacles.”
Both agree that it was their crew and community that kept them going. From having an off-highway vehicle driver who’d been up all of the 14’ers previously and was able to shuttle them up some of the four-wheel-drive approach roads much faster than a truck could, to Sansone’s sisters coming out to provide endless support and encouragement to a friend who was willing to run everyone’s errands so that the rest of the crew could focus on the effort, it was truly a team effort.
On the verge of quitting
Over the 12-plus days, the pair and their crew continued to climb peak after peak. Sansone says they wanted to quit several times.
“There was one time when we were on Mount Massive, and our videographer opened the door [to their van], and I looked at him straight in the camera, and I said, we’re done,” recalled Sansone.
Added Hamilton: “And so Riley [Hanlon] handed me the video camera, and he’s like, ‘Well, when you get to the point where you’re going to call it, just make a little video for me.’ And at that point, we just kept hiking, and we just never took that step where we couldn’t take one more.”
Andrew Hamilton and Andrea Sansone on the summit of Longs Peak, the last of the 58.
A few days after finishing the effort on Longs Peak, accompanied by many friends, the couple says they are still far from processing the entire effort.
Sansone says, “I think the biggest takeaway is that we didn’t quit…No matter how hard it gets, you don’t have to quit.”
Andrew Hamilton and Andrea Sansone (front) with most of their crew after establishing a co-ed supported FKT on the Colorado 14ers.
This article first appeared on iRunFar.
