Kilian Jornet is many things: greatest ultra-trail runner of all-time. Greatest sub-ultra trail runner of all time. Father. Husband. Founder of an environmental nonprofit. Founder of an outdoor footwear and apparel company.

He’s also an enigma.

Jornet eschews the commercialization of a sport that he’s helped to grow. He loves the freedom of exploration but also the rigor of science. He’s intensely introverted yet is the most popular and public trail runner ever.

These incongruences are perhaps no better exemplified than through his current quest. While most of the top ultra-trail runners from around the world have descended upon Chamonix, France, for the this week, Jornet, too, is in the area. On August 24, he essentially ran a handful of miles along the backside of the UTMB course in Switzerland. He came even closer—much closer—shortly thereafter.

But, and I’m sorry to disappoint you, Jornet is not here to race UTMB. He’s two weeks into an even bigger vision quest: link all 82 4,000-meter peaks in the Alps. He’s calling it the Alpine Connections project.

Of course, he hasn’t officially stated he’s trying to link all 82. He’s simply trying to “explore his physical, technical, and mental limits while connecting 4,000-meter peaks in the Alps.” But if you know Jornet, one of the most anti-spray runners in this spray era, you know he wants to tag them all—in record time.

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Ueli Steck, the legendary “Swiss Machine,” currently holds that record of 62 days. While most who have attempted this mind-blowing feat drove from one mountain to the next, Steck linked them via bike.

That’s the style Jornet chose, too. For environmental reasons. For the aesthetic of self-powered adventure. But like so many of the defining moments of his career, he has a camera crew following, in cars. (Since some of his outings on foot are point-to-point, it’s also not clear if his crew is transporting his bike from the start to the finish for him.) And he’s posting his progress on and , along with updates on the NNormal .

With just 30 peaks to go, the most imposing mountain left on his list is none other than Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Western Europe at 15,766 feet. It happens to be the massif around which UTMB circumvents.

What inspired Jornet—who lives on a farm in Åndalsnes, Norway, with his Swedish wife and elite runner Emelie Tina Forsberg and their two young daughters—to test himself so close yet so far from UTMB? We spoke with him earlier this summer to find out.

But First, What the Heck Is the Alpine Connections Project?

On August 10, Jornet outsprinted Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago down the finishing chute to win Sierre-Zinal by one and a half seconds. His time of two hours, 25 minutes, and 34.8 seconds bested his own course record by just one second. It was Jornet’s 10th win at what many consider the most prestigious and competitive mountain running race in the world.

At just 19.3 miles with more than 7,200 feet of climbing, most of which is packed into the first 6 miles, it’s a test of VO2max more than anything. Jornet averaged 7:21 minute per mile pace—no, not grade adjusted pace—on the net-uphill alpine trail route with pitches up to 33 percent grade.

Apparently, it was just the tune-up he needed for weeks of 15 to 20 hour days climbing technical alpine routes and stringing them all together by foot and two wheels. He departed from Pontresina, Switzerland, to commence the Alpine Connections project just three days later on August 13. It’s the logical continuation of his (Re)discovering the Pyrenees project from last October, when Jornet linked all 177 peaks over 3,000-meters in the Pyrenees in eight days.

Alpine Connections is the Pyrenees project with the dial turned all the way up and then some. Over the first week of technical alpine climbing, running, and biking, he logged more than 91 hours with 330 miles and nearly 108,000 feet of gain.

How is he fitting in such big days, you may be wondering? Why, by hardly sleeping. Over the first three days he slept an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes a night. He bumped it up slightly to an average of 4 hours and 49 minutes on days four through seven.

In case that doesn’t sound challenging enough, the weather hasn’t made it any easier.

“As it had been raining (and snowing on the summits) the entire afternoon and night before, I left solo at 6:15 in the morning and had another relatively ‘short’ (8:40) day of climbing to make the most out of the conditions,” Jornet wrote on on August 18, five days into the project. “Still, I am used to this ‘Norwegian’ weather that feels just like home, so I managed to summit DĂŒrrenhorn (4034m), Hohberghorn (4218m), Stecknadelhorn (4239m) and Nadelhorn (4327m).”

Jornet was greeted by snow, rain, and copious amounts of fog while traversing glaciated peaks for much of that first week. Nonetheless, over the first week he had already submitted 51 of the 4,000-meter peaks over 825K (512 miles) of running, climbing, and biking and more than 52,000 meters (170,600 feet) of gain.

In his most recent update, Jornet shared that he took a full day off due to the weather. He used the time to try and refuel, rehydrate, and to heal the skin on his hands and feet.

Exclusive Kilian Jornet InterviewÌę

Jornet, 36, has long been able to subvert the processes and platforms on which he’s made his name. After building up his cachet by traveling to—and usually winning—the most prestigious trail races and mountain projects around the world, he announced several years ago that he would minimize airplane travel to a couple of times a year. A Salomon athlete for over a decade, he left the brand to take what he’d learned and start his own. And after winning UTMB four times, he along with 2023 runner-up Zach Miller proposed a boycott of the race last year until the organization cleans up some of its , including rampant global growth and its partnership with the car company Dacia.

We sat down with Jornet in person to unpack his relationship with the sport and himself.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

RUN: You say you’re in the best shape of your life. How did you get here?

Kilian Jornet: Training has been good and especially it’s been consistent. We had amazing weather this winter on the west coast of Norway with super good ice climbing and mountain climbing conditions. Blue sky, super cold for like two months, so we could climb a lot. This spring it was warmer here, which is surprising. We had some good dry trails.

I’m also doing less. When I go to races, there’s a lot of stuff you need to do. I’m an introvert, so being with people takes a lot of energy. After a race, I need to recover physically but also mentally because it takes a lot of energy. So I’m embracing less, which means I can train better.

And I’m doing things I like, like spending my time on NNormal or science projects and that’s giving me positive vibes and making me feel energized.

I think having stability in life, having a routine, makes training easier than racing. I can train better for a longer time. And then I can be more focused when I come to races.

Do you think “dad strength” is real?

No, it takes a lot of energy. But you also feel like you can get into a routine. I can train while the kids are at kindergarten, and then take the weekends easy. So maybe it helps to organize things. Normally I was training when I wanted to and now I can’t. But you get into a routine and that might help. I’m more efficient and I train better.

 

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Before it was like, ‘Oh I have all the days, so I just go out for many, many hours. And I do what I want to. I go to that summit, or that other.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh no, I have these hours, I have this goal, I want to train this way.’ I still have days where I say, ‘OK, today is a mountain day, and so I go do whatever I want to do.’ But there are some other days where I know, ‘OK, I have this time to train, so I do this session.’

You love the science behind training, and you love just playing in the mountains. How do you strike that balance?

I studied sports science in school, so I probably was already nerdy when I was young. When I was like 16 or 17 years old, I was already doing tests. So it’s always been there in an observatory way. Like ‘I want to try this, and see what it implies. How can I analyze that from a science point of view?’ Not taking science and then applying it to me. It’s always been there in more of an exploratory way than a prescriptive way.

So you view science similarly to how you view the mountains: as an avenue for exploration?

Yeah, it’s a bit the same. When you go to a race, like I have gone to Zegama 12 times. That’s not a lot of exploration. But going to the mountains and doing projects there, it’s much more about exploring things and then seeing what’s happening.

Now that you’re launched NNormal, do you feel additional pressure to go and perform at key races to boost brand visibility?Ìę

I would say the opposite. Because now, with NNormal I’m part of it. I decide what I want to do. Now it’s really like, ‘Yeah, I want to do the race because I’m training well and I’m in shape and I want to do a nice race that I feel connected to somehow.’ Or I want to do this project in the mountains because it’s what I feel I want to do, and I don’t feel any kind of pressure. I know that it helps NNormal, of course, if I’m showing up. But not even racing, like we saw it last year with the project in the Pyrenees.

It was a last-minute thing, like I decided literally two weeks before that. Now that they analyze the press and social media and all that, that project had more exposure than when I did UTMB. So, it’s not only about racing and showing up and things. It’s more like, if you want to do something deeply, you will probably do it better. And if you do something in a good state of mind, probably you will get more inspired and do things that push me further than to set up a calendar and say, ‘OK, I’ll do that, that, that, that.’

Because I know that it’s somehow comfortable. But to break this routine into things like even if it’s races that I want to push the effort or to do big projects that require a lot of energy, I think that needs to be in this space where I have the tranquility of knowing that I don’t have any pressure to do one thing or another.

Your versatility is mindblowing. Do you consciously sacrifice optimal performance at any particular race or objective to prioritize being able to do it all?

Yeah. Last year, for example, I was injured but the plan was to do a project at Everest, a link up there, and then to try and do some short and long races, and then to do a project in the mountains and a ski project.

Long term, I want this versatility. And then I know that if I want to perform on this project, well, I need to have specificity. So the specificity is in the short term. Like I say I know that to get in very good shape for a specific race or project,Ìę specific adaptations don’t take more than six to eight weeks. So the last six to eight weeks before a race or a project, if my training is specific I know that I can perform the best.

But yeah, I can do specificity multiple times in a year and do different kinds of projects. And at the end, I think that’s what keeps me so motivated. Because if I was only racing, I wouldn’t like it. And ifÌę I was doing just things in the mountains, probably then I would get slower and my capacities in the mountains will decrease, too.

Have your athletic goals shifted over time?

I used to be much more competition-centered at the beginning because then I was doing ski mountaineering season in the winter and dry running season in the summer. That was very structured for many years. And I think that also gave me all the base and fundamentals and the knowledge and all that to be able to do other things. It was many years just focused on training.

Then I started to put some projects on steeper skiing or mountaineering,Ìę but around this calendar. Like two racing seasons. And then at some point, they became more like separate things.

Where do you see your career going?

I don’t know actually, because I feel that I’m still in good shape. I’m still performing and I’m still improving things. So yeah, I still really like racing and like pushing myself inÌę training. So I don’t know how long that will last, but as far as I see that I am happy pushing and racing, I will keep doing it.

And then I will stop doing international races, but I will still do local races because that’s fun. And then projects in the mountains, I will do that hopefully all the time I can. But of course professionally, there will be a moment that it will not be able to sustain my life. Then I think I will still do running and mountaineering for all my life as a pleasure.

You famously were a disciple of a fat adaptation nutrition strategy. Has that evolved at all?

I have shifted my nutrition in the day-to-day a lot over the years. When I was young, I couldn’t afford much, so I was just buying pasta or a big package of rice and tomato sauce. My nutrition was not very varied. As the years have gone on, I’ve taken more care of that. We have a big garden so we get a lot of veggies from there. We try to eat a lot more foods that are fermented and this kind of thing. And I feel like performance-wise that has helped a lot.

In competitions, I’m eating much, much more now. But in training I’m not eating anything during training. Only if I do a very specific session, where I’ll take gels or something like that. But will only happen about one time every month. If it’s a four hour session, I can take a gel every 30 minutes. If I’m doing two uphill thresholds and then maybe some flat, I’ll take a gel between the uphill and the flat on the recovery. That’s very targeted for specific sessions.

In winter, I have a half a liter bottle and it doesn’t matter how long, if it’s eight hours, I take that. In summer, I don’t take anything. And I think that’s helping me in a way because I am developingÌę some metabolic adaptations. If you have a better metabolism, it’s much more open, so then you don’t really need to train your gut for having much more intake because your metabolism is more flexible on switching from fat to carbs. So you don’t need to train the gut.

Someone who has a worse metabolism and let’s say wants to take 120 grams of carbs an hour in a race, they probably need a long gut training to be able to do that, even if he’s eating and I’m not eating during training. And then it’s just because the logistics are hard. If you’re in the mountains, you don’t want to have to carry a bunch of stuff.

The point is supplements and gels are great for racing, but for daily consumption the chemicals are not good.

Given the state of affairs with UTMB, do you think you’ll ever go back?

Yeah, it’s a race I like. I like the volunteers, I have lived in Chamonix for many years. I love many things about the race. I don’t like many things, but I’ve talked with the race organizers and I have a good relationship with them. Many times we agree that we just disagree. I’m not doing it this year because I have another project. But I think it’s good to disagree on things to build together, and I hope in the future there is change on some things that I don’t agree, like some things on the corporation side, like in the race acquisition or some vision with the impact of their entity when it comes to sponsorships, or their impact on the land.

So it’s things like that that we’re not on the same page. But we can discuss, and it’s good. But it’s a race I might go back to in the future, and I would love to do in the future.

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Courtney Dauwalter is no match for even Courtney Dauwalter. For the third straight year, the 39-year-old trail running superstar won the Hardrock 100 in course-record time. Striding into downtown Silverton, Colorado early Saturday morning, to rousing applause at 8:12 A.M. local time, she kissed the large painted rock marking the finish to stop the clock in 26:11:49—two and a half minutes under her own overall women’s course record from last year, and over 30 minutes ahead of her clockwise record from 2022.

“Man, I didn’t plan on sprinting into the finish today,” Dauwalter said with a laugh. “I only knew about what pace we needed to run for the record because [my husband] Kevin was pacing me in the last section. I wouldn’t have remembered the time for that. We got to the top of Little Giant, which is like seven-ish miles away, and I said, ‘Do you think the clock could read 25 as the first number?’ And then we looked at our watches and we were like, ‘Probably not.’ It was still pretty far and not much time. But then it was like, ‘Well, what’s the overall record?’ because it was just a good carrot to dangle to get to the finish as efficiently as we could.”

After running in discomfort early on with France’s Camille Bruyas in close proximity, Dauwalter took off running out of Telluride at mile 27 and never looked back. She progressively chipped away at not only her pain cave, but also her own 2022 splits, flirting with the elusive 26-hour mark and finishing fourth overall. Bruyas finished second among women (and sixth overall) more than three hours and 15 minutes after Dauwalter in 29:28:14.

With the win, Dauwalter has now won the Hardrock 100 three times in four tries, setting course records in each of her wins. She started the race in 2021 but dropped out midway through due to stomach issues on the grueling high-altitude course which averages 11,000 feet above sea level. She’s been virtually unbeatable since, but has been a dominant force in ultra-distance trail running since 2017.

Dauwalter has also won UTMB three times, and the Western States 100 , Transgrancanaria 128K, and the Mount Fuji 100 (formerly known as Ultra Trail Mount Fuji) twice. In fact, she hasn’t lost a race she intended to be competitive in since 2019, when she placed 12th in the IAU 24 Hour World Championship in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France.

Dauwalter said she enjoyed going up and over 14,058-foot Handies Peak before sunset and was happy the temperatures cooled off. But she said she was so tired in the wee hours of the morning she had a hallucination of a big flower wearing sunglasses and smiling at her.

“I think the heat of the day worked me pretty hard, and so it felt nice to be in cooler weather for sure,” she said. “But there are quite a few rocky sections, and when you’re running those in the dark, it’s just harder. I think this race is just particularly hard in general. I was hoping this year to come back with the experience of doing it a couple years and not coming off of a race in June like I did last year and feel more fresh and be able to attack the course a little more. But it just was really hard.”

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Beyond Dauwalter’s dominance, the women’s race saw somewhat of a ceremonial changing of the guard with two new faces on the podium. After an incredibly strong and vivacious first half, Bruyas battled through the second half of the gnarly course to take second. She walked into Silverton with her pacers and crew to kiss the rock in 29:28:11. Katharina Hartmuth of Germany hung tough to finish third in 30:29:12.

Pommeret Takes Down Kilian Jornet’s Record

Maybe you forgot that Ludovic Pommeret was the 2016 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc champion. Or maybe you thought the Frenchman, who turns 49 in nine days, was past his prime. Either way, he reminded us all he’s at the top of not only his game, but the game at the 2024 Hardrock 100.

The Hoka-sponsored runner from Prevessin, France, took the lead less than a third of the way into the rugged 100.5-mile clockwise-edition of the course after separating from countryman François D’Haene, the 2021 Hardrock champion and 2022 runner-up, and never looked back. Pommeret progressively chipped away at the course record splits—a course record, mind you, set by none other than Kilian Jornet in 2022—to win this year’s event in 21:33:12, the fastest time by three minutes in the race’s 33-year history. Jornet set the previous overall course record of 21:36:24, also in this clockwise direction in 2022.

(Pommeret kissed the ceremonial rock at the finish in to complete the course in 21:33:07 at 3:33 A.M. local time, but race officials credited him with the slightly slower official time.)

“It was my dream (to win it),” Pommert told a small collection of fans and media after winning the race at 3:33 A.M. local time. “I was just asking ‘when will there be a nightmare?’ But finally, there was no nightmare. Thanks to my crew. They were amazing. And thanks to all of you. This race is, uh, no word, just so cool and wild and tough.”

A Historic Day

On Friday, July 12, 146 lucky runners embarked on the 2024 Hardrock 100. Run in the clockwise direction this year, it was the “easy” way for the course with a staggering 33,000 feet of climbing thanks to the steep climbs and more tempered, runnable descents.

Combined with relatively cooperative weather (hot during the day on Friday, but no storms) and a star-studded front of the pack , the tight-knit Hardrock 100 community was on course record watch.

And the event delivered—along with a whole lot more.

On the men’s side, the front of the race took a blow before the gun even went off when Zach Miller, last year’s Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc runner-up, was denied entry after undergoing an emergency appendectomy the weekend before.

Despite the heartbreak of being forced to wait another year to participate in this hallowed event, Miller was very much a presence in the race, most notably for slinging fastnachts (Amish donuts) from his van in Ouray for race supporters and fans.

Such is the spirit of this event, deemed equally as much a run as a race.

The men’s race was further upended when D’Haene, in tears surrounded by his wife, three children, and friends, dropped from the race at the remote Animas Forks aid station (mile 58). An illness from two weeks before proved insurmountable for the challenge still to come. That blew the door wide open for the hard-charging leaders ahead.

Pommeret had built a 45-minute lead over Jason Schlarb, an American runner who lives locally in Durango, and Swiss runner Diego Pazos, by the time he had left the 43.9-mile Ouray aid station amid 85-degree temperatures. His split climbing up and over 12,800-foot Engineer Pass (mile 51.8) extended his lead to more than an hour over Schlarb and nearly 90-minutes at the Animas Forks aid station.

“I thought it was great. To run off the front like he did, and then just hold that all day and get the overall course record is pretty awesome,” Miller said. “When Killian did it, two years ago, it was a track race between him, Dakota [Jones], and François, after they got some separation from Dakota, it was Kilian and and François, all the way to Cunningham Gulch (the mile 91 aid station) and then Kilian just torched it on the way in. So yeah, it was super, super impressive for Ludo to do that. That’s a very impressive effort.”

A Blazing StartÌę

The sleepy historic mining town of Silverton, Colorado was unusually hectic at 6 A.M. on Friday. In the blue hour before the sun poked over the San Juan Mountains looming above, 146 runners toed the start line of the Hardrock 100, marked by flags from the countries represented by competitors on either side of the dirt road.

With the sound of the gun, runners jogged off the start line—their caution a tacit sign of respect for the monumental challenge of what was to come. As the runners passed through town to the singletrack wending its way up to Miner’s Shrine, group of men headlined byÌę D’Haene, Pommeret, Pazos, and Schlarb quickly took command of the front, the bright yellow t-shirt of Dauwalter was easy to spot just behind, along with Hartmuth and Bruyas.

If they weren’t awake already, runners certainly were after crossing the ice-cold Mineral Creek two miles into their journey before starting the grunt up to Putnam Basin. At the top of a sunny, grassy Putnam Ridge (mile 7) 1:34 into the race, the lead pack of men remained, while Dauwalter had made a statement solo just three minutes back from the men and four minutes up on Hartmuth.

Dauwalter was smiling and chatty when she reached the KT aid station at mile 11.5, in 2:24 elapsed. By Chapman (mile 18.4), four hours in and 10 minutes under her own course record pace, she was pouring water on her head under the blazing sun. Things were heating up—in more ways than one.

It’s a Race!

When Pommeret galloped into Telluride (mile 27.7) after 5:37 of elapsed time in the lead, he was right on Jornet’s course record pace. One minute, some fluids and restocking later, and he was gone.

But wait, it was still a close race! D’Haene charged into Telluride justÌę two minutes later and hardly stopped before continuing on through downtown before busting out the poles and starting the steep, steep 5,000-foot climb up Virginius Pass to the iconic Kroger’s Canteen aid station nestled into a notch of rock at the top at 13,000 feet.

Not to be outdone, the women’s race proved equally thrilling coming into Telluride. Bruyas bridged the gap up to Dauwalter, and the two ran into town together in 6:25 elapsed. Both took three minutes in the aid station, although that must have been enough social time for Dauwalter, as she pulled ahead marching up the climb, poles out and head down. A bouncy Bruyas alternated between hiking and jogging just behind.

But time again, Dauwalter’s long, powerful stride simply proved unparalleled. By Kroger’s (mile 32.7) Dauwalter had reestablished her lead by five minutes over Bruyas and 17 ahead of Hartmuth in third. She’d built that gap to 10 minutes in Ouray at mile 43.9, but she left that aid station in less than two minutes with a stern, serious look on her face. But as she crested Engineer Pass at the golden hour, wildflowers blanketing the vibrant green hillsides basking in the setting sun, she enjoyed a 30-minute lead in the women’s race and was knocking at the door of the men’s podium.

While Dauwalter forged ahead with her unforgiving campaign for a third straight win, the men’s race started to rumble. Like Dauwalter, Pommeret continued to blaze the lead looking strong as he trotted down Engineer to the Animas Forks aid station at mile 57.9 in 11:39 elapsed. He hardly stopped before continuing on to Handies Peak, which at 14,058 feet marks the high point of the race. He had blown the race wide open.

An hour and 15 minutes later, Schlarb, looking a bit more beleaguered, ran into Animas Forks with his pacer, where he sat down and changed his shirt while receiving a pep talk from his partner and son. But he made quick work of the time off feet nonetheless, and three minutes later he was back at it, seven minutes before Pazos appeared.

While D’Haene arrived just 10 minutes later, he did so in tears, holding the hand of his youngest son. After a considerable amount of time sitting in the aid station, surrounded by his family and crew, he called it quits. The lingering effects of an illness from just 10 days before proved too much to overcome as the hardest miles of the race loomed ahead.

While D’Haene pondered his fate, Dauwalter blitzed into Animas Forks in 13:26 with that same look of determination, 16 minutes ahead of course-record pace. She briefly stopped to prepare for the impending night, picking up her good friend and pacer Mike Ambrose to leave the aid station in fourth overall. Bruyas maintained her second place position 30 minutes back, with Hartmuth in third about 20 minutes behind her.

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Pommeret Extends His Lead

Pommeret continued charging ahead solo, increasing his lead over Schlarb and Pazos by more than two hours late in the race. When Pommeret passed through the 80.8-mile Pole Creek aid station at 10:44 P.M., it shocked the small group of race officials, media, and fans watching the online tracker from the race headquarters in Silverton. Based on that split, it was originally calculated that PommeretÌęcould arrive as early as 2:34 A.M.—which would have been a finishing time of 20:34—but he didn’t run the final 20 miles quite as fast as Jornet did in 2022.

Behind him, Pazos caught Schlarb to take over second place before Pole Creek and increased the gap to four minutes by the Cunningham aid station (mile 91.2). Pazos would outlast Schlarb and finish second in 24:39:33, while Schlarb took third in 24:48:16. Schlarb, who tied for the win with Jornet in the 2016 Hardrock 100, pulled out a mini American flag out of his trail running vest after kissing the rock.

Pommeret, who develops training software for air traffic controls in Geneva, Switzerland, didn’t break into ultra-trail running until 2009 when he was 34 years old. He was third in UTMB that year—behind a 20-year-old Jornet, who won for the second straight year—the first of seven top-five finishes in the marquee race in Chamonix. (He was third in 2017 and 2019, fourth in 2021, and fifth in 2023.) He also won the 90-mile TDS race during UTMB week in 2022, and the 170-kilometer Diagonale des Fous race (Grand Raid La Reunion) on RĂ©union Island in the Indian Ocean in 2021 and placed sixth in his first attempt at the Western States 100 in California in 2022.

Last year, Pommeret placed 13th overall in the Western States 100 and nine weeks later finished fifth at UTMB behind Jim Walmsley, Miller, Germain Grangier, and Mathieu Blanchard.

“We know Ludo is a beast, but to be a beast for so long is so impressive,” Miller said. “He’s 49, which by all means is a capable age in this endurance world. But I think anytime someone 49 does something like that, it’s gonna turn some heads because that would’ve been a really good performance for anyone. To have the track record he’s had—winning Diagonale des Fous, UTMB and Hardrock, that’s pretty impressive.”

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Dauwalter’s Final Race Against the Clock

By the time Dauwalter was pushing her way up the lower approach to 14,058-foot Handies Peak, she had a smile on her face and engaged in playful conversation with media and spectators on the course. She had good reason to smile: she was feeling good and she had increased her 10-minute lead at Ouray to more than 60 minutes. After cresting Handies before sunset, Dauwalter went through the Burrows aid station (mile 67.9) in less than a minute, while Bruyas, who reached the summit in near darkness, came in an hour later and spent four minutes refueling before heading out again.

Three hours after Pommeret had passed through the Pole Creek aid station (mile 80.8), Dauwalter arrived at 1:54 A.M., still in fourth place overall about 50 minutes behind Pazos and Schlarb. She took a little more time there, but was back on her feet in four minutes and running strong again and still on record pace. Bruyas walked in to Pole Creek at 3:08 A.M. in sixth overall, but the gap behind Dauwalter continued to widen. Hartmuth arrived about 25 minutes later, over three hours ahead of Yitka Winn in fourth.

Dauwalter was in and out of the Maggie aid station (mile 85.1) in two minutes and blazed through the Cunningham aid station (mile 91.2) even faster. The race seemed to be in hand at that point with Bruyas more than 90 minutes behind (in fact, someone updated the Hardrock 100 Wikipedia page and declared her the winner not long after Pommeret finished), it was just a matter of how fast she could close the loop.

“I left Ouray quickly because I finally was feeling like my body was running OK,” Dauwalter said. “The whole morning getting to Ouray, none of my systems felt like they were working together. It was a real effort to run. And so when I got to Ouray, things had started clicking and so I just wanted to turn and get out of there and keep the momentum going. So I guess later I was probably smiling more because it’s more fun to run when everything’s working better. But it was really hard. The whole day was really, really hard.”

Women’s Results

1. Courtney Dauwalter, 26:11:49 (course record, 4th overall)
2. Camille Bruyas, 29:28:11 (6th overall)
3. Katharina Hartmuth, 30:29:12 (9th overall)
4. Tara Dower, 33:10:55
5. Yitka Winn, 33:17:00

Men’s Results

1. Ludovic Pommeret, 21:33:06 (course record)
2. Diego Pazos, 24:39:33
3. Jason Schlarb, 24:48:13
4. Jeff Rome, 26:30:52
5. Brian Peterson, 29:36:04

Full results:

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Friends, we have a crisis looming on our hands and something must be done.

If you’ve been living under the surface level of the pool, Strava sashayed into the zeitgeist last week when ·Ą±ô±ô±đÌępublished an article titled ÌęAccording to the story, a pay-to-play, digital dating environment has ravaged younger American generations with swipe fatigue, and Strava, author Kelsey Borovinsky argues, provides a platform for people who enjoy endurance sports to find each other.

So far, so great. Endurance sports have infiltrated pop culture enough to get written up in the likes ofÌęElle, without even Taylor Swift signing on? Rejoice! We can use Strava to find connection and community? Hallelujah!

But, Borovinsky, are we talking about the same ? The one with segments and leaderboards that breed ? The app that doesn’t even support direct messaging, much less discovery?

Sure, Strava has a “flyby” feature to see who you encountered on your outing. But if you manage to track down strangers you glimpsed for a quarter of a second on your run two days ago with this beta feature, what are you going to do? Ask them out in a public comment on their activity?

No, if you are a sane person with manners, you are going to find them on Instagram or something and send them a DM. Nicely. Politely.

I hear DMing is coming to Strava. We will deal with those ramifications later. One crisis at a time. Beyond practicalities, there lies the greater existential question that we must ask ourselves: Do we really want Strava to serve as a way to impress people in that dating-kind-of-way? It’s already a haven for those looking for validation and ways to look down on each other, but it could get worse, much worse.

±őČÔ»ć±đ±đ»ć,ÌęElle’s Borovinsky describes a Strava filled with young, single people like Ellie Gerson. She’s a runner and influencer from San Francisco who, after completing her scenic seven-mile run, “immediately opens Strava to upload her workout, along with a cute selfie and a relatable caption about the highs and lows of training for the Chicago Marathon.”

Marathon training, we love to see it. But Gerson isn’t here just to chronicle the highs and lows of her journey to 26.2. When asked if she hopes potential suitors will see her Strava uploads Gerson said, “One thousand percent. Whether it was a long run or I’m in a cute outfit, there have definitely been times where I’ve thought, he will see this.”

Look, it’s a free country. Gerson, Borovinsky, and all one hundred million Strava-ers (Strava-ites?) can use Strava however they want. But do we really need yet another platform for people to impress each other? Can’t someone just spend a long run thinking about pancakes, not thirst traps?

Strava’s where I connect with friends and family. I see my 72-year-old dad’s five-hour Zwift ride, and I know he’s just as deranged as he was 50 years ago. Thank god. It’s where I get beta on trail and road conditions from those more intrepid than I. It’s where we -yes the royal we of all endurance peoples – bond over our mutual hatred of wind. And it’s what I turn to when I need a little bit of extra motivation from my psycho friends who run at 4 AM.

In short, I rely on Strava to learn aboutÌęwhat’s really going on. It’s like getting an honest answer to, “How are you?” without even needing to ask. Even for those people who call their hammer sessions “easy runs,” the heart rate data keeps them honest.

Strava feels like a safe haven for simplicity, silliness, and sincerity—segment hunting and threats of stalking put aside.

Maybe (probably) I’m being an overly cautious curmudgeon. I’ve been off the market for like six years, I’m old and out of touch. But in our overly digitized and curated world of filtered photos and painstakingly edited reels, Strava is the last place on the internet that hasn’t wholly succumbed to the dramaturgical trap of masking your true self in service to an impossible ideal. It’s a place to be yourself, and to celebrate others for being the same. And in a world saturated with insincerity, I need Strava to feel like I still have a semblance of a grasp on the truth.

So, Strava-ites, here is my plea to you: Keep posting those snot-encrused selfies and silly Strava titles. In the spirit of love, celebrate your friends for doing the same. And then, if Strava happens to serve as the most wholesome accidental meet-cute on the internet, we all win.

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Lucy Charles-Barclay waited approximately zero seconds before making her move at the 2023 Hawaii Ironman World Championship on October 14, 2023. Powering through the choppy waters of Kailua Bay with her characteristic snappy glide, the 30-year-old British triathlete gapped the field by nearly 350 meters—almost four football field lengths

Charles-Barclay lead off the front for the next 140.2 miles of swimming, biking, and running, breaking the tape in a record-setting 8:26:18 for her first world title.

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A four-time runner-up in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2022—the victory was a long time coming.

“If there was any way I wanted to win this race, it would have been like that,” Charles-Barclay . “There were many times when I thought I would always be the bridesmaid in Kona. It’s nice to finally be the bride.”

Her win is just the start of jaw-dropping moments from the inaugural women’s-only Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. (The inaugural men’s-only Ironman World Championship was held on September 9 in Nice, France.) From a run course record set by only fueling with protein to a series of historic firsts, here are our top 10 takeaways from one of the most important races in endurance sport.

1. Charles-Barclay Vanquishes Bridesmaid Curse

By earning the crown on Saturday afternoon, Charles-Barclay solidified her name on the list of Kona legends and broke a series of records—including the women’s course record previously held by Switzerland’s Daniella Ryf when she clocked 8:26:18 for the win in 2018.

No woman has led the wire-to-wire since Lyn Lemaire, the first woman to ever win the race in 1979. Charles-Barclay broke that 44-year streak after coming out of the water with a four-minute advantage. She also etched her name in history as only the second person ever to win the Hawaii Ironman World Championship after winning an amateur age group title here, which she claimed in the 18-to-24-year-old division in 2015.

Decked in a mermaid race kit that extended from the blue and grey scales painted on her Red Bull helmet to her , Charles-Barclay raced like someone who not only wanted to win, but even more so did not want to lose. She blitzed the 112-mile bike in 4:32:29, averaging over 24.7 miles per hour to further extend her lead over the competition.

In past years, Charles-Barclay’s blistering early pace has come back to haunt her on the run. Not on Saturday. She held on for respectable 2:57:38 marathon and a hefty three-minute lead. But it wasn’t until the finish chute loomed into sight on Ali’i Drive that Charles-Barclay allowed herself to comprehend what was happening.

“I really tried not to put not wanting to be second again in the back of my mind,” she said. “I was still looking over my shoulder when I turned onto Ali’i. I didn’t believe I would get the win until I broke the tape.”

As always, there’s more to the story than meets the eye. Charles-Barclay’s seemingly assured success obscures the obstacles she had to overcome this year just to get to the start line.

2. Charles-Barclay Breaks Foot and Breaks Records

In May, Charles-Barclay felt something in her foot while running into the water at the start of Ironman 70.3 Kraichgau in Germany. She thought little of it. She powered a slew of bike issues and mounting pain on the run to take second in that half-distance Ironman race. An X-ray the next day confirmed she’d snapped the third metatarsal in her foot, a zig-zag fracture all the way through the bone.

For better and for worse, she was no stranger to that type of news.

“It’s been a really tough couple of years,” Charles-Barclay said. “When I turned 28, I felt like my body didn’t want to do this anymore.”

Charles-Barclay retreated to her “pain cave” gym at her home in Chingford, Essex, where she cranked up the music, visualized the helicopters circling overhead in Kona, and nearly hit the 2024 Great Britain Olympic qualification mark on the indoor rower while wearing a “moon boot” cast.

Out on the Queen K Highway on Saturday, Charles-Barclay channeled those endless hours of monotony in the pain-cave. She credits that mental toughness training as well as the efficiency of riding the bike trainer indoors (no coasting on the downhills!) to her success, as well as her satisfaction.

“All I ever wanted was to win this race,” Charles-Barclay said. “I don’t feel like I need anything else anymore. That is the biggest prize, and a credit to the work we’ve all put in as a team. And they’ve all put up with me these last few months as I’ve been very tired and very grumpy, and all my friends and family putting up with that, and that means so much to me during this crazy endeavor to win this race.”

3. Anne Haug’s No-Carb Fueling Leads to Fastest Run Split Ever

With one of the deepest pro fields ever—particularly on the running front—we knew that if the conditions aligned, we could witness a run for the ages. Sure enough, as soon as she hopped off the bike and slipped into her Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% super shoes, Germany’s Anne Haug was on a mission. The runner-assassin started the marathon in seventh place overall, 12 minutes back from the lead. But Haug remained composed and got to doing what she does best: passing people on the Queen K.

Haug clicked into her characteristically high cadence, butter-smooth stride, ticking sub-6:20 miles early in the marathon to reel in the field. At mile 18, deep in the heart of the lifeless Energy Lab, Haug decisively passed American dark-horse rookie Taylor Knibb to move into second.

The lead Charles-Barley carved on the swim and the run proved too large to surmount, with Haug ultimately running out of real estate to claim another world title. But in that attempt, she smashed Miranda Carfrae’s run course record of 2:50:38 set 2013 when the Australian won the race. Haug clocked in at 2:48:33, averaging 6:25 per mile through the oppressively thick, still air and road temperatures soaring above 100 degrees.

“The run always means a lot to me, and I always aim for a fast run,” said Haug, who owns a 2:36:13 open marathon personal best. “I’m absolutely happy. I couldn’t have done any better. Lucy was unbeatable today.”

The 40-year-old’s performance is even more remarkable this year in the face of the health and nutrition obstacles she’sovercome. Over the past several years, her body has grown intolerant to absorbing carbohydrates while racing. Rigorous testing and experimentation with her team in Germany led to the realization that she could only fuel adequately with the right types of proteins and amino acids.

Haug overhauled her entire nutrition strategy, saying she was careful to consume enough on the bike and fueled almost exclusively on protein during the run—a feat nearly unheard of in elite marathoning.

4. Rookie Taylor Knibb Shows America’s Future is Bright

Leading up to Saturday, all eyes were on U.S. Olympian Taylor Knibb. The 25-year-old based in Boulder, Colorado, has been on fire this year, winning the hotly contested PTO U.S. Open to the tune of $100,000 in prize money, defending her Ironman 70.3 world title in Lahti, Finland, and earning bragging rights as one of the world’s best short course, draft-legal and long-course triathletes. That range puts Michael Phelps to shame.

But Kona hits different, and despite watching her mom race here five times previously, Knibb had never toed the line herself. In fact, she’d never run above 19 miles. Ever. Would she be able to hang in the heat and humidity over the 140.3 distance?

“What challenges arise and how I overcome them will be the measure of success for me,” Knibb said in the days before the race.

That attitude proved prescient.

Knibb swam strong with the front chase pack, but she lost three nutrition bottles on the bike—the third caught by race officials and resulting in a one-minute penalty. Yet Knibb remained composed, chatting and laughing with the motorcycle film crew, thanking volunteers at aid stations, and taking her time at the turn-around aid to dismount from her bike, riffle through her special needs bag, and grab more fuel for the road. Even with the penalty, Knibb had the second-fastest bike split of the day in 4:34:00.

Ultimately, Knibb cracked under the run distance, slowing to a walk intermittently over the final seven kilometers. Her 3:05:13 marathon wound up as the 10th fastest among the pro women in the race. But her final time of 8:35:56 was good enough for an astonishing fourth place—just one minute off the podium and a time that would have been fast enough for the win in all but three other years.

Knibb will return her attention to short-course racing for a bit (the Paris Olympics loom just 10 months away), but watch out the next time the women race here in 2025. She’ll be armed with experience and a kind, quippy vengeance—Taylor’s version.

5. Americans Shine with Five in Top 10

Germany crowded the podium, with Haug taking second and her compatriot Laura Philip racing tenaciously for third. After those three first steps, the show belonged to the United States.

Along Knibb in fourth, the U.S. took five of the top 10 spots. Last year’s champion Chelsea Sodaro recovered from a disappointing first two-thirds of the race, in which 19 women out-biked her, to run a solid 2:53:02 marathon that moved her up to sixth. Compatriot Skye Moench finished just a minute later in 8:43:34.

Full-time graduate student Sarah True spent much of the week leading up to the race working on a research paper. She ended up asking for an extension on Friday—a choice which seemed to pay off with her best-ever eighth-place finish in 8:47:06 as she “played triathlete” for the day. An exceptionally strong bike from Jocelyn McCauley was enough for her to hang on during the run for 10th in 8:50:39—the fifth American and third American mom in the race, along with Sodaro and True.

6. Sixteen Women Break Elusive Nine-Hour Mark

It wasn’t until 2009 that four–time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington of Great Britain broke the nine-hour mark on this notoriously hot, humid, and all-around hellish course. Until 2018, you didn’t always have to crack nine hours to earn a podium spot. We have officially said goodbye to those days.

Forget the podium, or even the top 10, with a nine-hour time. An unprecedented 16 women dipped under that elusive nine-hour mark this year. Women at the top of the race attribute the fast times to a combination of technology improvements—aerodynamic helmets, bikes, and race kits; wind-tunnel testing; supershoes—and steel sharpening steel.

“We push each other, and we always try to get better,” said four-time Ironman World Champion Ryf, who took fifth on Saturday. “The technology has also helped. We’ve gotten more aero, and materials play a role. But so does pushing each other. I’ve learned so much from my competitors like Miranda Carfrae.”

7. Forget Bikes. It’s All About Shoes.

Don’t get us wrong, at 112 miles long and taking up about 50 percent of the race, the bike leg remains indisputably paramount. But the impact of rapid fast shoe technology advancement over the past several years cannot be discounted here—both for racing and recovery at the Ironman distance.

All of the top 10 women elected to wear carbon-plated supershoes, including two prototypes on the feet of Ryf (sponsored by Hoka) and Sodaro (who runs for On).

Charles-Barclay held on for her best Kona run ever in the ASICS Metaspeed Sky+. She attributes the advent of supershoes to helping her whittle down her race times, as well as bounce back from injury.

“I guess obviously when I first started racing in Kona, we weren’t running in carbon-plated shoes,” she said. “But over the years that technology has developed, and I’m super happy in the shoe that I run in. They’ve helped me through the injuries that I’ve had, and yeah, I guess hopefully, like Anne has shown, we are just gonna keep running faster and the technology will help us to do that.”

8. All-Women’s Field Yields Historic Finisher Rate

Despite Ironman moving to an all-women’s field and giving out more entry spots this year, we already knew that the caliber of the field was as competitive as ever. On Saturday, the women proved they are also grittier than ever. Every single athlete who entered the swim completed the 2.4 miles straight out and back into the Kailua Bay chop. It’s potentially a first in the history of the event.

Of the 2,097 starters, 2,039 crossed the finish line in under the 17-hour cutoff. That’s an astonishing 97.23 percent finishing rate at one of the most physically and psychologically grueling race courses on Earth—up from the typical 93 to 97 percent finish rate here.

9. Autistic Athletes Make History

By each completing the race in twelve hours and change, Lisa Cloutier, Marylne Stutzman, and Adrienne Bunn, of the U.S., became the first three openly autistic athletes to cross the finish line at the Hawaii Ironman World Championship.

At 18 years old, the minimum age for entering the race, Bunn also earned the title of youngest finisher this year. Diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder at age four, Bunn started running in school to occupy her thoughts and calm her mind. She started racing triathlons two years ago through a Special Olympics pilot program and earlier this year finished her first Ironman 70.3 race to earn her spot in Kona.

“Running totally transformed her,” Bunn’s mother, June, said. “It just calmed her—it took away her anxiousness.”

On the road to the finish line, Bunn balanced up to 20 hours of training a week with her studies as a high school senior.

“Adrienne got a lot of no’s—no way, it’s not going to happen,” June said. “We never put a ceiling on her. You say it’s not going to happen, she’s going to prove you wrong.”

10. ‘We Never Give Up’

Athletes represented 73 countries at the Ironman World Championships this year, including twelve finishers from wartorn Israel and four from Ukraine.

In addition to the psychological stress these athletes faced, many surmounted logistical nightmares to just make it to the Kailua Pier. Ukraine athlete Yuliya Azzopardi drove 1,000 miles from her home in Kyiv to the border of Poland while abiding by country’s midnight-to-5 P.M. curfew, passed through two border controls, and took two flights to make it to the Big Island. As athletes checked into their return flights after the race on Sunday, several major airlines informed passengers that flights to Tel Aviv, Israel, were suspended in the face of the ongoing conflict with Palestine so alternative flight paths had to be arranged.

Somehow, athletes from these countries channeled their stress into strength.

“I raced especially for Israel,” Sharon Zupnik, who crossed the line in 11:17:46, said. “I wanted to show that we are so strong and we can be here.”

“It means we can keep fighting,” Ukraine’s Kateryna Fedorova said moments after she finished in 11:44:57. “It means we are brave. That we stand for all the rights for freedom. And I want to show the example to everyone that we never give up.”

(Bonus) 11. More People Tuned into the Women’s Race

Not everyone was happy when Ironman decided to split the men’s and women’s world championships into separate venues this year. (The men’s Ironman World Championship was held September 9 in Nice, France.) And while the aloha magic, unrivaled history, and unique brutality of the Kailua-Kona course cannot be replicated, one thing is for certain—a women’s-only race leads to an unparalleled level of inspired racing.

In Ironman races with both men’s and women’s fields, elite and amateur women contend with men interfering with their race, whether that’s getting kicked on the swim, or inadvertently earning a penalty for drafting on the bike.Ìę (And of course, these same nuisances apply to men when women are in their races.) A two-gender race also means that each gender receives less TV coverage, with the women historically receiving less than half of airtime as they battle for contention behind the men.

Giving the women a day of unfettered, fully-celebrated racing allowed the day to play out on its own terms.

“It was very nice to not have men interfering with the race,” Knibb said. “And it was nice to know they weren’t. It was one less worry, one less thing to think about. There’s a lot of things to think about out there.”

And guess what? People tuned in—a lot of people. Over 769,000 fans tuned into the 2023 women’s race, up from the 599,000 who watched the men’s race in Nice last month, enjoying an interrupted view as the race unfolded.

“Cameras were everywhere this year,” Haug said. “Usually they’re just on the first women. We put on a show today and we showed it’s worth covering the whole race.”

A field of 2,000-plus women also imbibed the day with a special type of comradery and grit.

“All of the pro women were cheering me on,” Charles-Barclay said. “And to have their support even when we’re all out there suffering just shows how amazing this sport is.”

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On Saturday, over 2,000 world-class women will shoulder the monumental 140.6-mile challenge of the 2023 Hawaii Ironman World Championship. That’s right, women. Just women.

For the first time ever, only women will compete in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, as Ironman split the fields and moved the men’s race to Nice, France, held four weeks ago on September 12.

We’ve come a long way since 1978, when 15 men (yes, just men) paid $3 for a spot on the start line of the first-ever Hawaii Ironman based on a bet over who was the better athlete—swimmers or runners. This year, the women’s and men’s races will dole out equal prize purses of $375,000 each, rolling down 15 places with $125,000 going to the winner.

Why is a women’s-only Ironman World Championship significant? We’ll tell you, below. Then sit back and watch some serious suffering on when the gun goes off at 6:25 A.M. Hawaii-Aleutian Time (12:25 P.M. ET) on Saturday, October 14. For a closer look at the course, athletes, and in-depth storytelling around the race, .

What is the Ironman World Championship?

, and a ridiculous challenge combining three endurance events into one, has grown into one of the most prestigious—and rigorous—athletic events in the world. Fifty-five pros and 2,000-plus amateur age-group athletes from 73 countries will race a 2.4-mile (3.8K) swim, 112-mile (180.2K) bike ride, and a 26.2-mile (42.2K) marathon run past the dramatic lava fields on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Why It’s an Iconic Challenge

Racing the 140.6-mile Ironman presents a daunting challenge, requiring extreme versatility, discipline, and stamina just to get to the start—much less the finish. But to put it bluntly, .

In fact, the nearly impossible mystique of this race not only catapulted the popularity of Ironman, but also the sport of triathlon as a whole. The Ironman World Championship grew into a globally televised event on ABC, and the International Olympic Committee eventually added triathlon as a mainstay to the Summer Olympic Games in 2000.

An Endless 2.4-Mile Swim

The challenge starts with the swim, an out-and-back from the shallows of “Dig Me Beach” straight into the abyss beyond: Facing down 1.2 miles into the open ocean looks overwhelming, but then add in rolling seas, choppy, salty waves, and the churn of your competition. Top female pros complete the swim in just over 50 minutes, with the back of the age-group pack getting two hours and 20 minutes to climb out of the water before getting cut off. The swim is arguably the easiest part of the day, taking up less than 15 percent of the race time-wise.

An Unforgiving 112-Mile Ride

After surviving the swim, competitors jump onto specialized triathlon bikes and pedal up and away from the ocean to the rolling climbs and straightaways of the Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway, renowned and reviled for its fierce crosswinds threatening to topple bikes over sideways and exposed lava fields that leave competitors with nowhere to hide from the sun. Imagine pedaling on Mars. Top riders complete the 112 miles in just over four-and-a-half hours for an average pace of 24-plus miles per hour. And if you don’t finish the bike in 10 hours, you’ll be pulled from the course.

A Soul-Sucking Marathon

Back in the transition zone, riders throw their bikes to handlers (one small luxury of long-course triathlon) and cinch up their running shoes before heading out onto the run course at the peak of the day’s heat, where temperatures typically climb to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius), with road temps escalating up to a shoe-melting 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius). Much of the run sends runners back out onto the Queen K, where they slog through the majority of the marathon on the shoulder of the highway, heat rising from the pavement and the unshaded sun glaring down from on high.

Top female pros will run under three hours, perhaps a full ten minutes faster than that, to average around 6:30 minutes per mile. For the women at the back of the race, they have 17 hours to cross the finish line, as the announcer blares into the PA system, “You are an Ironman.”

The Race Is Steeped in Lore

Kona doesn’t just exude viscous crosswinds, endless straightaways, and suffocating humidity. Ghosts of its history haunt the course. It’s where just 15 feet before the finish line in 1982, race leader and Kona rookie Julie Moss infamously collapsed from dehydration as ABC’s cameras looked on. The 23-year-old exercise physiology student used her hands to crawl her way towards the finish—only to get passed by Kathleen McCartney with feet to go in one of the most monumental moments in televised sports history, forever altering the trajectory of Ironman as an internationally acclaimed event.

It’s also where the “Queen of Kona” Paula Newby-Fraser of South Africa won an unprecedented eight world championships from 1989 to 1996, earning her a spot on Sports Illustrated’s top 60 athletes of the 20th century.

The Significance of a Historic Women’s-Only Event

While no women competed during that inaugural race in 1978, women have played an instrumental role from the start. The notion of stringing a swim, bike, and run together was itself conceived by Judy Collins and her husband Jim, who cofounded the humble race that has escalated into one of the biggest endurance spectacles in the world.

Only one woman, Lyn Lemaire, completed the race the following year in 12:55:38, placing fifth overall against the men. Two women crossed the line in 1980, and this year more than 2,000 women from 73 countries will embark on their Kona journey. Splitting up the men’s and women’s races gave breathing room for Ironman to allow more athletes on the starting line. In fact, the median finishing time of qualifiers this year is 11:53—15 minutes faster than last year’s 12:08.

“It’s as strong a field as perhaps has ever been assembled,” Ironman CEO Andrew Messick says.

The Pro Field Is Wide Open

One of the deepest, most well-rounded fields ever will vie for the title at this historic women’s-only event. It’s anyone’s race, and it could be one for the ages. Three previous champions will contend for another lei crown, including Marin County, California’s Chelsea Sodaro who returns to defend her title. The 34-year-old mother broke onto the scene last year after switching athletic careers from running to triathlon in 2017.

A Kona rookie, Sodaro raced the 2022 championship as her second-ever Ironman. She returns with experience, but also the weight of success. Her 2022 win skyrocketed Sodaro into international fame, but sent her spirits plummeting. , and she scratched from her first race of the season before dropping out of her first two races of 2023. Will she be able to harness her previous success, or will it hold her back?

Sodaro will also face an esteemed list of previous winners, including six-time champion Daniela Ryf and 2019 winner Anne Haug, of Switzerland and Germany respectively. Four-time Kona bridesmaid Brit Lucy Charles-Barclay will be out for blood to finally land on that top wrung, although a metatarsal stress fracture this summer may dampen her plans.

Veterans will have to look out for , who toes the line as the youngest pro in the field at age 25. Already on Team USA for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Knibb remains committed to short-course draft-legal triathlon racing. But she’s quickly established herself as a top contender at longer distances, winning the 2022 and 2023 Ironman 70.3 world championships and the PTO U.S. Open in Milwaukee this summer, where she took home $100,000 and established herself as a dominant force at every leg of the race. Knibb may have never raced Kona, but she comes armed with the experience of her mother, who has raced here five times. Both Knibbs will compete on Saturday.

“It’s incredibly special to race with my mom. She’s very nervous for me,” Knibb says. “She claims it’s her last Ironman, and this is my first Ironman. So it’s like a passing of the torch.”

We May Witness the Fastest Hawaii Ironman Run Split Ever

In 2014, Mirinda Carfrae set the run course record of 2:50:26, en route to her second world championship title—a time that has stood for nine years through eons of shoe technology advancement. That time may pale in comparison to the women’s marathon world record just set in September by Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa to 2:11:53. But holding 6:30 per minute miles while running through a convection oven after covering 114.4 miles by sea and two wheels—most of it crouched over on a time trial bike—is far more impressive than it may sound.

RELATED: The Science Says a Sub-Seven-Hour Ironman Is (Sort of) Possible

Thanks to the likes of running superstars Kat Matthews, Laura Phillip, Haug, and Sodaro, if the stars align that elusive 2:50 mark may finally be broken.

“I know a lot of runners here have the potential to run sub 2:50,” Haug says. “But it all depends on how the race evolves. If you jump off the bike a little bit fresher than normal, it’s possible.”

Everyone Here Has a Story

The professional race is just the tip of the sweltering iceberg here. The beauty of many endurance sports is that both pros and participants race alongside each other on the same course. Those include Sara Whittingham, a 2002 Ironman World Championship finisher from the U.S., a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force who served in Afghanistan and Korea. Three years ago at age 47, she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Motion is lotion as they say, and Whittingham channeled her energy into her joy for triathlons to maximize life and slow the progression of the disease.

“I have been racing since I was six years old. The Ironman World Championship will likely be the most meaningful finish line I will ever cross,” Whittingham says. “When I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, I didn’t see any more running in my future. I have always been one to dream big, and the finish line at Kona for me is as big as it gets.”

Hailing from Kyiv, Ukraine, it took 35-year-old Juliya Azzopardi four days to drive 1,000 miles across the border, abide by a countryside curfew, go through two border controls, and catch two flights to the Big Island. That’s an accomplishment in and of itself—much less the training required to qualify while in a war-torn country.

“Outdoor training could be the most challenging,” Azzopardi says of getting here. “You might be riding your bike and then the air raid sirens go on. So then you have to get into the shelter, wherever you are. Find a way to hide, wait for it to finish. But it’s not the physical part that’s difficult. It’s the mental part. If you’re away from your family during an attack, you worry about them. The obstacles here are nothing compared to the training.”

Even still, Azzopardi says the challenge of racing Kona is nothing compared to what those at home face on a daily basis. The bravery and strength of soldiers and civilians at home gives her strength and motivation.

“My goal is to show that life goes on,” Azzopardi says. “For me, life is day-by-day. Living in a war zone, you never know when it’s your last day. I want to represent resistance and the will to live, the will to fight. The right to live free and for peace. I think that’s important now, not just in Ukraine unfortunately. In the race, I think about the soldiers who are suffering. And I understand that in an Ironman I am not suffering. I have no right to give up.”

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Spring is a few weeks away, and the trails will be melting out before you know it. But conditions at the parking lot do not necessarily tell you what the trail looks like up ahead. Even well into summer, snow can cling to high mountain passes. Lingering cornices and deep snowdrifts can be onerous and present obstacles.

Plus, mountain weather can turn on a dime. A warm, sunny day can quickly escalate into a freezing cold whiteout blizzard.

Thankfully, you can use Gaia GPS to help eliminate this guesswork of whether the trails will be sunny and snow-free. In this guide, you will learn how to use recent satellite imagery (čó°ù±đČőłół§ČčłÙ‾é±đłŠ±đČÔłÙ and Cloud Free layers), snow depth total estimates (Snow Depth layer), actual snowfall data (Snow Stations Daily layer), and Precipitation and Snow Forecasts to get a sense of how much snow may be on your hike or overlanding trip. You’ll also learn how to use these maps in conjunction with the best community resources to make informed decisions about where to go and what to bring.

All of the maps in this article are available with a .

Get a Bird’s-Eye View with FreshSat–Recent & Cloud Free

If you’re wondering whether you need crampons and an ice ax to climb your next fourteener, start by examining the FreshSat layers. These maps provide a near-in-time aerial view of conditions on the ground.

By nature of their source, these images are lower resolution than our other satellite maps. But they provide the most updated views of the terrain and conditions, which proves helpful if you want to see where snow lingers on remote mountain and forested areas. For a more crystal-clear areal view, check out the high-resolution .

FreshSat–Recent and FreshSat–Cloud Free both give you a snapshot of relatively up-to-date ground conditions. FreshSat–Cloud Free shows a mostly unobstructed view of the earth’s surface. FreshSat–Recent provides an even more up-to-date picture of ground conditions, but clouds may obstruct some of the view.

Both maps are updated at least every 14 days using data from Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 government satellites. Date stamps on both FreshSat maps make it easy to identify how recently a location has been updated. Simply look at the corner of a map tile to see the date when that image was taken.

Layer these maps with your favorite base map, such as Gaia Topo, to examine the route for your trip. Start by scoping out čó°ù±đČőłół§ČčłÙ‾é±đłŠ±đČÔłÙ. If the area is obstructed by clouds, head over to FreshSat—Cloud Free. Zoom into the high points of your route, north-facing slopes, and forested areas to look for signs of snow.

Get and .

Check Estimated Snow Depth Totals with the Snow Depth Layer

Inspired by a thru-hiker looking to track snow depths along the Pacific Crest Trail with Gaia GPS, the Snow Depth overlay gives you an estimate of snow levels covering your next route. Outdoor adventurers can examine how many centimeters of snow most likely exist in specific areas by referencing color-coded indicators of coverage.

In fact, thru-hiker Joe “Stringbean” McConaughy used this map religiously on his recent Stringbean referenced this layer to get a sense of when he might encounter snow on the high-elevation sections of the trail. To do this for your next trip, just place this overlay on top of your base map. Tweak the opacity to get a picture of how much snow may be on the trail.

When referencing snow depths, remember that estimates are not based on actual observations, but . However, snow depth totals are updated every 24 hours by both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Gaia GPS. Data for snow depth values come from the Snow Data Assimilation System (SNODAS).

If you’re looking to find snow totals for a storm in the western United States or Canada, reference the Snow Stations (Daily) map (see below). You can also get actual snow data by checking your local climate center or weather source. SNODAS recommends the , , and .

Get the overlay.

See If It Snowed Overnight with Snow Stations (Daily)

Snow chains on or off? If you’re heading out on an overlanding or backpacking trip through the mountain West, pair the Snow Depth overlay (above) with real-time snow data found in the Snow Stations (Daily) layer to get an even more accurate sense of conditions.

The Snow Stations map taps into hundreds of remote SNOTEL and Canadian weather sensors to show just how much snow fell—or melted—over the past 24 hours in mountain zones around the West. The map also provides water density readings to give you a sense of how heavy and wet this new snow may be. Readings are updated once every hour.

To use this layer, look for color-coded snowflake icons on the map. Each snowflake represents a remote weather station, and the color of the snowflake indicates how much snow has fallen or melted in the past 24-hour reporting period. Click the icon for more info.

Get the .

Check for Incoming Storms with Precipitation and Snow Forecasts

Don’t underestimate what weather may be coming your way. Check the forecast so you’re prepared and so you know when to reroute or stay home. Get a quick weather reading right in Gaia GPS with Precipitation and Snow Forecast overlays.

Three Precipitation Forecast overlays give you the 24-, 48-, and 72-hour forecasts. Each taps directly into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasting data. The (WPC) researches and releases short-term forecasts twice a day, based on predictive models and satellite imagery. Its reports can forecast heavy rain, snow, and flash flooding up to seven days in advance.

Find out if that rain will turn to snow by looking at the Snow Forecast layers. Gaining a sense of whether you simply need a raincoat or would benefit from warmer layers and heftier footwear could make or break the safety and comfort of your trip. Like the Precipitation Forecast, the Snow Forecast comes in 24-, 48-, and 72-hour options.

Choose the best day to head out on the trail by referencing the right weather overlay. Heading out for a weekend backpacking trip? Check out the 72- or 48-hour forecasts to get a view of overall precipitation. Use the 24-hour forecast to get a quick and accurate prediction for the weather today and tomorrow. You must be connected to the internet to view the Precipitation and Snow Forecast maps.

Get the , , and precipitation forecasts. And get the , , and snow forecasts.

Watch: Discover If the Trails Are Melted Out

Talk to People

Maps provide invaluable tools—but they don’t replace firsthand beta. Talk to people who have recently visited the area to get the most up-to-date trip reports possible. In addition to your friends and local community, check out Facebook groups, subreddits for the area, local trail organizations and park websites, and . And, of course, there’s the good old-fashioned telephone—you can use it to call the ranger’s station to get the latest trail conditions report.

For example, mountain athlete Kyle Richardson has summited Longs Peak (±·±đČÔĂ­Ÿ±ČőĂłłÙŽÇČâĂłĂș’u) in Rocky Mountain National Park 52 times, during all seasons. He even last summer. Despite his intimate familiarity with the fourteener, he never presumes to know what the mountain may have in store that day. When deciding whether to attempt Longs (and what gear to bring), Richardson checks the , , and for recent trip reports.

Look at the photos other visitors have posted. In addition to forums, you can find recent photos by checking relevant hashtags on Instagram and Twitter. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And once you’ve gone on your trip, do the community a favor and drop a line on the conditions you encountered.

A Note on Safety

You can use these resources and maps as a planning tool to help you pack, plan your route, and be ready for the weather and trail conditions ahead. Know the terrain and alternate routes ahead of time. Plan for inclement weather, even if none appears in the forecast. Gaia GPS provides map layers to help prepare, but making wise decisions remains with you.

The post How to Check for Snow on the Trail appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

From Aspen to Zermatt, get conditions for ski resorts around the globe in Gaia GPS. Ski areas with fresh snow light up on our brand-new Ski Resort Reports map. See snow totals and weather readings. Find out how many trails are open. Even read the resort’s daily report, all right within the app and on .

See the Latest and Most Accurate Ski Resort Conditions

The Ski Resort Reports map layer sources its information fromÌę, a leading database for ski resort reports and conditions worldwide. OnTheSnow taps information directly from the ski resorts, ensuring you get the latest and most accurate information available.

View Snow Depth and Terrain Status

Ski resorts from around the world can be found in this map overlay. Simply click on a blue skier icon to see the entire ski resort report. You’ll find the ski area’s name and whether it’s open. Discover if it’s a powder day with new snow readings from the previous 24 and 72 hours.

Wondering if you need your rock skis? See the snow depth for the base, mid-mountain, and the summit. You’ll also see snow depth totals. Plus, get a sense of how big the resort is and how much terrain is open. See the total number of runs and how many of them are currently good to go.

Track Resort Weather, Including Wind Speed

Dress appropriately thanks to temperature readings at the base and the summit, and see that all too critical factor in determining your comfort: wind speed. If you’re not into downhill skiing, no problem. Find out if the resort offers nordic skiing right in this map. You’ll also see how many kilometers of trails are groomed for both classic and skate skiing.

Maybe the weather looks iffy and you just want to double-check that the resort is open. Or perhaps you’re hemming and hawing over which resort to visit this weekend. Either way, just glance at the Ski Resort Reports map to get the info you need.

Find the Freshies with the Ski Resort Reports Map

No matter where in the world you’re trying to ski, find the closest resorts and the freshest snow with Ski Resort Reports. See ski areas at even the most zoomed-out levels on the map to quickly access conditions. Most importantly, find the best snow in one glance: ski areas that have received snow in the past 24 hours glow neon blue on the map.

How to Use the Ski Resort Reports Map

Ski Resort Reports is a map overlay. This means it is designed to work in conjunction with one of our base maps. We recommend pairing Ski Resort Reports with or Gaia Topo. Both of these base maps were designed in-house specifically for your adventures. Gaia Winter shows all the ski resort maps in the United States and Canada. Add this map to your arsenal and never get lost on the mountain again.

To use Ski Resort Reports, start by adding Gaia Winter or Gaia Topo as your base map. Add the Ski Resorts Map on top. Now you can see where ski resorts exist all over the world, as signified by the light-blue skier icon. Zoom in or click on a skier icon to see the name of the resort.

Tips for Getting Condition Updates in a Snap

To see the snow conditions and daily resort report, click on the skier icon. The info will appear in the sidebar if you’re on . There’s one extra step in the app. First, click on the skier icon in the app. The Ski Resort Reports tile will appear as an option in the tap drawer. If you don’t see it, keep scrolling down through the options in the tap drawer. Next, click on the Ski Resort Reports tile to see the snow conditions and resort report.

Pro tip:ÌęÌęto make the ski resorts pop out from the map even more.

Still need more info? You’ll find links to the resort’s website, as well as the original report from OnTheSnow.

Ski Resort Reports Are Available with a Premium Membership

The Ski Resort Reports map is available in the Gaia GPS app and onÌę with a Gaia GPS Premium membership. To access this map, visit the layers menu and search for “Ski Resort Reports.” Or, from the layers menu, select “Feature/Weather Overlays.” Scroll down and tap “Ski Resort Reports.” Tap the “Add Layer” button. Learn how to add and manage overlaysÌę.

A Premium Membership also gives you access to Gaia GPS’s entire map catalog, including Gaia Winter and a suite of avalanche safety maps, such as Slope Angle, Avalanche Forecast, hi-res satellite imagery, recent satellite imagery, Snow Stations (Daily), Snow Depth, and snow forecast maps. Plus, with Premium you can for use without cell service and Ìęso you always have a backup.

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In 2015, Victor Temprano protested a pipeline project in British Columbia. Standing alongside Indigenous peoples who steward that land, Temprano asked himself whose lands the project would impact. He started mapping the pipeline paths, oil spills, and protests across Canada.

Temprano’s quest to close the loop on that question opened the floodgates. His work of mapping Indigenous relations to land expanded, leading him to create in 2018. While Temprano is a settler from Okanagan territory with no previous experience in mapmaking, Native Land Digital has blossomed into an Indigenous-led not-for-profit organization with a digital map depicting Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages, all presented on a global scale. In fact, its map now serves as the de facto resource for understanding Indigenous relationships to land.

“It’s an educational tool for people to know that there’s a history in a place that is thousands and thousands of years older than European history,” says Christine McRae, Native Land Digital’s executive director who belongs to the Crane clan of the Madawaska River Algonquin people.

The interactive map contains a trove of crowdsourced information about Indigenous peoples all over the world, including Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties across every continent. Native Land Digital receives over 700,000 visits on holidays like Thanksgiving, National Indigenous Peoples’ Day, and Canada Day, and it inspires complicated, needed discussions.

By prioritizing Indigenous knowledge and connections to land on its digital map, Native Land Digital invites us to ask: What does it mean to attach a name to a landscape? While that answer remains relatively straightforward from a Western-colonizer perspective, that’s not the case from an Indigenous one, as Temprano has learned.

Starting from Scratch

When you open the Native Land map on Native Land Digital’sÌę, , it’s immediately obvious that it looks very little like ubiquitous Western maps. The same landmasses appear, yet they’re covered in overlapping shapes rather than rigid country and state lines.

You can choose from three maps: Indigenous territories, languages, and treaties. While you can turn Western boundary markers on, that’s not the default setting. Instead of a jigsaw puzzle, you see a watercolor painting.

“We don’t include those [Western] boundaries on the map on purpose, so that we can understand that the colonial way of understanding the world is not the only way,” McRae says. “There is a much older understanding of land, territories, waterways, and so on.”

Maps are such ingrained fixtures of Western culture that it’s easy to think of them as immutable objects of truth. But in truth, maps come closer to paintings than photographs. Field measurements contain errors in accuracy and precision. And no map can depict all physical, biological, and cultural features for even the smallest area.

Beyond inaccuracies, maps represent one viewpoint—that of the mapmaker or their patron. A map can display merely a few selected features, usually portrayed in highly symbolic styles and according to some kind of classification scheme. All maps are estimations, generalizations, and interpretations of true geographic conditions. What a cartographer chooses to include or leave out, even boundary lines themselves, reflect deeply rooted norms and a subjective valuation of both what is important and what is reality.

Maps show power, and they confer power. They reflect the way those in power understand the world around them. This truth becomes evident when we consider a map of the United States, with its familiar rectilinear boundaries to the north and south and patchwork of state borders spanning the landmass. This map represents one viewpoint: that of the colonizer. And its current depictions suppress the viewpoints and realities of the thousands of tribes who first inhabited this continent and continue to call this land home.

The Native Land map subverts the colonist map, taking those same geographic images of landmasses with which we are so familiar and painting them with entirely different colors—quite literally.

“We understand that we can’t own land,” McRae says of Indigenous peoples. “We are in relation with the land. I’m not just seeing my yard as a yard, but rather the trees that are in this shared space are relations. The soil under my feet, the plants that grow here, they are also my relations.”

Yet McRae acknowledges that she also lives in the Western world. “We either have to rent or own if we are so privileged to do so,” McRae says. “We must balance these two juxtaposed understandings.”

This contestation is manifested in the Native Land map. Western cartography blends with nebulous regions where tribes both lived and live, where languages were spoken and are spoken, and where Indigenous peoples and colonizers formed treaties. While most Western maps represent a certain point in time, Native Land maps represent many pre-colonized points in time. While Western maps provide strict boundaries of ownership, Native Land maps show fluid, overlapping regions for places tribes have called and currently call home.

How Native Land Digitally Created a Community-Based Map

As a settler born in traditional Katzie territory and raised in Okanagan lands, Temprano wanted to create an invitation to other settlers to learn about whose land they occupy and to start a deeper intellectual and emotional connection in the process. The purpose of the project has since evolved to providing an empowering place for Indigenous peoples to affirm and share their home territories, history.Ìę

While Temprano continues to spearhead the technological work, Native Land Digital is Indigenous-led. Native people from around the world comprise the board of directors. An advisory board of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous cartographers also supports the project, along with volunteers who constantly refine the map as they gain more information.

Most work takes place on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Tsleil-waututh, and Squamish Nations. The Coast Salish people, to whom these nations belong, have lived along the northwest coast of North America for over 10,000 years. You can learn more about their history by finding them on the map.

Initially, Temprano relied heavily on colonial knowledge to fill in the map. But as the purpose of the project metamorphosed, the sources of information have, too. Now Native Land Digital leans heavily on knowledge gathered from Indigenous communities themselves, via both direct communication and archival sources.

Building community and being in community with Indigenous peoples are at the heart of making this map. McRae says it involves conversations with Native communities, guided by elders, who help to work through each individual situation.

“This map is a platform for Indigenous people to tell stories,” McRae says. “It goes back to being community based. If a community has a story it wants to share that will help us represent them on their own terms in the map, we’re happy to follow the lead of the community.”

Filling in each inch of the map requires gaining local knowledge from each place, in addition to contending with a stream of other considerations, such as Indigenous data sovereignty.

“Some knowledge is sacred—it doesn’t go out into the general world,” McRae says. “There are stories that remain within the community only. It all depends on community, and permissions to share, and so on. We just provide the platform for those who want to share their stories with the world.”

Native Land Digital deals with each situation uniquely and with as much care and empathy as required.

“The deeper history and understandings of Turtle Island (the native term for North America)Ìęand other parts of the world differ greatly, depending on which region of the world you’re from,” McRae explains. “And so we look to regional expertise and we promote that knowledge rather than our own projected understandings of what that colonial history or that Indigenous history might be in other places, particularly those places where we’re not from.”

Why These Maps Remain Eternally Incomplete

Just as one map cannot represent one point in history, Native Land Digital’s maps are constantly refined over time. The site doesn’t currently offer a print version of a map, to ensure maps can continue to be updated as needed.

In fact, evolution is one of the tenets this project, as reflected in the disclaimer that pops up when you open the map:

“This map does not represent or intend to represent official or legal boundaries of any Indigenous nations. To learn about definitive boundaries, contact the nations in question. Also, this map is not perfect—it is a work in progress with tons of contributions from the community. Please send us fixes if you find errors.”

Embracing imperfection drives this form of storytelling. Gathering information for the map is a volunteer-led, crowdsourced process. It’s not bound by rigorous academic requirements. Think of it as an Indigenous Wikipedia of sorts, whereby information is communicated visually through the map. This allows Native Land Digital to be updated efficiently, yet McRae says that the site is extremely hesitant to ever declare a map to be entirely accurate.

Its principle map remains eternally incomplete. Currently, Native Land Digital does not contain information for some areas of the world. This is not because Indigenous peoples, territories, languages, and treaties do not exist on these lands. Rather, there is still work to be done. The “work in progress” moniker also signifies that Native Land Digital will update information as needed. It sometimes uses colonial naming practices. The board makes hard decisions regarding who belongs on the map and where, which inherently involves rejecting inaccurate or insufficient sources. Ultimately, this is a human process and mistakes get made, which have real-life consequences of hurting others.

The question of who gets to say who belongs on the map remains an open question.

“We make a very conscious effort to not dictate someone’s existence,” McRae says. “Maps have been used as a colonial tool to erase people off of land. We want to do the exact opposite. That ties back into why this project is community based. If anything’s missing, or if anything needs to be changed, we listen to a community and what their needs are so that they can represent themselves on the map.”

Reciprocity is important to Native Land Digital. Collecting information for mapping is reliant on community, and as an open-source platform, anyone can use the map’s information as long as they do so responsibly and ethically. In fact, McRae hopes that in the future her nonprofit can support Indigenous communities in their own mapping projects.

Moving Beyond Land Acknowledgements

The Native Land maps invite Indigenous peoples to share their stories and settlers to learn them. For adventurers, looking up and acknowledging whose land you’re on can be a logical first step to pay respect and discover more about a new place. McRae emphasizes that this is only the first of a lifelong journey to gain a deeper understanding and connection to the land. The next step, she says, is for map users to build a relationship with the nations on whose land they stand.

“Our hope is that the map is a starting point for conversation and to build relationships,” McRae says.

This intention is embedded into the map itself. Examine the three maps to see how they relate to each other and how they seemingly don’t. Focus on a particular area to get a clearer view of the tribes represented there. By clicking on a place, you can find links to the Indigenous nations who call that land home. From there you can learn a little of the local language, dive into history, and nurture the seeds of consciousness that the map plants in your mind.

In addition to learning about Indigenous peoples and their land, the Native Land map invites users to learn from the land itself. The Native Land Digital asks users to consider the land as pedagogy, a form of learning:

“Looking at the land from an Indigenous perspective means understanding that the land is a living being. This understanding both gives us insight into and increases our awareness of how we treat and interact with the land. Indigenous people hold the land up as both a living being and as a teacher. ‘Living lightly’ on the land has always been emphasized as a means of minimizing environmental impact and ensuring a continued quality of life for future generations to come,” the guide puts forth.

For McRae, viewing the land as a relation is a kind of North Star as we adventure through places both new and familiar. She asks, “How must you behave to be in good relation to the land and also to the people whose land that you are on?”

This article was written and edited on the lands of the Ute, Cheyenne, and Arapaho peoples.

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This article was first published by .

Find the best waterways in the country with the new Wild and Scenic Rivers map. Used atop your favorite base map in , you can view all of the waterways in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system and enjoyÌęsome of the best fishing, boating, hiking, and scenery anywhere in the U.S.

Did you know that dams block about 600,000 miles of American rivers? Use this map to locate free-flowing sections to plan your next kayaking, pack-rafting, or fishing trip.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Layer

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers system, created by Congress in 1968, now protects 208 waterways—and this map shows all of them. Scientists who requested this map. And you, too, can use this layer to:

• See whether your favorite river is protected.
• Scout out some of the most breathtaking places to explore on your next trip, such as the Allagash River in Maine.
• Find free-flowing sections of river to float on or fish.
• Discover the sites of the country’s most prolific salmon runs, including California’s Klamath River.

Once you add this layer, you’ll see each river—or section of river—that’s been officially designated as Wild and Scenic. Tap on the river icon to learn more about that waterway, including its name, classification, and the state in which it is located. The layer also provides information on the river’s water quality for drinking, swimming, and fishing.

What Is a Wild and Scenic River?

Rivers remain critical resources not only for recreation but also for clean drinking water, biodiversity, and even flood protection. Just over 50 years ago, Congress recognized that the vitality of American rivers was at stake and created the National Wild and Scenic Rivers system to preserve those that are free-flowing and lauded for theirÌę.

Wild and Scenic Rivers have one or more special features. These may include:

• pristine water
• beauty and scenery
• river recreation
• flora and fauna fecundity
• importance to the country’s history and culture

Of the 2.9 million miles of rivers in the U.S., only 12,709 of those miles carry the Wild and Scenic designation—just 1 percent of the rivers wending their way throughout the country. Some of these, likeÌęIdaho’s Salmon and Selway Rivers, are remote and ideal for a multiday float trip, while others, like New York’s Upper Delaware, are developed with roads and bridges and close to major population centers, making them easily accessible for a day trip to escape the city and enjoy the soothing tranquility of the rushing water.

Often only sections of a river are designated as Wild and Scenic, as other parts of that river may have dams or other development. Such is the case with the White Salmon River in Washington State. Its Condit Dam was intentionally breached in 2011, allowing the river to flow unimpeded for the first time in nearly a century. Now 27.7 miles of the White Salmon are home to exhilarating Class III–IV rapids.

How to Get the Wild and Scenic Rivers Map

Access the Wild and Scenic Rivers map with a premium membership to Gaia GPS. To add this map, click the Layers icon, select Add Map Layer, tap Nautical/Aviation Overlays, scroll down, and then add the Wild and Scenic Rivers layer.

Layer the Wild and Scenic Rivers map on top of , or use it with your favorite base map. Boaters and fishers may also want to use the Wild and Scenic Rivers map in conjunction with the , which offers information on current streamflow in cubic feet per second and status rankings against historical daily means. For tips on adding the Wild and Scenic Rivers layer, or any other layer on Gaia GPS, visit this .

The post Here’s How to Find Beautiful Boating Destinations Using Gaia GPS appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

This article was first published by . to navigate public and private lands.

Find hidden game reserves, connect the dots on your big hiking loop, and camp in solitude using the Public Land and Private Land maps (both U.S. maps only) from Gaia GPS. This duo can be used in tandem to quickly and easily decipher public and private land rights.

You’ll always know where you can and can’t go with this tool kit in your pocket. Avoid trespassing and determine landownership, so you can ask for permission to pass through private areas, as well as find peaceful, obscure camp spots far from the crowds. With these maps, you can also view who manages public lands in order to find more information about camping regulations, vehicle accessibility, and hunting laws.

Whether you’re route-planning on your desktop at home or navigating offline in the field, the Public and Private Land maps can assist on any adventure. Each provides coverage across the entire U.S. Read on to learn how to use these maps on your next trip.

Public Land Map

Discover state forests in your backyard to explore or Bureau of Land Management terrain for camping during your next road trip. America’s public lands provide some of the best resources for hiking, off-roading, bikepacking, fishing, kayaking, canoeing—you name it. The Public Land map features the most current and comprehensive data of these government-managed areas.

Hikers, hunters, overlanders, and anyone exploring areas of mixed-land ownership may want to consider using this layer, which emphasizes:

• National and state forests
• Parks and monuments
• Wildlife refuges
• Conservation lands and game preserves
• BLM areas

Color-coded federal lands easily identify which government agency manages an area. The layer draws on the most exhaustive and precise data sets available, so you can find secret caches of public land; it displays privately held inholdings in federal and state parks that may not appear elsewhere, as well as smaller public lands missing from many popular maps. Bear in mind that not all of the areas in the layer will be open to the public, and that there are restricted zones located within otherwise accessible lands.

Private Land Map

Use the Public LandÌęlayer in conjunction with its complement, the Private Land map, to enjoy access to landownership data for every single state. Various outdoor enthusiasts and professionals (anyone from hunters to conservation officers to first responders) can easily access critical information using this Private Land map. If you’re planning a hunt in a new zone, use the Private Land map to quickly scout the area and surrounding property lines. Bird hunters pursuing everything from pheasants in South Dakota to mallards on the U.S. flyways will also find the quick access to landownership data useful.

The Private Land map shows landownership information and parcel sizes. Just tap on a land parcel to get more ownership information, including the address (if publicly available). Property lines are marked by bright yellow boundaries that you can’t miss.

Downloading offline maps with the U.S. Private Land overlay will benefit game wardens working with landowners in remote areas. Search and rescue personnel can use Gaia GPS as a single source for coordinating search efforts in areas with multiple landowners. Utilizing both the Private Land map and the , firefighters can use Gaia GPS to complete wildfire-incident reports.

How to Use the Public and Private Land Maps

Pair both maps on top of your favorite base map, such as or the layer, to get a quick and clear sense of land designation. This technique proves especially useful for hunters who want a crisp aerial view with property lines. Combining the Private Land and Public Land maps along with will let you focus on the hunt instead of worrying about where the big bull or buck you’re stalking is headed.

While you can see public land information right in Gaia Topo, area shading in the Public Land map offers an even clearer picture. Add the Private Lands map to make sure you avoid trespassing or to obtain permission to pass through a private property. Get detailed directions for layering maps together .

Get the Public and Private Land Maps

and maps are available with a Gaia GPS premium membership. Premium comes with the ability to layer maps atop each other, so you can see both public and private land markers as well as topographic detail, landmarks and waypoints, and satellite imagery.

also lets you download maps for offline use, so you can always find your way and see whose land you’re on while in the field. A premium membership gives you access to theÌę. Download hundreds of maps, including ,, , and government-issued topo maps like .

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