Adventure Cycling‘s Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR for short) is one of my favorite off-pavement bike routes in the country. I’ve done two tours of it myself while racing it, and have used segments the route itself quite a bit while doing shorter bikepacking tours. It’s well-designed, lots of beta about accommodations exist, and Continue reading…
In September, I started working with Andrew Skurka on his guided backpacking trips and was looking for a light hiker that would work well for this task. I was offered to try out the La Sportiva Spire GTX, so here’s my review. Update: Check out my review of the La Sportiva Ultra Raptor II Mid GTX Continue reading…
Housemate Nolan wanted to do the Flatiron Quinfecta for his 25th Birthday Challenge (climbing the standard east face route of each of the five numbered flatirons) and I was happy to help him make that happen. I started off guiding him on the the easiest flatiron routes just a few months ago. I was quite Continue reading…
Read more at the Daily Camera “The route Freeway is one of the first scrambling routes you do in the Flatirons,” Simoni said. “It’s just really easy. It’s the first one I did. I was training for something much larger, and we had to do a lot of scrambling and at night. I wanted to Continue reading…
Part One: Part Two: Part Three:
Visit the Summit Daily to listen to the three part podcast I recorded with Antonio Olivero: In the wee hours of a late June night three months ago, the patrons of the Moose Jaw in Frisco reacted to quite the sight bursting through the front doors. Was the haggard, tired man looking for a drink? Continue reading…
For my housemate’s birthday, we did the Flatiron Quinfecta – a local scrambling challenge to climb the five number flatirons in a day. My housemate has really only scrambled for a limited amount of time, and I was most impressed of his fortitude in successfully completing the task. Happy birthday, dude!
From the Summit Daily (read the full article, here) Out on the remote, amazingly wild ridgelines of this state’s most dangerous backcountry locations Justin Simoni would ask himself the most recurring question of his unprecedented trip: “I wonder why no one does this?” “I always had these, ‘I wonder why no one does this?’ questions,” Continue reading…
Summit County! I’ll be talking at Wilderness Sports in Dillon, CO on August 29th, 6:00 to 9:00pm! Do come! I’ll have loot to raffle off from Ultimate Directiojn and La Sportiva, and tons of stories to share! RSVP here. Update: here’s coverage of the presentation by the local paper, The Summit Daily. Front page story! Continue reading…
Last Thursday, I thought a righteous challenge would be to see how many laps on the Second Flatiron’s “Freeway” route I could do, before my arms fell off. After 16 hours, I had accumulated 40 laps! 20 up, and 20 down, done in succession with little rest in between. A fantastic day of moving meditation Continue reading…
Earlier this month, I sat down with Like a Bigfoot and talked bikes, mountains, and all points in-between. Have a listen! Like a Bigfoot Podcast #104: Justin Simoni — Tour De Highest Hundred, Bikepacking & Climbing the CO Centennials
View/Download this route on Strava View this route on Google Maps With another run of the Tour Divide this year, I’m reminded again of this awesome cross-country route and the many great memories I have on it. The last time I was riding on the GDMBR was on my Tour of the Highest Hundred, where Continue reading…
My long-form trip report of my Mosquito-Tenmile Traverse is up on the Ultimate Direction blog. Grab a coffee and have a read: http://blog.ultimatedirection.com/knowing-when-to-just-go-for-it-the-mosquito-tenmile-range-traverse/
Learn more about the complete Mosquito/Tenmile Range Traverse The Mosquito/Tenmile range in Colorado runs south to north between Buena Vista and Frisco, CO. Inspired by Peter Bakwin’s nearly futuristic vision and attempts to traverse the entire ridgeline from Weston Pass (outside of Leadville, CO) to the Mount Royal trailhead, I awoke early Saturday morning from Continue reading…
I took my buddy Nolan up his first 14er, and he made this video of our trip. Enjoy!
I’ve found the Garmin eTrex Touch pretty useful on my long distance trips, and I love the touch interface, but the unit is a real pain to use in the rain, even if I’m not interacting with it. I’ve found that the unit will think I’m tapping the screen to navigate through things like menus Continue reading…
Sometimes it’s seems that it’s hard to follow up something like the Tour of the Highest Hundred with the next project. It took years to get myself physically and mentally ready to take something like that on – save nothing for the financial burden of taking so much time off work and the burden of Continue reading…
Enjoy!
Stats (approx.): 36.5 miles 12,815’ Starting Date: 9/2/17 Total time: 2 days, 11min Three Centennials Summited: Capitol Peak Snowmass Mountain Hagerman Peak After cruising through the Sawatch, I had to once again cross west over the Continental Divide – this time with an unruly bear canister in tow, to dash off the Elk Range. A Continue reading…
Thanks to Dispatch Radio for having me on among so much talent and stoke. Listen here, or below: We packed The Studio (Boulder) Airstream with a grip-load of talent to dive into the topic of fastest known times (FKTs). We talk with four athletes who set new records in 2017: Cat Bradley, Darcy Piceu, Continue reading…
Stats (approx.): 32 miles 10,000’+ elevation Total time: 1 day, 2hr, 30min Three Centennials Summited: “Phoenix Peak” San Luis Stewart Peak I questioned framing this leg of my Tour of the Highest Hundred as a, “Fastpack from Hell”, as the numbers really don’t compare to the Crestones, Sierra Blanca – let alone the mighty Weminuche. Continue reading…
Stats (approx.): 81.4 Miles 34,847’+ elevation Total time: 5 days, 1hr, 44min Nine Centennials Summited: Pigeon Peak Turret Peak Jupiter Mountain Windom Peak Sunlight Peak North Eolus Mount Eolus Jagged Mountain Vestal Peak The Weminuche. This was the make-or-break section of my tour. A large project within an enormous project. Lots of terrain to cover, Continue reading…
Happy to announce a new talk covering my Highest Hundred trip in 2017 at Bent Gate in Golden, CO on the 28th of March. Come by and check it out! The event is free: