Summer of Wonder | The North Face

[Music] just south of seattle you'll find mount rainier national park and there it is 14 408 feet of mountain we're about 80 miles in here box canyon we expect caitlyn in 7 10 15 minutes maybe here we go why here's a group getting ready for a longer adventure on the wonderland trail there are plenty of guided tours and the trails are marked if you choose to venture out on your own you can even enjoy the wonderland trail the lazy man's way on the back of a sure-footed horse how much time we got 7 18. you're still in our guild the wonderland trail truly has it all welcome to trail talk with caitlin girvin edition one we are out on the wonderland trail i'm running with my teammate dylan before the pandemic i had a really busy year planned with a lot of international travel with most things being canceled this year i've redirected my focus to stay super local that is all light up to me going for the wonderland trail fkt i don't know if i really like slept slept but i definitely rested a lot i have always wanted to go after a fast time on this route for fkts to really be important it has to be something that is a personal connection to the place in the mountain and i feel that really deeply with mountaineer probably out of all the places in washington i've spent the most cumulative amount of time within mount rainier national park i've been climbing on the mountain nine different times stood on the summit seven times run the entire wonderland trail as part of the infinity loop so i've spent a good number of hours suffering out here leaving my mark on the wonderland trail would be incredible it would be one of the highlights of my running career so i am doing this route supported but the first 55 miles of the route are pretty remote i'll see my crew once and then i will have a pacer with me brian who is a good training partner of mine he knows how to keep me motivated and keep me honest all right see you guys in a few hours there's been a lot of action on the men's side for setting fkts around mount rainier jen shelton's time is is awesome and has stood for years but the men's time has been lowered almost every year and there hasn't been another women's time going after that as a woman who's trying to push the boundaries of what other women in the sport can do i want those times to be a lot closer together all right all right three seconds two one all right guys let's do this [Music] [Music] [Applause] the wonderland trail is something i've known about my entire career it's a record that's been held by some very highly respected highly talented athletes who've come through our sport over the last decade plus it's always had this sort of special place in the world of trail and ultra running just because it is such a beautiful place it's such a beautiful trail and it's incredibly challenging if adventure is the name of the game consider circumnavigating mount rainier on the challenging wonderland trail a 94 mile journey that climbs nearly 24 000 feet considered by many adventurers to be the toughest section of the wonderland trail the first 35 miles will whisk hikers up high rocky ridges down deep valleys carved by giant glaciers and will surely take your breath away [Music] this is why everyone should respect aids we're at mowing lake and expecting caitlyn here in one or two hours i'm about to pick up caitlyn i'll be with her from mowitch lake to white river it's about 26 miles pretty stoked i'm like trying to be like on my game so i'm ready to like dash out right when she gets in i don't think she's gonna be dilly dallying good morgan you're here very early yes he is kicking many asses absolutely demolishing how you feeling katie good abstraction's hard oh the section was incredible i mean got almost half the climbing of the entire route out of the way three hours of that in the dark caitlyn is hauling ass right on schedule thank you guys the wonderland trail has lots of big climbs i mean there's basically no flat section of the trail at all you go up and down over and over and over so it's a lot of ascend for a couple thousand feet to the top of the viewpoint descend down cross a glacial river ascend back up [Music] the biggest crux is from the carbon glacier which is the lowest point to sunrise you climb more than a vertical mile followed immediately by another 2 000 foot climb how are you doing yeah caitlyn feeling the flow so much climbing the climb is big and burly she just like powered up the first one was super focused especially when she was climbing a little more like cruiser and smooth once we got on flatter stuff but really pushing nausea isn't something that i typically deal with and the heat of the day started to get to me i knew that i needed to manage it these climbs though about 50 miles and 18 000 feet of gain in almost exactly 12 hours which i don't understand but i'm really proud of you she's kind of in that like quietly working mode this extra thing i was on here because i didn't get this one i got some chips i managed to get some good calories in at white river and left feeling pretty strong again all right i'm going to start walking thank you guys caitlyn's going to cross the white river with her pacer alex to panhandle gap and indian bar it's just stunning terrain around the mountains all above tree line my friend yuceen is out there he's capturing some additional footage with the gopro up on top of the climbs how you doing all right [Music] i just like love that my daughter's like seeing you i think it's just so important too she should come around with us sometime oh yeah keep strong running away [Music] [Music] that's up and over that caitlyn hell yeah look at this feed the good wolf oh we're about 80 miles in here box canyon we expect caitlyn in 15 minutes maybe here we go [Music] i just got moved in [Music] man you're moving great drop like 300 more feet things started to get pretty dark for me in that last section with dylan this is the tricky part that final climb is hard the nausea was hitting me the sunset [Music] want me to stay out front yeah a couple deep breaths if you can [Music] looks like it doesn't want to come out huh [Music] yeah just let's just walk it for a bit when things start to go wrong there's no better person to have with you there than dylan who's been through it himself and has a ton of experience managing things like this he helped me keep moving things forward and bringing home stronger ellie [Music] once i got to reflection lapse i knew that i was on the home stretch [Music] yeah yeah yeah oh my god [Music] just set a new paradigm in wonderland trail history in ultra running history caitlin girvin everyone this route is so hard why would why would anyone do this chasing an fkt is kind of like chasing the shadow of someone else who ran it before you of course i would love it if i could set a time that stood for a long time but the nature of fkts is that you set a time you set a new standard and then people have a new bar for what they're going after when jen shelton set this record in 2015 that was an inspiration to me and i've been thinking about it ever since then i hope that my record is going to inspire the next generation of women to come out here and see what they can do on the wonderland trail [Music] breathtaking views glaciers meadows and true cascade wilderness awaits make this a summer to remember on the wonderland trail [Music] you

Channel: The North Face

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Keywords: the north face, north face, running, run, trail running, ultra running, trail run, running shoes, tnf, never stop exploring, wonderland trail, mt rainier, rainier, Kaytlyn Gerbin, outdoors, nature, summer of wonder, vectiv north face, best running shoes 2021, best running shoes 2020, best running shoes, FKT

Id: g8mpi_xNoso

Length: 14min 22sec (862 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 22 2021