By Dan Mathers
Endurance athlete Andrew Drummond has tackled a lot of difficult challenges in his life. But four days into his recent fastest known time (FKT) attempt of the White Mountains Direttissima — probably the toughest trail challenge in the Northeast — he was struggling.
He had more than 60 miles and 24,000 feet of grueling climbs still to go, and he was deep in the pain cave.
“I fell out of love with the route at that point because it was just so painful,” said Drummond. “My feet were just blistered and destroyed. Physically I was exhausted.”
Rain in the Presidentials had soaked him all day, macerating his feet. He found himself navigating the Kilkenny Ridge at night, navigating hundreds of blowdowns, while physically and mentally at the limits of exhaustion.
“You can’t see your feet. It’s all grown in with ferns. I mean it’s straight out of a horror movie,” said Drummond. “Time was standing still and I felt stuck. I wanted so bad for it to be over. But there was no way out but forward because no one was going to get me. I was so remote.”
Not only did Drummond push on and complete the Direttissima, he set a new FKT by more than 14 hours. And he did it all completely unsupported, meaning there was no trail crew helping him out along the way and he had to carry everything on his own.
The scale and numbers of this feat are difficult to fathom.
The White Mountains Direttissima is likely the most extreme and difficult hiking challenge in the Northeast. To complete it, one must link all 48 of New Hampshire’s 4,000-foot peaks into one continuous hike.
No car rides. No breaking it into segments to complete on multiple weekends.
One long, brutal hike. Or run.
For his recent FKT, Drummond completed all 48 peaks over a course of 231 miles with an incredible 86,000 feet of climbing.
He completed it in four days, 22 hours, and 43 minutes, beating the previous unsupported record of 5 days, 13 hours, 5 minutes, held by Will Peterson.
Drummond, 44, is the owner of the White Mountain Ski Company in Jackson, New Hampshire. When he’s not at the shop, he’s often tackling challenging White Mountains trails in the summer or shredding New England’s gnarliest backcountry ski lines in the winter. A trail runner, climber, and backcountry skier, he helped create the Granite Backcountry Alliance, which works to foster backcountry skiing in New England.
His many impressive endurance accomplishments include climbing Mount Washington 100 times in 100 days. They also include a previous White Mountains Direttissima FKT.
Drummond actually set a White Mountains Direttissima FKT in July 2016, completing it in 5 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes.
Technically, that FKT still stands, classified as supported, but self-powered on the Fastest Known Time website. That’s because while he ran the Direttissima unsupported — carrying his own gear and supplies — he had invited friends to join him and experience the journey with him.
For the unsupported FKT this year, he was on his own.
Drummond said while he enjoys adventuring with friends, he likes taking on big challenges like the Direttissima by himself.
“I think it really levels the playing field because a lot of these efforts come down to how much support you get on these longer days,” said Drummond. “If you have someone carrying stuff for you every step of the way, that’s different than someone who maybe meets people at road crossings. So I think the aesthetic of it is a little more pure in my opinion.”
Drummond said he expects the rest of the summer to be pretty relaxed (by his standards). But he does have some future challenges in mind, including a possible unsupported run on Vermont’s Long Trail.
But he likely won’t be trying to improve on his latest White Mountains Direttissima FKT.
“I think I made a deal with myself to not do this route again. I’m fine with that,” said Drummond. “I hope someone else comes and destroys my record. That would be the really gratifying thing.”
