Doing back to back races or adventures (aka doubles) is most definitely a thing. You will find lots of runners at the Tor races who did PTL, UTMB, or Swiss Peaks a week before. I did my own UTMB + Tor double in 2017, but that wasn’t even unique back then. It’s hard to be creative with doubles, or even triples today.
Why do doubles? Well, people have all kinds of reasons: pushing your own limits, figuring out what’s possible, making the most of a trip, seeing more great landscapes, etc.
For 2023, I cooked up a double that mainly optimized travel, but would also challenge myself in various and new ways: I would first fly to Iceland, complete an unsupported Iceland traverse, then continue on to Europe, where I would complete Tor des Glaciers about a week later. It sounded like a great idea…
The ice and glacier double. Nothing too crazy.
The Unsupported Iceland Traverse
The Iceland traverse FKT went well: on Aug 27, 2023, I was able to wrap up a new unsupported Fastest Known Time (FKT) on the north-south traverse of Iceland in 8 days, 11 hours, and 4 minutes. That turned out to be 4 days, 15 hours, 41 minutes faster than Eli Burakian’s 2022 unsupported FKT and 21 hours, 14 minutes slower than Meredith Quinlan and Jess Baker’s 2018 self-supported FKT. I had good and bad times, as you can imagine.
For lots of pics, see REPORT: Unsupported Iceland Traverse FKT. There will be a movie as well at some point.
This hot tub was key to recovery in Iceland. Heated geothermally, of course.
Tor des Glaciers
Instead of words, here are a few photos.
The Tor des Glaciers route is “bello e impossibile.”
Arrived!
Drooling…
The last supper.
At the start…
Can’t remember what pass that was.
Col du Loson, 3’299m/10,824ft.
Col du Loson, 3’299m/10,824ft.
Col du Loson, 3’299m/10,824ft.
Dodging thunderstorms near Mont Borrel, on the way to Rifugio Coda. PC: Christophe Felix.
The fear!
Somewhere after Niel.
Mt. Rosa.
Amen.
Good morning.
No end in sight.
More of the same.
The Matterhorn from behind. I climbed it in 2015.
Moving on after the Rifugio de Champillon. I barely made that last time barrier.
Finally done in 183:04:17!
Somewhat tired.
Signs of suffering.
Post-race meal.
Post-race meal.
Post-race recovery.
Stats
Unsupported Iceland Traverse FKT:
- Distance: 345mi/556km
- Elevation gain: 26,000ft/7’900m
- Report: REPORT: Unsupported Iceland Traverse FKT
Tor des Glaciers:
- Distance: 280mi/450km
- Elevation gain: 105,000ft/32’000m
Total:
- Distance: 625mi/1’006km
- Elevation gain: 131,000ft/39’000m