Ton is on a mission to hold records on all seven summits, the highest mountain peaks on each of the seven traditional continents (Photo: Courtesy of Christopher Fisher and Santiago Guerrero )<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nQuest for the Seven Summits<\/h2>\n
Ton is on a mission to set speed records on the so-called \u201cseven summits,\u201d\u00a0the highest mountain peaks on each of the seven traditional continents. In January, she set a speed record on 22,837-foot Aconcagua in the Argentinian Andes<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a different climb than, say, Aconcagua, because it was at a much lower elevation, but it had more layers and elements to it,\u201d Ton said. \u201cI would say the alpine terrain was more similar to Colorado than the high alpine peaks in South America or Nepal.<\/p>\n
Kilimanjaro now brings Ton two of the seven. Remaining on her list are 16,024-foot Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia, 20,310-foot Denali in Alaska, 18,510-foot Mount Elbrus in Russia, 16,050-foot Mount Vinson in Antarctica, and 29,031-foot Mount Everest in Nepal.<\/p>\n
From Monkeys Overhead to Ice Underfoot<\/h2>\n
Ton began her record attempt at Mweka Gate in Kilimanjaro National Park before the sun rose to avoid the tourist crowds. After about six miles of dirt trail, she reached Mweka Camp with a bloody and irritated nose, the result of the dust in the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably looked like a madwoman running with blood dripping down my face,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ton trekked the two miles to Millennium Camp at 12,500-foot elevation and said she felt strong until she reached Barafu Camp, another six miles away. Barafu sits at an elevation of 15,000 feet, and Ton said it\u2019s here that she began feeling the first symptoms of altitude sickness. Still, she stuck it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cAltitude is normally where I excel, and I believe it is where I have my competitive advantage as an athlete,\u201d she said. \u201cThis was one of the very few times I can recall feeling poor at altitude. I\u2019ve been reflecting and still don\u2019t have a solid understanding of why I felt that way.<\/p>\n
She ran the remaining five miles to Uhuru Peak, the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Ton and her two accompanying guides spent a little time on the summit before turning around to descend the mountain.<\/p>\n
Her roundtrip time also set a new record, putting her up and down the summit in 8 hours and 33 minutes\u2013beating out Fernanda Maciel\u2019s previous record of 10 hours and 6 minutes.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Next<\/h2>\n
Ton said her greatest rewards in life have come through perseverance, and she hopes her accomplishments help get other people on the trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope my story inspires others to step outside their comfort zone and invite challenge in everyday life,\u201d she said. \u201cAll too often, we get caught up in chasing the next big material comfort when it is a big world out there with so many people and cultures to experience.<\/p>\n
Ton said her next of the seven summits will likely be Alaska\u2019s Denali in Spring 2027, that\u2019s if she can\u2019t first head to Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia or Mount Vinson in Antarctica.<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Battling altitude sickness, dust, and strict permit timelines, Erin Ton shaved over an hour off the fastest known time on Africa\u2019s highest summit. Now with two peaks down, the Colorado woman has five mountains remaining in her Seven Summits quest. In all, Erin Ton ran 26.38 miles over 14,000 feet of climbing from Mweka Gate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17582,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}