Meet Jason HArdrath | Teacher and Mountaineer – Washington State’s 100 Tallest Peaks in 50 days

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason HArdrath and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
To have lived a meaningful life. To have handled life’s tragedy with grace and strength.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I chase ambitious, multi-sport, multi-day light and fast adventures that blend skillsets from across the outdoor space. I take on projects that include technical terrain, risk, and routefinding. I mentor others to find passion and meaning in the same.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Short: 50 days, 23 hours, 43 minutes for 869.77 miles with 411,757 feet of gain, putting in 594 hours of foot time…largely off-trail on bushwhacks, ridge climbs, talus fields, scree slopes, glaciers, and open forest.

This was a harrowing undertaking, the 100 tallest peaks of Washington (Bulgers List) for my 100th FKT, a cumulative test of all the skills I had refined in my 99 prior FKTs and so so so much more.

First off some massive thanks are in order,

I have to profusely thank Ashly Winchester (IG) for single-handedly providing basecamp, resupply, driving, cooking, and even occasionally massage support during the course of these 100 peaks. Ashly, this wouldn’t have been possible without you!!! Thank you for carrying a heavy pack so that I could do big peak link-ups with a light one. Thank you for caring. Thank you for your pervasive stoke, and your love for being out there exploring. Your tenacity and compassion are unmatched. Its a rare person who has both the desire to help/be a part AND the strength to actually follow through on it (not to mention actually being excited about what you were experiencing through the process). Mind, Body, and Spirit you are an amazing person Ashly Winchester!

Also, Nathan Longhurst, you were an unbelievable climbing partner. Being a kid (21 yrs old) who showed up on day one to run and tag some peaks with me after some short instagram messages back and forth, to climbing 65 Bulgers together over the course of this effort is insane. We forged a friendship thorough a very firey crucible that few could endure. Your partnership out there was unspeakably important. You are an amazing young man. I am happy that my preplanned logistics, funds, and drive for this project has helped you to become the youngest person to ever finish the entire Bulgers List AND the second person to ever finish the whole list in a season. It makes me immensely proud that my efforts elevated and empowered you too. It makes this record all the sweeter. I hope we have many more mountains and FKTs in our future.

Bill Shufelt and Athletic Brewing Company, Bill your support with some of the prohibitive costs of this project for myself and my 21 year old climbing partner was awesome. I never imagined to find myself on a sponsored expedition. But your contributions helped keep fuel in the van, cover boat costs, and kept the insane number of calories flowing to make this dream into a reality. Athletic Brewing makes an amazing, life-changing Non-Alcoholic beer but it is your heart and spirit for doing everything you can to promote more good in the world that moves me the deepest and makes me proud to be associated with Athletic. Thank you for sponsoring a film crew to help me tell my story. I am honored to be a representative of a company that believes in not compromising on your dreams or values. I hope that my pursuit of this overwhelming 100 peak dream as the crown jewel of a 100 FKT journey represents the organizations values well. I think it does.

Alden Grant Ryno, you were an amazing help, from planning to execution. you poured so many hours of logistics phone calls and me frantically calling you when fires broke out, during the time both nathan and ashly were gone and I had to change my plans….you were a hero during this process. I was amazing to know you were only a message or a call away.

Anders Mavis, showing up during the middle of this effort, when I was tired, with all your stoke, crushing the entire INSPIRATION TRAVERSE car-to-car in a day, then carrying a camp with ashly for the next two, cooking amazing food….dude you re-stoked the fire on this trip at a key time!

Sean O’Rourke, you are a legend. a legend that just came out of the shadows to climb with me on the Inspiration Traverse, Rainier (damn those mash potatoes), and Little Tahoma. Thank you. Your presence was fortifying during the fatigue, sleep deprivation, and technical terrain.

Thomas Klemz, thank you for building me a website that helped communicate this effort to the world. You are a good man. I am proud to call you a friend.

Alex King, Thanks for taking time from your volcano records to come out and move at “old man pace” with me through that brutal backcountry Entiat Group push! You are a “legend in the making” of the Cascade Volcanoes! keep crushing.

Thank you Eric Gilbertson, for helping me with the logistics that would lead to me beating your record. It is a rare person who cares about the sport and the process more than their own ego. You were an amazing help, you are a remarkable human, I experience nothing but respect for you. thanks for seeing me off on this record the night before I started. It felt good to have you show up. There is something right about those kind of exchanges before an undertaking like this.

Website: www.jasonhardrath.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jasonhardrath

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-hardrath-b3310a177/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMg5bMtixPs

Other: Watch Journey to 100 Film: https://athleticbrewing.com/pages/journey-to-100

Image Credits
Luke Webster