The Steep Stuff Podcast
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The Steep Stuff Podcast
#183 - Jen Day Denton
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Some athletes chase attention. Jen Day Denton chases a feeling, and somehow ends up rewriting what’s possible on the map. We talk with the Steep Stuff Podcast’s “FKT Queen” about how a non professional, mom first approach can still produce world class fastest known time performances across the Mountain West, from Lone Peak to long linkups and iconic summit days.
Jen grew up in Utah with the mountains as her backyard, but she didn’t come up through competitive running or the racing scene. She shares how life changes after divorce opened tiny windows of time, and how those hours became a lifeline: running, crying, healing, and eventually discovering that curiosity can turn into real mountain speed records. We dig into her Grand Teton effort, why some mountains feel sacred, and how record flagging and community politics can complicate what should be a simple day outside.
We also break down The WURL in the Wasatch Range, including route finding, fueling lessons, support strategy, and what it’s like to move through terrain that’s both brutal and deeply personal. Then we jump to Pico de Orizaba as part of her long game toward Everest, and she opens up about a serious paragliding accident, the rehab grind, and the hard earned perspective that comes with risk.
If you care about mountain running, FKTs, endurance mindset, and the human stories behind the GPX files, this one is for you. Subscribe, share this with a mountain friend, and leave a review with the peak you’d most want to run in a single push.
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Welcome And Jen’s FKT Resume
SPEAKER_01What's up, boys and girls? Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, James L'Oriello, and today I am so excited to introduce our next guest. I am on the show with Jen Day Denton. That's right, the FKT Queen herself, one of the most decorated female FKT athletes of all time, who's kind enough to come on the show and let me help tell her story. Jen has kind of done it all at one point in time holding the records on the Grand Teton, the Grand Teton picnic. She has records on, two records actually on Pikay Orizaba, Mount Moraine, Angel's Landing in Utah, and just so many others. Not only that, she's a mom and was just never really interested in the professional scene. She just did it for the love of the sport and you know, it was just something she got really interested in. And uh, you know, after 2019, just you know, went after things. So really inspiring conversation. Uh, Jen is an amazing human, and uh hope and yeah, I just had such a blast on this one. So without further ado, I hope you guys enjoy it. Jen Day Denton.
SPEAKER_00Hey now. This is the Steep Stuff Podcast.
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Growing Up Outdoors In Utah
SPEAKER_01Denton. Welcome to the Steep Stuff Podcast. How are you?
SPEAKER_02Oh, I'm so good. Thank you so much for having me. What a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I'm so excited to chat with you. I feel like every FKT I look at, usually uh something in the mountain west between Utah and Wyoming generally has your name on it. So I'm like, I have to talk. You have to come on the show. So I'm I'm really excited to be able to finally have a conversation with you and get you on. Uh, first off, how's your day going so far?
SPEAKER_02It's going well. Thanks. I was able to, my kids are on the mountain bike team, so we went for a ride during practice and then got to see a friend. So it's a great day.
SPEAKER_01Very nice. All right. Well, we'll hop right into it. Um, maybe give me, just because I don't know much about you and there's not a lot on the internet, maybe give me like a five-minute elevator pitch on like your background, how you found FKTs and how you found the sport.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Yes. Um, I yes, thank you for having me. And I when you reached out, I was shocked that you would want to talk to me. I feel like I am genuinely just a girl out here having fun and uh absolutely not a professional. I don't um I don't play the game per se, but I love being out in the mountains and I'm so grateful to be alive and out here and um yeah, so a little bit about me. I grew up in Utah, right in between little and big Cottonwood Canyons. So, and um grew up with a family that liked to be outdoors. So we were always outside, and I was always that kid, like scrambling up the side of a sketchy cliff. And the other parents were probably like, Are you watching her? You know. So uh I just I loved it from the beginning and was grateful to have parents that uh that shared that that joy of being outside and instilled that in me. Um yeah, I I I turned 40 this year, so I'm a little bit older. So I grew up in a time where the world was a lot bigger, I feel like, and a lot less um known. There wasn't social media, there wasn't like I had no idea that people were running up and down the mountains and like you that you could like haul skis up the mountain and then ski down. Um and I I didn't even know what mountain biking was until I was 30. Like I had no concept of all of what was out there. I just kind of had a really conservative upbringing as far as that. And um, I did get married young and had kids um really young as well. So I was just in mom mode and would take my kids out for hikes and almost all all the almost every day we were outside doing something in the mountains, whether we were catching lizards or going for a hike or what, you know, things like that. So once once I became aware of all of the things that were options, uh I was all in. Uh I mean, when I was a little kid, I have a journal entry from like fourth grade where I wrote something for school that said, I want to climb Everest one day. Um, so it was like always in me, but I didn't have the like it just wasn't as accessible as it feels today, if that makes sense. So yeah, what uh so once I found out that backcountry skiing was a thing, I was like, yes, that that is something I want to do. So I learned how to ski in the backcountry. I didn't really go to a resort. Um, and I had a great friend who introduced mountain biking to me, and that was such a pleasure. And uh just once I once I knew about it, I was all in.
SPEAKER_01So did you did you run it all, like in in high school, college, like any of that? Like I'm just trying to figure out because like you're you're very good at this. Oh, you're so you do but like it's just interesting, like you, it's almost like the Stevie Kramer effect where you uh you know you have like a very normal upbringing, and then a little bit later uh in in you know in adulthood, figure out that like, oh my gosh, I'm like really good at this and it's a talent. Um but no, did you did you have no running at all in in high school or college?
SPEAKER_02No, no, not at all. Um, I mean, I ran like that old saying, like, uh, your sport is my sport's punishment. Like, I I I played, I was on the swim team when I was like eight years old for several years, and then I uh played basketball and softball in high school. Just like these things weren't options. Like if there was a mountain bike team in high school, I certainly would have joined it, but uh didn't know that was an option. So yeah, just like the very normal basketball, softball. Uh yeah, didn't I I've never been great at running. I mean, but I lived really close to the trails growing up, so I would just go run by myself on the trails all the time in high school. Um, but never as like, never formally. I think the track coach tried to recruit some basketball players, and I was like, that sounds terrible. No.
SPEAKER_01So interesting. Um, all right. So it seems like, I mean, from what FKT says, first uh FKT was in 2019. Help bridge that bridge that gap for me to the point where you where you got there from after you discovered sport and like building the confidence to know that you want to go after some of these FKTs and these
Divorce And Finding Solace Running
SPEAKER_01records, like help help maybe bridge that story for me.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Um, so I have uh three kids of my own, and I just really loved being a mom, and I was all in on being a mom. And um then uh I got divorced in 2015, and um, it was a really tricky situation. It was a really scary situation that I'm really grateful to be um a survivor of. And so once that happened, I had like two days every couple of weeks where I didn't have my kids, and I was just heartbroken to not have them. And so I would just go to the mountains and just uh run and cry and miss them. And that really is just kind of the start of it was I just I had a little bit of time for the first time in my life. Because when I was a mom with my kids, like I I wasn't out running, I wasn't up, you know, doing any of the and any of that. I was lucky if I got up early and could do like an insanity workout in the basement, you know? So um once I had like those that little bit of time, um, and they were a little bit older, uh, I was able to just get out and kind of soothe my soul out there. And it just became the place that I wanted to be when I couldn't be a mom. So um that is kind of just how it started. And then I um like three years later ended up meeting my husband now, who is amazing, and we've been together for eight years, and he is the greatest human on in the world. And he he was running a hundred mile race at the time that we were dating. And so that is kind of my was kind of my like soft intro to oh, people do crazy things like this. That's that's amazing. That's amazing. And he was so supportive of me and encouraged me. He saw that I loved being out in the mountains and he was like, he kind of I mean, he kind of encouraged me, like, yes, you can do these things and you should. And so I owe all of that to him. I think just he's such a wonderful, kind, loving human who sees the best in everyone, and he helped bring that out in me.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. Uh maybe, maybe talk talk to me about like your first your first record, what you went for, and just like having the confidence to be able to say, like, okay, I think I could take a crack at this and uh and and and get it,
Curiosity Becomes Lone Peak FKT
SPEAKER_01you know. I'm trying to looking back on FKT right now. I guess it was Lone Peak that was your first like recorded FKT, at least on the site.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Um, I think it's kind of a funny thing. I I never was like, oh, I want to go out and get the fastest time on this. It was more just like I love running up that trail, and I wonder how fast I could do it. Um, and I don't think FKTs were really a thing back then. It was more just in myself. I had been up it, you know, a dozens of times. I had taken my kids up there. I have beautiful memories of being up there, and it was just, I would love to go see how quickly I could do it and know that, like, oh, could I do that during uh, you know, a four-hour preschool session and get back before I have to pick up my kids from school, you know? Uh I genuinely that's that's how it started, and that's how yeah, I ended up with Lone Peak.
SPEAKER_01So that is so crazy. I love it because it's like the purest uh like way. Like a lot of athletes get into the sport looking for notoriety or looking for, you know, some sort of like self-uh uh I don't know, uh just self-fulfillment in some ways, I guess. But like your your way of just like really just enjoying it and like, okay, I'm I'm just gonna see if I can do this before I gotta pick the kids up from school. Like that, I don't know. I just find that to be really cool. It's very interesting because there's some people also that train insanely hard. And you just have you, I mean, you obviously you work extremely hard, but also seem to have this like built-in ability to just perform very well on a lot of these FKTs, which is cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm super grateful uh every day that I'm able to that I have a healthy body that allows me to do things that I enjoy. And um yeah, I was I was you know talking with a friend about you know, why why would they want to interview me? I'm nobody special. I like I'm not a professional. I don't train. I I just I just um get to go do fun things that I enjoy. So um I guess it's it's just humbling.
SPEAKER_01So thanks for well, I think you're you're you're understanding in my opinion your contribution to the sport. Like great, like, and we'll talk about the Grand Teton later on and Pico de Orizaba. Like you've you've really, as far as like women's FKT goes, like really rewrote a lot of uh what was possible. And I find that really cool. Like, who cares about sponsorships and stuff like that? Like some of the best athletes in our sports don't even have sponsorships, and it's just it's it's a weird sport in that way. But when it comes to individual contributions, um I'll fold this into a uh maybe a more of a question of so you started getting into these FKTs and started doing them. It seems like things moved very fast from 2019 to let's say like 2022 when you went for the grand. Did you just start becoming addicted to it? Like you're like, oh my gosh, I want to go for this one and this one and this one. Like how how did it almost like take off for you?
SPEAKER_02Um, no, genuinely, it wasn't like see I wasn't seeking out something to like get. I wasn't seeking out an FKT. I was genuinely like every FKT I have has happened just by pure coincidence. Like it was just, I want to go out and see if I can have a good day and what it looks like for me to go do that. And you know, yeah, there's been times where I, okay, I saw the record and I knew what it was, but it's not like never was like, oh, I think I can beat that. It was just, let's go see. I'm just curious. And and it's always been on a mountain that I mean, not always, obviously, I've traveled and done a few things, but like the ones that are important to me, like those are those were definitely more soul efforts. They were just like, I want to go have a good day out with these mountains that are in my heart and soul, and and just have a good time. So I really appreciate you saying that um you think that I've contributed to uh the FKT sport and women and maybe empowering. I I hope that that is the case. I know for sure that there are so many amazing people out here, even just in Utah, that are way faster than me and could go beat any of my times. Um so hopefully that uh what I have been able to do will lead to other women being far better.
SPEAKER_01I mean, 415 on the grant is pretty legit. I mean, it took, I think Jazz worked really hard to be able to break that record. And then, you know, um Jane, even after her in in this year. I mean, you held the grand record for three years, almost four. So it stood for a minute,
The Grand Teton Sacred Day
SPEAKER_01which was pretty cool. Let's let's talk about the grand, because this is something I had earmarked for you. How much work did you put into that? Did you on-site it? There's no way. Like you had to have like worked worked pretty hard to uh gone up quite a few times to go for it, right?
SPEAKER_02So I first saw the Grand Teton on a camping trip with my kids in 2016. And I fell in love with it. I like everyone who sees that mountain, you're awe-inspired. It's beautiful, she's incredible. And um, there's a line from a song, a Laura Hiron song called She Lit a Fire, and now she's in my every thought. Like that is how the grand was for me. It was like, I have to climb that mountain. And that was just back in the day when I was just, I was a single mom. I had, you know, a couple days here and there where I didn't have my kids, but uh so even just getting there to climb it again took a couple years. So I I went with a friend, we ended up leaving too late and didn't summit because the wind was too high, and then so we had to wait a whole nother year and go back. So I don't think I even summited the grand until 2017, and then I didn't go back to it until 2022. So I did with my husband, we did the Grand Middle South in a day, and that was so fun, and I loved it. And so that was my second summit of the grand. And I had a couple days where my kids were away in September, and I was like, I'm just and my mom wanted to go to the Tetons, she'd never been, and so I was like, mom, let's go. So we went, and while like my we stayed in a little hotel, my mom was in bed. I just got up early, went to the trailhead, ran up and down, came back, met up with my mom, and we hiked Delta Lake. Like it was just a curious thing. Um, I just was curious to see. So, oh, and so that was my third summit of the grant. And then um I got lost on the down. So I knew I could maybe take off like five minutes. So then I think a week or two later, I just went back up, like left after work on a Tuesday, went, slept in the car, ran up and down, shaved five minutes off, and came back home just in time to pick up the kids.
SPEAKER_00So holy cally.
SPEAKER_02It I I so wish that I had the time and ability to go there and study the mountain and all of that and spend more time um the way that others have. Like I so admire what Michelino did. His dedication is incredible and inspiring. And yeah, and I'm so inspired by what Jane and Jasmine did. Oh, they are amazing. I was so happy for them. It's incredible. So, yes, uh, hopefully that answers your question. It was not, it was not planned to be an FKT. It was not planned even, it was just a curiosity, curiosity of how what what would it look like for me to try and go do it fast by myself?
SPEAKER_01That's so crazy. Were you astonished by your time? Because like I was talking to Jane about the first time she went up, and she's like, How am I gonna like I think she was obviously just trying to feel it out and stuff like that, but she said she was pretty worked the first time she went up. She's like, oh my God, how am I going to get all this time off to go for this record? Um, and obviously you work on it and you work on it and you eventually eventually clicks, but I just find it so amazing that like you've only had you know less than a handful of times on there and were able to run that time. That's that's nuts.
SPEAKER_02I just I think that my the thing that maybe sets me apart because I'm not a I'm not a professional, I don't train, I don't do sprints, I don't go to the track. Like I the thing that sets me apart is just I just really love being in the mountains. And I know I I know that everybody who does this does as well, but I think there's something special that can happen in special places that are part of your soul. Um and sometimes magic happens.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if you're you want to get into this.
Record Flagging And Community Politics
SPEAKER_01Um, this is just out of pure curiosity because Michelina's a good friend of mine. He's also my coach. And I haven't I haven't even talked to him about this in a long time. But as far as the record on the grand goes and all of that, like like all the Michigas that have to after, uh, like when your your record was flagged because of the uh I don't know, because of the the one trail. That is a trail. People think it's not a trail, it's definitely a trail. Um how did that impact, did that impact you in any way or make you feel a certain type of way after that situation? Because I feel like once you bring all this, I don't know, uh all the politics and nonsense into it, it makes it kind of complicated, right?
SPEAKER_02Um, yeah, the way that it made me feel was just really sad for Mikelino because I actually had when I was running the grand that one time, I I was running down and I felt like I was going fast. And he was running up, and I he was definitely running faster than me. So I was like, who is this person? So I like Strava stocked him back in 2022 and and had like start followed his journey. And um, so I knew that he had been working so hard for lots of years. Like I had seen this effort, and so to hear that there was so much uh whatever you want to say around it was really sad for me because I could tell he it meant a lot to him. And I still I think it's incredible. I think his record stands.
SPEAKER_01I think uh he's hands down the record holder, without a doubt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's he's incredible, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01Did but as far as like your record though being flagged personally on the thing, like did that bother you at all? Or because that that's kind of annoying. I I felt like it's because they and I don't know if people know this, they flagged Killian's, they flagged yours, they flagged Emily Forrestberg's. I think the only ones they didn't flag was Andy's, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Um, no, for me, I just was like, mine wasn't even really a record, anyways. Like Emily had run it so much faster. I just was like, I'm just gonna throw my time on there because I did it. But it was nowhere near hers. And also, I just I knew that someone was going to go so much faster than me in not much time, anyways. So I wasn't super worried about it. But Mikelino did reach out to me and say, like, I'm so sorry that happened. And I thought that was really cool of him. Like standards.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, he is, he's amazing. Um, do you have any unfinished business on there? Do you think you you'll go back and give it another crack? I mean, it's anything still, you know, in the future kind of call to you for that.
SPEAKER_02Oh my goodness. I think that Jane's time is astounding. It is amazing. Um, no, I don't feel like I have unfinished business. I feel like I had a great day. And like I said, I I really for me personally there are some mountains that I have learned that it's really important to keep it sacred. And that was a really sacred time for me. The the time that I spent on the ground running it fast and then on the picnic too. Like I just I've had really special times. It's the same with the world too, where I wasn't trying for a record. It just magic just happens sometimes. And it was those days are just sacred and special. And to go back and try and make it faster would take away from like the relationship that I have with that mountain.
SPEAKER_01I love that.
The WURL Route And Support Strategy
SPEAKER_01Let's talk about the world. I feel like that's a good, that's a good one because there's a lot of that is such a ridiculously hard route. Like I've only been on a few sections of it. Uh and I sometimes this times like astound me, like for what David Hedges has done and yourself and other athletes. Maybe talk a little bit about what the world is and then um your connection to to that really angry loop.
SPEAKER_02Really? Um yes, the world is amazing. And so I grew up right in the middle of all of those mountains, looking at them. Like my whole life, I grew up looking at all of those mountains. So when I learned that that was a thing to link up all of those peaks that like have surrounded me as a child, I was like, I have to do that. That sounds like that just called to my soul. Um, so yes, the world is it starts um in Ferguson Canyon here in Utah, and it goes up Twin Peaks, follows the Cottonwood Ridge, all the way over to um Alta, and then you kind of climb those mountains over Alta and Snowbird, and then you head over to the Pfeifferhorn and Lone Peak, and then you come down this really ridiculously loose notch, they call it. It's super steep and slidey, and then you kind of have to find your way through the forest down to the Bells Canyon Trail and come out. And the Bells Canyon Trail is really rugged, and if you've ever done it, you know. So yeah, it's a great, it's oh my gosh, it's so beautiful though, to be able to share a day in all of those places where like I have memories like I took my kids up this mountain, and oh, we camped right there on the ridge, and just or I was here with this friend, or oh, my like my husband proposed to me on the top of the Pfeiffer horn. And just like I have I have such beautiful memories being in that place, so I just love it.
SPEAKER_01So suffering is not like you're not really suffering on it, you're kind of in enjoying it and more uh nostalgia in in some places, makes it go by faster because I think of it as like really intense fourth and fifth class climbing and just no water and and really exposed like hot sections. And yeah, I don't know. I think of it such a different way. So I find that to be, I don't know, I think that's really cool. But I think that's also what it takes. You have to have you have to really love it to go for something like that because it's a long day out. That's not an easy effort.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, yeah. And it is not to be underestimated. I did try it for the first time in 2020, and I absolutely bonked at Snowbird. Like I did not, I didn't know about that you need to eat food when you're out doing things like that. I didn't know about, you know, drinking enough. I didn't know anything. I just was like, yeah, I can do it. It's fine. And it was just, I mean, it took me 27 hours. It was such a long day. So then my goal for the next year wasn't to get the record. It was, I just want to have a good day. I want to have a fun time instead of like Suffer Fest where I slog from snowbird all the way to the end.
SPEAKER_01So what kind of like support and like community outpour and support like did you get like when you did crack the record? Like that must have meant a lot because to the to the locals, like that's a really big deal that route.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um, I'm so grateful. I am so lucky to have such incredible friends. And so I was friends with the previous two record holders, Stacy and Alexis, and they both came out to cheer for me, which was so kind and loving and supportive of them. Uh so yeah, on the world itself, I just had one friend bring me water at Cardiff Pass. Um, that's about a third of the way through. And then a friend met me at Snowbird, and uh so and she just gave me water. I I ran the whole thing by myself, met the friend at Snowbird, she gave me my pack and water, and then I met my husband at Lone Peak, and he ran from Lone Peak to the end with me. And um, but then yeah, my group of friends was there at the bottom cheering for me as I headed down. So that was incredible and so humbling to be surrounded by so many strong um women who love and support each other.
SPEAKER_01Did you uh how like did you start early in the morning and go through the day into the night? Did you start in the night? Like what time did you kind of start to go for this thing?
SPEAKER_02Um yeah, I had a plan because I really wanted to finish because the the route finding from the the notch to the bell's trail is really tricky. Uh it might be more beaten down now since more people have done it. But at that time, uh it was very much a like you have to pick your path and you have to pick the right way, or else you're like going over Deadfall and going down a moraine and up and all of that. So I really wanted to um do that section in the light if I could. But my husband had uh parent teacher conferences for a couple of our kids. And so it was just like, I just have to time it so that he can be at his parent teacher conference. And so I didn't start as early as I wanted to because I wanted to meet him after I wanted to give him enough time to take care of the kids. So uh I think I started at like five and then finished 18 hours after that.
SPEAKER_01Such a long day. That's crazy. Uh, especially like when it starts to get dark. And do you get weird like as far as like route finding or like on like some of the more exposed terrain kind of like in the dark? Does that freak you out at all or are you pretty comfortable?
SPEAKER_02I was really comfortable with that route. I I know it really well just being a local. So no, I wasn't worried about it. And I love the scrambling and like that's my jam.
SPEAKER_01So do you do you climb a lot? Do you do a lot of like rock climbing and stuff like that? Like as just for fun?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, of course. I've I love rock climbing. Um, I don't do it as much as I would like to. It's really hard to be good at all the things. You can I feel like I'm mediocre at all the things. So um climbing is tricky though, because you need a partner, and I don't always have uh a partner to go with. So sometimes it's just easier to just get out and bike or run.
SPEAKER_01So interesting.
Pico De Orizaba As Everest Prep
SPEAKER_01Well, thank you for breaking down the world. I was very curious about that one. I gotta ask you about Pika de Orizaba as well, because you have two records on there. Uh, what inspired the trip to go out there and just connect with that space?
SPEAKER_02I I'm so glad you asked me about that because I uh Mikelino actually sent me a clip of you talking about me on your podcast a little uh maybe like a year and a half ago, talking about that. And um so the reason I went down there was because my fourth grade, being true to my fourth grade self, I really do want to climb Everest one day. So uh I knew that that's where I needed to start. Uh I have also known that my I can't go to Everest until my kids are grown. I just I love them too much. I can't leave them for that long. So I've known that Everest is when I'm 44 or 45. So I was like, and that's when all my kids will be 18 or more. Um, so I I just proposed it to my husband. We didn't have our kids for a week after Christmas uh that year, whatever that year was, 2023. Uh so we had a week's span of time without our kids, and I like to run away to distract myself from not being a mom. So I was like, hey, this will be a great trip. And he's such a great, he's so supportive, he's so kind because it was a wild trip. So we went down to climate together, and we did uh we we had rented a car that we thought would be big, but it was very small. So we ended up just this tiny little clown car, and we ended up we were driving all around Mexico City in this tiny clown car. We did a couple of smaller volcanoes um leading up to it. So the first day we got there, we did oh shoot, I don't remember the name, but like a 15,000 foot one, and we had to just sleep in our tiny little car because it was raining and oh my gosh. So we just put pads and slept in the car, and um, he's such a good sport. Um, so then we drove to the next one, the next volcano is Easter, and I think that was 1700 feet or something like that. And I just was feeling great, and he was doing well too. So we moved, we our plan was then to go to Pico. So we um because we were together, it like it just made sense for us to uh climb it together the first day, and uh we we hired somebody to drive us up the road, and so we were just at the refugio there is where we camped. And but yeah, so that that afternoon, so day one we did the one volcano, day two, we did ease to day three, we did um pico de Orizaba from the north, okay, and then came back down, and it was great because it was so windy, no one else was on the mountain. Just me and my husband were the only people on top of it. It was incredible. And so then we came down and camped there um for the night because we had a driver coming back up in the morning to get us. So uh, because we had our tiny little clown car, so we couldn't drive that road. So I was like, well, I'm just gonna take advantage of being here, and I'd love to go do it again. So I just woke up early while my husband was still sleeping and just went up by myself that morning and just happened to go fairly quick, and it was amazing. And I was so like, it was incredible to be like running up the mountain in like a windbreaker and shorts and running shoes, and people are in like, you know, they're roped up and they've got their ice axes and their parkas, and I'm just like, hey, so fun! And to the shadow on that mountain is incredible in the morning, it just beautiful, beautiful. Um, so yeah, just like it just happened. It was just one of those where it was like, oh my gosh, that's really cool. I ended up going fairly quick. So then, so that was day two, three, four. So day five, we drove around to the south side because I had heard that it was a completely different experience from the south side. The north side, you have the snow, and we had to have crampons and stuff, and um, but the south side was completely dry and was like that rollerball stuff that's really fun to run down.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, but hard to go up, right? Um so day, yeah. So that day we drove to the trailhead and my husband and I climbed it together. Really fun. And um, that was supposed to be the end of our trip because then we were like, okay, it's like a four-hour drive to the airport and we've got to get home. And my husband was like, I'd love to sleep in a hotel instead of our car. I don't blame him. I know he's so wonderful. So I was good sport. So I was like, so listen, what if we camp in the car one more night and I get to wake up early and go do it again by myself? And he was like, I love you, yes. And he is the best. So I just woke up really early because we had to make our flight on time and I didn't want him to stress. So I like I woke up crazy early, just went up, um, had some GI stuff even, but was like, I'm doing this. Just went up, was alone at the summit by myself with this beautiful sunrise. It was just, it was just this beautiful spiritual experience. And then was able to just bomb down in that really fun rollerball stuff. Just so fun. Made it back to the clown car. My husband woke up and drove us to the airport and we went home. So I didn't train for it. I didn't have like an altitude tent or anything. We just we just went and did it, and it was just a a vacation together. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. How did you feel with that high? Because that that's that's pretty high up. I mean, what's the Pfeiffer horn? 11 or 12, maybe a little higher?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like 11-4.
SPEAKER_0111, 11-4. Okay, so I mean it's quite a bit higher than you know, some of the higher points in the Wasatch. And the grand is what, 13 and change? So yeah, it's quite a bit higher than than you've been on East Coast wise, or on the sorry, on the mountain west. So yeah, I mean, how did you adapt for that? It was pretty straightforward, pretty easy.
SPEAKER_02I yeah, I'm just I think that I'm one of those people that are really lucky. I'm grateful that I perform well at altitude, and it doesn't really affect me as long as I'm fairly hydrated, I think. So I've never had trouble at altitude. Um on we've taken a few trips to Colorado and climbed a few of the 14ers, and it's always gone well. So yeah, that's and I'm always out. I've you know, I'm always up uh skiing all winter, backcountry skiing, and so just trying to, I'm just up high a lot, I guess.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, I was gonna say, I'm so impressed by your Mount Mount, what is it, Mount Holy Cross uh that
Why Racing Never Drew Her
SPEAKER_01we have out here in Colorado, your Mount Holy Cross time? I was like, dude, that's a really fast time you threw down on there. So yeah, I uh yeah, altitude and you seem to mix really well. I I have a serious question for you. Do you ever wonder, like, had you started this like early 20s and like tried to pursue the racing scene and you know, some of the other FKT scene? Like, do you ever wonder if life would be a little bit like different? Like if you would have like because you have the the innate skill and ability to probably had you pursued it very hardcore, could have been one of the best ever in a lot of ways. You have like the genetics for it.
SPEAKER_02You're so kind. Um, sometimes I think about that, but I I more than anything in the world love being a mom. And I'm so grateful that I yeah, I I have five kids that I get to love and share this beautiful world with, and I wouldn't trade that for anything. But yes, I mean part of me does wonder like, wow, that would be really cool to live that life, you know, the life of like, oh, I could go travel and go drive to Colorado at any point and just go go to that mountain or go to the Himalaya like I've always dreamed and see what it's like there. And yeah, or you know, that life. It's it's it's definitely a wonder, but I wouldn't trade it.
SPEAKER_01So I love that. Do you I know I peeped around on like ultra sign up and a few other places. I couldn't find any racing results. Have you ever do you ever have you ever given a race a shot?
SPEAKER_02Nope, never. It's it's always just for fun for me. I just I just love being outside in the mountains. I I love connecting with the earth that way. I feel so grateful that my body can carry me to so many beautiful places. And um yeah, racing just has never ever been something that has appealed to me.
SPEAKER_01I respect that a lot because uh it seems like I don't know, our sports professionalizing so quickly. And don't be wrong, I love the racing scene. Racing scene means a lot to me, but at the same time, I almost sometimes yearn for this deeper connection, and I feel like you get that deeper connection, the soul of the sport really through things like FKTs. Um because it's just a little bit different, it's just a different aspect. Um, I don't know. I think that's why like I've made such a big like focus on the podcast to to really try and talk more about the FKT scene and and uh just mountain speed records and things like that, just be so we don't I don't want ever us to ever lose you know what makes our sports so special because it's not just the racing thing. There's there's this dichotomy there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you're right. And I and that's great. I think you're doing a good thing by being all-inclusive in what you talk about on your podcast. Because yes, the racing is so cool, it's incredible what people can do. And I I respect it and admire it so much, it just doesn't call to me. But I I do, I am so impressed by all these incredible humans that do those amazing things. And and I do believe, like for me, that's my way of connecting with like the soul of it, is the you know, the way that I do it. But I'm sure that other people can have that soul connection through racing and um by connecting with the the people that they're racing with too.
SPEAKER_01So for sure. And compel I think there's there's something to be said about compelling courses. Like I love the for instance the Cirque series, like in the Wasatch. Like I think it's so much fun to rip a fast one up, you know, up and down Alta or up and down uh Snowbird and formerly Brighton, you know. I think there's I don't know, there's just something to be something very fun about going very fast and stuff like that in a race setting. But I do agree with you. Um yeah, there's space, there's space for everything. I think that's the beauty of the sport is we're not just one thing, we're a lot of things. Yeah, absolutely. I want to uh, and if you don't mind me asking about this, we we talked about this offline.
Paragliding Accident And Hard Lessons
SPEAKER_01You had suffered a little bit of a setback maybe six months ago in a paragliding accident. Do you feel comfortable talking about that and just talking about paragliding and and um you know just getting into that and how how that came to be?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I'm happy to talk about it, and I hope that maybe me talking about it will be of help to somebody out there listening. Um yes, I I I think paragliding and speed flying uh is becoming very appealing to a lot of mountain runners, and as it did to me. It just it kind of seemed like the next logical step in order to travel through the mountains more efficiently. Um and man, it just looks so cool. Right? To be able to climb up the mountain and fly down. It just made sense. Um, but it wasn't meant to be for me. Uh I did, I was going through a course, I was working with an instructor. Uh I and um yeah, I would just encourage anybody who wants to get into it to really vet your instructor, really um take it seriously. It's fun, it's amazing, it's incredible, but it's very dangerous, it's very high consequence, and um it can go wrong really, really bad, really quick. And that's what happened with me. I was it was a very unfortunate combination of a lot of um unfortunate errors. Uh by yeah, so uh, but I'm so lucky. I'm so grateful to be alive. I'm so grateful to be able to walk and run still. I am so grateful for the medical people who gave me such great care. I I will be forever grateful.
SPEAKER_01That's uh thank you for opening up and talking about it. And I'm I'm so sorry about you know the accident. And it's fresh in my mind because I I was most recently watching, I feel like a lot of people have uh The Dark Wizard. I don't know if you've watched it yet. Amazing documentary on Dean uh Potter. And obviously, it starts with paragliding and then he got into wing wing suiting and things like that. And I was just like, wow, this is a slippery slope because it does look so addicting and looks so much fun. Um, but yeah, it's uh it's absolutely crazy. And I'm so happy that you're okay and on the mend and and things are trending up.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I am so grateful. I um I had I broke my back, I broke my sacrum, I blew out my knee, and most recently I've discovered that I also broke my pelvis that will also need a repair. So it's gonna be a long recovery. Um, but yes, I will be okay. I am okay. I'm still here. I get to be a mom. I get to, you know, watch my kids continue to grow up. So I'm so grateful for that. That documentary was really powerful. It was uh an interesting insight into his psyche and soul and motivations. I appreciated the struggle within him of the purest of it, like that he just loved the climbing and he loved the exploration of the sport. But then there's also that pull of like the ego and wanting to be the best. And that's that's something real that no matter how much you know I can sit here and say I'm just grateful I get to do it for fun. Like, of course, their ego creeps in all the time, right? And it's something we all have to deal with in all aspects of life. So I appreciated that in the documentary.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's so interesting. Yeah, I mean, there's so many aspects of that that um resonate. The first thing was. Was uh and two, like when he uh climbed Delicate Arch. I I knew about that, and I knew it got like bad pushback. And as soon as I saw it, I was like, I texted Mikelina. I was like, dude, this reminds me so much of your situation. This is nuts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's interesting. That's an interesting parallel. I think you're right. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. I felt like it was because the way Patagonia uh kind of treated Dina first it was celebrated and then it wasn't because of public, you know. Yeah, it's just interesting. I don't know. And then you kind of get into the uh the paragliding stuff, and yeah, it's it's interesting. But one of the best documentaries I've seen in a very long time, probably my favorite that I've seen at least this year.
SPEAKER_02So very powerful human story, I think that we can all relate to a lot of what was inside of him. The the desire to be your best and to you know push your limits and also like help push forward a sport. Like, yeah, I I get it. He was a very important figure.
SPEAKER_01So that was great. So as you're on the mend,
Rehab Gratitude And Everest Dreams
SPEAKER_01um, obviously being a mom first and foremost was super important. Uh, what do you do to fill your time? I see some guitars back there. Are you do you do you play the guitar?
SPEAKER_02I do. I I play um a couple instruments. I am learning how to play the violin right now. Um that's funny. Everybody asks me that. Like, oh, what have you been doing now that you you know you can't do all the things that you love? I'm like, physical therapy.
SPEAKER_01That's a big one. It's a good one.
SPEAKER_02I I would give a little shout out to Wasatch Sports Factory here in Utah. They're amazing. They're helping me rehab my ACL and they're crushing it. So love them over there. I'm so grateful for them.
SPEAKER_01That's amazing. What do you think? I mean, obviously, like mentally, it's gotta be very difficult getting to do all these amazing things and then, you know, uh not being able to have uh suddenly that's kind of taken away from you. Obviously, other other other outlets it's gotta be, you know, put yourself into, I would imagine, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm so I think that I'm I'm not glad it happened, obviously, but I am lucky in the sense that it was it could have been so much worse. So all I feel is just gratitude to be here, to be alive, to be able to walk, what a miracle. I'm so grateful. Um so yes, it has been hard. Um, most recently learning that I might have to have another surgery to fix my pelvis and be out even longer. That that has been deflating, but I am just so grateful to be here. Um and I can, you know, I've been able to bike, but like I was saying, my our two youngest are on the mountain bike team. And my daughter, uh, when the accident happened, she was most worried if we would ever be able to bike together again. And we've been able to bike a lot. So I'm just I'm so grateful. So I've been filling my time with a lot of physical therapy, a lot of biking, uh, a lot of family, a lot of um, a lot of goodness, a lot of people. I'm so grateful for all the people in my life.
SPEAKER_01I love that. Does this light the fire even more for something like Everest down the line? Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Uh it absolutely gave me that um, you know, life could end at any minute. So I wanna I want to run towards my dreams and um give that example to my kids too, that your what you love is worth pursuing and it was put into you for a reason and you're meant to chase it, whether it's music or dancing or any or athletics, like it what calls to you is meant for you. My daughter uh was given the opportunity to like try out different instruments for the middle school band, and she said that she picked up the clarinet and it spoke to her. And I was like, That's powerful, you have to do that. Yeah, like it's uh like those things. So, yes, it lit the fire in me to you know continue towards my dreams. So, yes, I sadly we my husband and I had had another trip planned to go to Aconcagua that month after I had the accident, so we weren't able to go, but so I was still working towards that, and I'll continue to to work towards that goal. So, I mean, I would love, I mean, I just saw that Tyler Andrews set that record on Everest, and he is so inspiring to me. He works so hard and he has tried so many times.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I think that was the biggest thing that he took so many cracks at it and finally got it.
SPEAKER_02I I was overjoyed for him, like to see his success. He has put so much work into it. And uh just watching from afar, you know, just a fangirl, like I'm so happy for him. And you know, in another life, I would have loved to be doing that. But I will I I am grateful to just work towards the goal of hopefully getting there on top of the mountain someday.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever bumped into Erin Tun? Because she just she set the record on Aconcagua.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I know she's also she's incredible. I've never met her. I would love to meet her. She seems so amazing. And yes, she's I kind of feel like she's living that life of like, if I hadn't gotten married and having kids had kids at 19, like she's she's living that life, like my uh like that sliding doors life of mine. Um and I am cheering her on. She's incredible. I love watching all of the cool things she does.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's so cool that like athletes can make it in that space now. Because like I feel like, like, I mean, we kind of hit on this in the beginning, like years ago, you know, you did there none of this was you know possible to have a lifestyle and have a life doing that. And now those doors are open for athletes like Tyler and Aaron and others. And I think it's very cool. And hopefully it continues to be that way.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I hope so. It's wonderful to watch, it's amazing. I love seeing everything that humans are capable of.
SPEAKER_01It's so cool.
Final Thoughts And Thanks
SPEAKER_01Well, Jen, we're almost at an hour. I just want to say thank you so much for your time. It was so nice to finally get to chat with you. Um, hope this is not our last conversation. I'm sure we'll be talking Everest in the next uh few months, a few years. And uh yeah, I just want to say thank you so much for coming on and uh I really appreciate your time.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much, James. It was my pleasure, and I so appreciate you reaching out, and I feel so flattered and honored. And um, you're doing a great job. Keep it up, and I hope to meet you soon.
SPEAKER_01Yes, thank you so much.
