Nolan’s 14 is a point-to-point link-up over the 14 summits over 14,000 ft. in Colorado’s Sawatch Range, from Mt. Massive to Mt. Shavano. You can choose your own route between summits, but the most practical routes have been estimated to be 88 to 106 miles with 44,000 feet of climbing. This feat used to be nearly impossible and only a few people had finished it in under 60 hours. This summer however, not one, but two fastest known times were set. First, going south, Joe Grant set a new unsupported FKT in 49:38. It was just over four hours better than Andrew Hamilton‘s previous best of 53:39, set in 2015.
Nolan’s 14 is a run over the 14 summits over 14,000 ft. in Colorado’s Sawatch Range, from Mt. Massive to Mt. Shavano in either direction
And then going north, Alex Nichols set a new supported FKT in 46:41. It was almost an hour better than Iker Karrera‘s previous record of 47:40, set last year.
For this accomplishment, Alex has been give the Runner Box Colorado Runner of the Month award. We caught up with Alex to ask him a few questions about his Nolan’s 14 attempt.
Wow, a Nolan’s 14 FKT. Congrats! I know that is one of the most difficult routes around. Why did you decide to give it a go?
Thanks! One of the reasons I wanted to try Nolan’s was that I’ve spent a lot of time in the Sawatch range, but I’ve never really linked any of the mountains together. In the last few years I saw more people attempting Nolan’s 14, including a friend of mine Brandon Stapanowich, and it just seemed like a really unique way of seeing an entire mountain range at once. That put the challenge on my radar and then it worked out with my schedule that I could give it a shot this summer.
Where you just wanting to do it or were you going for FKT from the get-go?
When I first started really planning on a Nolan’s 14 attempt I was thinking about the FKT. That was back in the winter before I had really done any scouting of the route. Once the snow melted enough that I could start previewing the route I honestly got pretty nervous. It’s really difficult trying to link up that many big mountains! After learning more about it I switched my goals from the FKT to just trying to finish under the 60 hour cutoff.
What route did you choose? Where did you start and finish?
I went south to north. That meant starting at the Blank Cabin trail head of Mount Shavano and ending at the fish hatchery below Mount Massive.
Joe Grant was also out doing a FKT attempt (which he got for an unsupported route). Did you see him at all? Did you guys go the same way?
I knew Joe was going to be out there when I was, but he was actually going the opposite direction. The Nolan’s route is not very defined, and there are a lot of off-trail sections where you can go any way you want, but even with all the route variations we still managed to run into each other above treeline on the north side of Mt Yale. It was a cool moment to see him in this remote area above treeline.
You won the CP50M in early May. Did you do any other events leading up to Nolan’s?
The Collegiate Peaks race was actually a training race leading up to the Madeira SkyUltra 55k. Madeira is a Portuguese island that has some amazingly steep terrain, but unfortunately I sprained my ankle in that race and hobbled my way to a very slow finish. That ankle injury almost cancelled my Nolan’s plans because it was only a month beforehand, but I managed to heal in that time that and felt comfortable giving Nolan’s a go.
Was your training set up to go for a FKT or was that run just something to do as part of your training for things later int he season? Do you have any other events planned for this year?
I scheduled my Nolan’s 14 attempt to be two months before UTMB, which is my goal race for the year. I’m hoping two months will be enough time to recover. As long as I can recover from this effort I think the training for Nolan’s and the FKT itself should really benefit me once I make it to the steep trails of Mont Blanc.
What did your training consist of leading up to the FKT?
Prior to the Madeira race I was getting in a lot of steep running, but not a lot of mileage. I was trying to get over 20000 feet of climbing per week in something like 80 to 90 miles. After injuring my ankle I had a little down time, but then got back into steep running. A couple of weeks before the FKT I decided to fast-pack the whole route in about four and a half days. That was a really good training period where I was doing 20+ mile days, each with 10000+ feet of climbing.
How much support did you have on the FKT?
There aren’t a lot of places to meet a crew along the way, especially compared to a traditional race. A lot of the spots are pretty isolated, so I had a group of a few friends plus my wife meet me at four locations along the route. I also had a friend, David Hedges, who decided to join me through the second night. According to Nolan’s 14 rules he wasn’t allowed to pace me or crew me, but just having someone out there to keep me sane on the second straight night of no sleep was a big benefit.
What is your favorite thing in the RunnerBox?
I’m definitely going to use the On The Go sports towels right away. Those should help with my on going struggle to be more presentable in society.