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29029 Stratton Recap

A Step Into the Unknown

By 29029 Everesting

October 31^st, 2024

There is always a sense of mystery when you step onto a 29029 mountain. What will the trail hold? What will the weather do? What will I experience?

Will I be able to Everest?

In Stratton, for the grand finale of the 2024 season, that sense of the unknown was even stronger, as a participant field of nearly 80% new 29029ers prepared to tackle the slopes of Stratton Mountain in Vermont.

Without the usual vibrant foliage, the mountain felt exposed. This was Stratton stripped down to its bones - raw and honest - a fitting stage for a challenge that asks you to confront your own limits without any distractions.

The journey was about you, the mountain, and the unknown path ahead.

Frosty Beginnings

The day began with a biting cold. Frost clung to the ground, crunching underfoot as you climbed skyward - your breath hanging in the air as a visible reminder of the grit it would take to make it to the summit.

This was the kind of chill that not only touched your skin - but reached deep into your resolve.

It wasn't just the mountain or the cold that was challenging - it was also the need to push past discomfort, embrace the hard, and move upward.

Exposure Therapy

As you ascended, time after time, there was nowhere to hide. The stripped-down landscape mirrored the vulnerability you felt within.

Each step brought you face to face with exposure - both to the elements and your own doubts.

Stratton Mountain had a way of breaking down walls. With every gust of wind and every stretch of trail, you became more familiar with the uncertainty.

It wasn’t about control, it was about letting go, adapting, and facing the unknown as best as you could.

It was exposure therapy at its finest - where the mountain became the mirror, showing you strength you didn’t know you had within.

Meeting a New Version of You

As night fell on the mountain, you realized this was also a journey inward. As you pushed up the slopes - as you stepped into the barren expanse of the mountain - a new version of yourself started to emerge.

This version of you didn’t rely on external motivation, or bright, scenic views. Instead, this version was fueled by pure determination, resilience, and grit.

The mountain was stripping away the superficial and revealing the core of who you were and what you were capable of.

You weren’t just conquering a mountain - you were meeting yourself in a way you never had before.

A Sunrise Worth the Climb

Just as the mountain had shed its fall foliage, and just like you had shed any pretense of your motivations overnight, Stratton now shed the darkness during a sunrise so epic that you couldn’t help but stop to take it in.

As the golden light crested the horizon, clouds distorted the colors, reflecting back deep crimsons, blues, and purples.

It was a rare glimpse of beauty in an otherwise stark setting - a reminder that even in the barest landscapes, there’s always light to be found.

The sunrise on Stratton was a promise: that every climb and every struggle served to bring you closer to bright moments like this.

No Excuses

It’s easy to create reasons why you can’t keep going.

It’s easy to convince yourself that the challenge is insurmountable.

It’s easy to convince yourself that you can’t possibly climb again.

Yet you did.

Here, on this stripped-back mountain, excuses held no weight.

It was a lesson in accountability - in shedding away the can’ts and digging deeper for the cans.

Even if Everest was out of reach, you dug deep, and you kept climbing. For you knew that success wasn't defined as a color at 29029 - rather, it was defined by meeting the challenge head-on while never wavering.

You kept climbing, right up until the bitter end.

Racing the Clock

Each step up Stratton’s slope was a step against the ticking clock - a reminder that time isn’t just measured in hours and minutes, but in the memories you make and the moments you seize.

29029 Stratton challenged every climber to reconsider what truly matters with each passing hour. Time may slip through your fingers, but the choices you made on those trails, the friendships you forged, and the grit you discovered, echoed far beyond the finish line.

As the clock wound down, everybody faced the question: what does it mean to make every step count?

Here are a few of those stories.

Reclaiming Time

For Kathryn, the journey up Stratton was about more than reaching the summit - it was about reclaiming years that she felt she’d let slip away. Seventeen years of partying, late nights, and empty routines had left her feeling unfulfilled.

Something within her shifted, and she made a choice: she was going to go sober, shed relationships that no longer served her, and chase something meaningful.

Having never done anything athletic, Kathryn decided the best way to leave behind her old life and forge a new path on the steep incline of Stratton. Reaching Everest wasn’t just a physical feat for her, it was proof that time could be reclaimed, and a reminder that it’s never too late to start again.

Honoring the Legacy

In 2017, Chris Devero achieved Everest at the first ever 29029 on these same very slopes. Unfortunately, that would be his last summit, as he tragically lost a battle with cancer the very next year.

Chris left behind a legacy that his friends and family would carry forward, and in 2019, a group of them climbed in his honor, each earning their Red Hats, and commemorating his memory by spreading his ashes on the mountain. Chad was one of those climbers.

This year, Chad returned, but with a new purpose. Instead of striving for his own Red Hat, he decided the best way to honor Chris would be to help others. Chad’s ascent times varied wildly as he climbed Stratton - some well under an hour, others taking multiples of that.

That’s because Chad wasn’t measuring his success by the number of ascents - he was measuring it by the number of people helped.

He found those who needed a companion for a climb, and joined them, step for step, no matter the pace.

Chad didn’t reach Everest, but he achieved something even more impactful - helping others find their own summits, one step at a time.

The Hardest Hat

Boaz was no stranger to the 29029 challenge. A four-time finisher, he was used to summiting mountains with time to spare. But this year, Stratton had a different plan for him.

On his 11th lap, well into the late-night hours, Boaz found himself sidelined by the medical team, his body betraying him in a way it hadn’t before.

But he wasn’t ready to give up. He reset, resting overnight, and when medical gave him the all-clear to start climbing the next morning, he pushed forward.