First of all, my apologies to Richard Kresser. We started working on this story in 2018, but it fell through the cracks.
In June and July 2018, Richard Kresser completed what we believe to be (again) a unique, human-powered south-north chaining (self-sustaining attempt) of the 16 “active” Cascade Ranges. volcanoes.
Linking is a style of climbing that involves connecting multiple mountains, peaks, or routes into one continuous effort. While people have used automobiles to chain some Cascade volcanoes together, Richard is the only person we know to link them all. on a bicycle.
This project is probably also called an “ecopoint”, a term popularized in Europe in ~2020. “to broaden the notion of red point by including the approach by equitable means (public transport, bicycle, boat, foot).”
“To my knowledge, no one has attempted to climb all active volcanoes in a single season before, let alone by human force. The closest was in 2012, when Chris Davenport and Jess McMillan skied 15 volcanoes in two weeks, traveling by RV in between. As it will be a combination of cycle touring and climbing, I’m calling it the Volcanoes Tour!
Richard left Tacoma on June 12, 2018, drove to California via Highway 101, east to Mt. Lassen, progressed through the Cascade Range to Mount Baker, then returned home to Tacoma. Going door to door, he completes the loop in 39 days. He finished on July 20.
For context, in July 2014 I reported on a group that completed a verifiable-supported Seattle-Mt Rainier Summit-Seattle round-trip bike ride. A reader complained that there had been a previous Rainier summit via round-trip bike ride, but I was never able to confirm this and this reader was unable to provide a GPS trace.
To learn more about Richard’s journey, read our 2018 resume summary of Richard’s Adventure: Running to Joy.
In endurance adventures like this, the level of support the adventurer receives is important:
“While “unsupported” and “supported” have very clear boundaries, self-sufficiency does not. From the Fastest Known Time website: “Self-contained means you don’t carry everything you need up front, but you don’t have dedicated, pre-organized people to help you. » Specifically, I will restock food and water along the route at grocery stores, gas stations, roadside cafes, or wherever I can get food. Although mailing PO boxes to myself is allowed, I don’t believe it is in the spirit of the challenge and I will not do it myself. For example, I don’t need my climbing gear for the 800 mile bike ride to Lassen. I also don’t need my technical equipment (rope, harness, stakes) for most mountains. I could possibly send these unnecessary items to particular locations, but I feel better about starting and ending the tour with all my gear and restocking on just food and water. I will potentially receive hardware shipped or purchased from a store if the hardware breaks or I lose it. “So, I plan to meet my girlfriend at some point during the tour, but no help from her will be provided.”
Richard’s cycling shoes were stolen in Bend. He ordered replacement parts that were supposed to be delivered to a company along the route, but delivery was refused and he cycled the last 1,000 miles in high, insulated trail shoes.
The climbing portion of the adventure began at the Mount Lassen parking lot at midnight on June 23. “From now on, I was in ‘Go’ mode. I cycled, climbed, cycled, climbed, ate lots of food and repeated again and again. Some of these volcanoes I had climbed before, others I had never been to. It was very special to reach the top of a volcano, look north and see the valleys and ridges that I would cycle over to reach the next volcano. I was naturally more concerned about safety on the climbs than the bike part. However, each climb went much smoother than I expected. Being solo, I never wanted to push my body to the point where I felt like I was no longer in control. My goal was to attack hard, but never reach the point where I could no longer rely on my physical fitness and mental control to escape a potential scenario. However, I was able to achieve times on the volcanoes that I would have been satisfied with on a regular outing, without even taking the thousands of feet that I had just climbed on two bicycle wheels to get to the volcano myself. mountain. I had planned a few big days there, which would combine a lot of cycling and climbing, and deep down I really expected that it wouldn’t be a realistic schedule. But things went well and hopefully I was able to stay on schedule and even, at one point, cut a day out of my schedule.
On Mount Jefferson, he converged with a large group of climbers at a technical crux. To ensure everyone’s safety, he merged with their group for part of the climb, which negated his ambition to do the adventure independently.
Most of the logistical problems arose between climbs. “My rear tire wore out faster than I expected, and it blew before I could get to Bend, Oregon, to replace it. I was stuck in the middle of an Old Testament style mosquito infestation, trying to change my front/rear tires. That’s when I regretted bringing a rain tarp to save weight, instead of a tent that would keep the bugs out. The stress of that night took years off my life and the next morning I had to backtrack 35 miles to limp my bike to a store in Klamath Falls. Then, in Bend, while I was having breakfast at a cafe, someone ran off with my bike and panniers. He dropped it in an alley and made off with about a third of all my gear, worth maybe $1,500. The next 36 hours covered all the negative emotions as I dealt with the psychological, financial and logistical shock of replacing every critical piece of equipment. Thanks to my friends, REI, and the One Day Expedition from Backcountry.com, I was able to get back on the road after just a day’s delay. Until now, I had adhered to a self-financing style and did not accept any non-public assistance, but with the theft I was forced to accept assistance in the form of housing (the system of campsite was stolen) and to borrow equipment.
Once out of the technical parts of Mount Baker, he breathed a sigh of relief and felt confident that the project was in the bag. “After 25 days, 9 hours and 58 minutes, I returned to the Schreibers Meadows parking lot. The heat, the bugs, thefts, stealth camping, cop surveillance, freezing river baths and laundry hours all gave way to memories of eating pints of ice cream in the shade, feet in a stream, giant plates. of all things breakfast, the magnificent peaks, the exhilaration of snowy descents, the wind whipping my hair at 40 mph on a mountain road. A day and a half to take home to Tacoma with my girlfriend, family and friends waiting for me to complete the loop.
Volcanoes
1. Mount Lassen
2. Mount Shasta
3. Medicine Lake (Mount Hoffman)
4. Mount McLoughlin
5. Mount Mazama (Hillman Peak)
6. Newberry (Paulina Peak)
7. Sister of the South
8. Middle Sister
9. Sister of the North
10. Mount Jefferson
11. Mount the hood
12. Mount Adams
13. Mount Saint Helens
14. Mount Rainier
15. Glacier Peak
16. Mount Baker
Statistics
–2,400 miles of cycling with 127,000 feet of elevation gain
–On foot, 180 miles of elevation gain with 79,700 feet of elevation gain
–From Mount Lassen Trailhead to finish at Mount Baker Schriebers Meadow Trailhead: 25 days, 9 hours and 58 minutes.
Tour of the Volcanoes in the fastest known time
For a detailed day-by-day recap, visit Richard’s Running Farther website.
For logistical details, check out its planning spreadsheet.