My recent solo of the Great Trango Tower isn’t the biggest or most difficult thing I have done, but it is the most meaningful. I climb without a rope all the time around Colorado, and I have climbed mountains by myself, but for me soloing Great Trango Tower represents the next level: a 20,000-foot mountain in the middle of Pakistan, and I was up there by myself. I came back to base camp and came down from my high, and I realized the magnitude of what I had done. I had an alone moment on a huge mountain in the…

Historically, runners have always spoken about and compared their training in terms of “mileage.” Counting miles alone seems a rather crude way to account for the myriad and complex effects training has on the body, especially today with the ability to track heart rate, pace, and even running power. None of that withstanding, runners still largely track their training by tallying up miles run per week.The reason for this is simple: When it comes to endurance, volume trumps intensity. And this is especially true in long-distance running.* * *Every foot strike results in a shock load to the musculoskeletal system…

Ever since we began getting emails in response to Training for the New Alpinism, there is one question in particular that has come up more than any other. Mountain athletes want to know how to find a balance between conventional responsibilities such as work, family, or school and their desire to be in the mountains. Some people are constrained by location, some by energy, and others by time. Regardless of the individual situation, these inquiries tend to share one thing in common: they usually come from folks who want to cram a week’s worth of activity into one or two…

Uphill Athlete received this story from British climbers Malcolm Bass, Guy Buckingham, and Paul Figg after they made the first ascent of the remote Janhukot (6,805 meters). We thought we would write to you to say thank you for sharing so much inspiration, and so much distilled knowledge and experience, through Training for the New Alpinism and the Uphill Athlete website and forum. I am writing this from our base camp on the side of the Gangotri glacier in India where we sit enjoying the afterglow of having made the first ascent of Janhukot, a remote, technical 6,800-meter peak 19…

Caveat: What follows is not a substitute for professional advice. These ideas have been accumulated over dozens of years of dealing with our own injuries and those of our athletes. Over those years we’ve developed some very general suggestions on the subject that we’d like to share. Every athlete and every injury is different, so making blanket recommendations is risky. We put forth these suggestions knowing that they help in most cases, but maybe not yours. Remember that there is no substitute for in-person, hands-on evaluation by a sports rehab professional. If you are a runner, skier, or climber, and…

In 2017, I was standing on a metaphorical plateau that spanned nearly seven years. I had reached the peak of my technical rock climbing and ski mountaineering while still in my 20s, and I wasn’t perceptibly improving as a 36-year-old. Granted, I was still amassing memorable mountain adventures, more work as a ski and rock guide, and more inspiration than ever before to explore technical terrain in wild places. But alongside the good things were the inevitable effects of aging in tandem with years of physical work: achy knees and back, fatigue, slower recovery, and many unfulfilled dreams. Something needed…

Download Scott’s Killer Core Routine by clicking here.

A common refrain we hear from amateur athletes is that they do not have time for high volumes of training. So they prefer high-intensity training sessions. When training is squeezed between family obligations, work, school, and life, time limitations can push it down the priority list. It is tempting to think you can shortchange workout duration and then make up for it by dialing up the intensity.Of course, adding intensity does improve your fitness quickly. However, without a well-trained aerobic base, high-intensity training simply will never allow you to maximize your fitness potential. To put it another way, the potential…

Let’s be frank: Anyone who loves extreme endurance sports is probably a type A overachiever. But when we move to ultra-endurance events, you can delete the “probably.” People who relish the challenge of running 100 miles are out there on the far end of the bell curve. The reality is that it’s only a short step from “training” to satisfying an unhealthy compulsion. We feel that there needs to be an open and honest discussion in our community about overtraining syndrome (OTS)—the elephant in the ultrarunning room—and the damage it imposes on individuals and ultimately on the sport as a…

Uphill Athlete co-founder Scott Johnston presents the theory and practice driving endurance performance in the mountains. His 2-hour talk, filmed during a November 2017 workshop, is dense with coaching history, training techniques and tips, athlete stories, and information on the physiology of training. This presentation was generously hosted by Run Wenatchee, Inner Circle Gym Wenatchee, and the Wenatchee Public Library. This was recorded as a Facebook Live event. Volume, resolution, and production are not top quality—but the information is! The entirety of the recorded presentation is in two parts. PART 1 https://www.facebook.com/uphillathlete/videos/1207164636050638/ PART 2 https://www.facebook.com/uphillathlete/videos/1207243652709403/