By John Kolker - IronHike Founder
Between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2022, some of my like-minded endurance-junky friends and I were busy working on and chatting about, what I call, our annual "Giddyup Calendar", I was planning to start section hiking the Benton MacKaye Trail in North Carolina with my two hiking partners, TripleA and Cowboy, do one triathlon and hike Mount Fuji in Japan, while Dan was going to do some very long open water swims, try to podium in a triathlon or three, as Clifford planned his annual 100 miles NOBO on the Appalacian trail and Scott was going to do some crazy Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) for charity.
Suddenly I found this! 29020 Everesting. What? Wow! We shared the link looked at in and marveled. Hike up a ski slope as many times as you need to until you get to the total vertical gain of the elevation of Everest above sea level and do it in under 36 hours. Take the gondola or chairlift down on each lap. Holy shit. Yes. We put ourselves on the mailing list. There was no pricing anywhere on the website so we waited for our invite to register. A few weeks later, in early December, the email came. "Capture the magic of the mountain in 2023! Registration is open now. Click below to secure your spot!" It said. Clicking through we got to this content, "The all-inclusive registration fees for 2023 events range from $4,995-$5,995, depending on the location." Wait what? No fwording way! Yep it was true, and they sell out 7 venues every year with 300 particpants. Before we all had the chance to sheepishly ask our spouses if we could drop $5K just to sweat our balls off for 36 hours all the events had sold out.
We chuckled and I said "I really wanted to do that, maybe we should start our own Everesting company, charge less and not let people cheat by taking the lifts down." to which Dan said, "Yeah if we make any money from it we might be able to afford registation in one of the 29029 events." We left it there. But, I didn't really. The what-if's started hard. So I came up with four challenges. Named them after 4 iconic mountains. Called the whole thing the "IronHike Endurance Event Series" and in early February I started hunting for Ski resort venues.
I showed up without a business card, with no LLC formed, with no ownership of the ironhike.com domain and spun the wild tale of what we want to build. We were looking for a partner. 30 phone calls, 50 emails and 9 on-site visits later, I met Tomilyn and Mohawk Mountain. She liked my idea. She pitched it to the family that owns Mohawk Mountain. We met, I hiked the mountain. We shook hands. I started the startup "IronHike Endurance Productions LLC" and formalized our digital presence, contracts, waivers and registrations engine with runsignup.com. From afar I continue to stay focused on what differentiates my only elevation-based endurance event Goliath of a competitor in my David and Goliath approach to becoming a recognized and differentiated brand.
My perspective as a sudden cardiac arrest survivor, who in 2011 suddenly flatlined of a full-blown catastrophic double artery blockage, brought me to this place where I am building a platform for others to challenge themselves and treat each day like the abolute gift it is.
That experience, was a terrifying and made me realize how fragile life is. When I came out of a coma, and after surgery, I decided to embrace endurance events as a way to challenge myself and improve my health. I have since hiked the full 2,193.1 miles of the Appalachian Trail, competed in 15 triathlons, hiked the New England Trail from end-to-end and completed a pilgrimage hike of the Camino de Santiago in Portugal and Spain.
Now, with my co-founding veteran buddies, we have created the IronHike Endurance Series for those who want to prove themselves right about themselves. It is meant to help you change the story you tell yourself in your own head about you! It is ordinary people taking on extraordinary challenges and allowing them to change their lives. We created IronHike to be the everesting challenge for everyone, no cheating on chairlifts or gondolas and NO $5K price tag. We’ve also included a challenge that’s twice as hard as everesting: Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the solar system on Mars!”
Here is some comparisons between IronHike and 29029 everesting events:
Format, distance and alloted time:
- IronHike requires its participants to trek a total distance of 61+ miles (49 laps) to complete the Everesting challenge. This is equivalent to hiking the Appalachian Trail from Connecticut to Massachusetts and back.
- 29029 Everesting requires its participants to trek a total distance of 19 miles (17 laps) to complete the Everesting challenge. This is equivalent to hiking the Grand Canyon from rim to rim and back.
- One of the main differences between the two events is that IronHike requires its participants to trek down the mountain after each lap, while 29029 Everesting allows its participants to take the gondola or chairlift down the mountain after each lap. This means that IronHike participants have to cover more distance and spend more time on their feet than 29029 Everesting participants.
- IronHike gives its participants a time limit of 72 hours to complete the Everesting challenge. This means that participants have three full days and nights to trek up and down the mountain as many times as they can or need.
- 29029 Everesting gives its participants a time limit of 36 hours to complete the Everesting challenge. This means that participants have one and a half days and nights to hike up and lift down the mountain as many times as they can or need.
- One of the main differences between the two events is that IronHike gives its participants more time to complete the challenge, but also requires them to cover more distance and elevation than 29029 Everesting. This means that IronHike participants have to pace themselves and manage their energy and recovery more carefully than 29029 Everesting participants.
Price:
- Iron Hike Endurance Productions charges its participants a price of $1,300 for the individual event, with discounting for Military, Veterans and first responders. There is also are coupon codes, promotions and a loyalty discount for Series Alumni. The price includes the registration fee, a tent site, a finisher medal and hat, food, medical support and more.
- 29029 Everesting charges its participants up to $5,000 plus with additional charges for more private yurts / accomodations. The price includes the registration fee, an all-inclusive participant village, the gondola / chair lift rides, a finisher medal, a red hat and a hoodie.
- One of the main differences between the two events is that IronHike Endurance Productions charges its participants a lower price, but also offers them a more down-to-earth and self-reliant experience than 29029 Everesting. This means that Iron Hike Endurance Productions participants have to bring their own tents and manage their own sleep and hydration, while 29029 Everesting participants enjoy bands, bonfires, food/drink, recovery lounge and other amenities provided by the company.
Although we are not trying to be 29029, we are one of the few Elevation-Based Endurance Events in existance in the world. We have something for everyone too. If you want to break up a 15 mile day-hike with 3 friends on a Sunday, we got you. If you want to trek 152 miles for over 73,000 feet of elevation gain and loss over 84 hours, more elevation than the worlds most notorious Ultras, like the Barkley Marathons, we got you there too.
We are in our second season, about to produce our third Series on Mohawk Mountian in CT - USA. There have been participants from over 23 states and two countries, so far, ranging in age from 22 to 67 years old. We have even had one Olympus Mons finisher, our own co-founder Scott Festa. He finished it in just over 60 hours this June and it was a marvel to witness.
We currently have Oct 2024 and Jun 2025 Series registations active. Negotionations are ongoing to add a second venue and third series to our menu in 2025.
Stay tuned.Choose harder.
Choose your summit.
Choose IronHike.
See you on the Mountain.
John Kolker
Founder, IronHike