[Editor’s Note: This article was first published on our sister site, GearJunkie. We’re also sharing it here as athlete Tyler Andrews is combining multiple sports, including running, in his Himalayan speed efforts.]
Image this: You’re operating within the mountains alone with minimal gear and only one liter of water. However this isn’t a day journey into the Colorado Rockies — you’re within the Himalayas ascending Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain on the planet. And also you’re doing it with out supplemental oxygen or climbing companions.
Sound dangerous? Tyler Andrews, a 34-year-old endurance athlete from Massachusetts, can be the primary to agree. The runner has racked up a powerful checklist of feats on harmful mountains, together with 69 Quickest Identified Instances (FKTs) to this point, putting him within the ranks of the world’s elite runners.
Final yr noticed a number of of Andrews’s most spectacular data but. He set new FKTs on Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro and Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua. On each mountains, Andrews pulled forward of previous data set by operating legends like Karl Egloff and Kilian Jornet.
However Andrews advised us he needs to be “the most effective on the planet.” That’s why he determined to check his abilities on the most important stage of all: the Himalayas. Final month, on September 19, Andrews hiked up the 26,781-foot Manaslu in 9 hours and 52 minutes, shaving greater than two hours off the earlier report, set by Nepalese climber Pembe Gelje Sherpa final yr.
Tyler Andrews signed on with La Sportiva in 2024 as a sponsored athlete. He’s seen right here in Quito, Ecuador. All pictures: Chris Fisher
These mountains have usually been the realm of mountaineers — not path runners. Lots of them require sections of vertical climbing, which is why the running- and hiking-centric web site Quickest Identified Time has lengthy excluded pace data on these mountains. Himalayan Database tracks them as an alternative.
However now that’s altering, thanks partly to Andrews, who additionally works part-time for the FKT group. Because the main route on Manaslu lacks technical climbing, he thinks turning the summit push into an FKT is honest play. And he believes the coaching he’s making use of to those mountains — like bringing a stationary bike to Manaslu base camp — represents a novel strategy to Himalayan journey.
We caught up with Andrews to learn the way he did it — from vitamin and equipment to timing and approach.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: Congratulations on setting a brand new FKT on Manaslu! You’ve set many data already. Are you able to inform us what this one means to you?
Tyler Andrews: I imply, initially, it’s my first 8,000-meter [peak] pace report. In order that’s actually particular. However truthfully, I believe the factor that made it probably the most particular is that I attempted and failed a yr in the past.
And the way in which that the large mountains go is you typically solely get one shot a yr. And that form of sucks, nevertheless it undoubtedly makes it extra particular when issues go very well. I believe the larger the mountain, the larger the stakes, the larger the stage, the extra essential the preparation — all that stuff. And to have it go so nicely after what was objectively a reasonably tough yr, that simply makes it doubly particular.
Tyler Andrews operating in Chile’s Atacama Desert.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: You pulled off this report on what was initially a coaching day for you. Final yr, you additionally gunned for the summit on what was presupposed to be a coaching day, and ended up too drained to try the FKT. What did you study and what modified?
Tyler Andrews. Photograph: Chris Fisher
Andrews: 100%, that’s precisely appropriate. Final yr, I undoubtedly burned a couple of too many matches on my summit day first. However there’s so few alternatives to follow these things that you simply simply should make errors. The rationale that I did that was as a result of, on nearly each different mountain, I’ve gone to the summit first earlier than trying the FKT. And it’s all the time labored, as much as even 7,000 meters.
Nevertheless it was manner an excessive amount of [on Manaslu]. I completely fried myself final yr and had no fuel on FKT day. So, the plan was not to do this this yr. The most important factor I discovered is that there’s no details about these things. Nobody is aware of what they’re speaking about, together with me.
I all the time say coaching is an experiment of 1. And that’s much more true when you might have stuff that’s actually tip of the spear like this. Typical knowledge simply doesn’t work. And so, it’s actually simply experimentation. This time, I undoubtedly took a big gamble within the different course and it ended up working.
Tyler Andrews trekking by close to South Face of Lhotse.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: I learn your FKT gear checklist out of your interview on the La Sportiva web site. You identified it’s extremely harmful to ascend an 8,000-meter peak with solely that gear. Did you might have a contingency plan if one thing went unsuitable? In that case, what was it?
Andrews: It’s a extremely attention-grabbing query. I believe lots of people have this concept that, “Oh, since you’re entering into minimal gear, it’s actually harmful.” I truly suppose the way in which that I’m shifting the mountain is safer than the typical individual.
Let me clarify: I spend a lot much less time in harmful locations. Whether or not it’s above 8,000 meters, whether or not it’s under large seracs, or on avalanche terrain — I’m in a position to transfer a lot faster. You already know, final yr, when Chris [Fisher, an athlete and photographer] and I have been going by the Khumbu Icefall … we went by it in two hours. And it takes some folks on our expedition 10 hours.
So we’ve 80% much less publicity on probably the most harmful a part of the mountain. Clearly, it’s a big gamble, and I acknowledge that. It’s a tradeoff. I don’t have enormous boots. I don’t have an enormous jacket. However we’re additionally speaking about Manaslu.
There’s 700 folks on the mountain or one thing, and I had Dawa Steven Sherpa, our expedition chief, on radio. He’s bought folks on the mountain. So there’s a little little bit of a mountain ethic. If you happen to do have that vast disaster, folks deal with one another.
Tyler Andrews on Manaslu.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: How did you deal with vitamin on this enterprise? What did you eat and the way typically?
Andrews: I’ve all the time tried to strategy actually massive mountain stuff equally to how I’ve completed ultrarunning. So I’m not approaching it as a mountain man. I’m approaching it as an ultrarunner. You already know, if I’m going to do a 10- to 12-hour extremely, I do know precisely what number of grams of carbohydrate I have to eat, what I have to convey, how a lot liquid I would like. So I’m attempting to eat 300 to 400 energy an hour.
The one actual situation I had with vitamin was the water scenario. I left with one liter of water from base camp, and that was all I had all the way in which to the summit for 10 hours. In order that was fairly tough. And, once more, that was principally as a result of we had our tent at Camp 3, and my plan was to go up there after which perhaps stroll one other hour after which come down.
So after I left Camp 3, I used to be like, ‘Meh, I may boil some snow and take some water, however I’m solely going up an hour after which down a half hour.’
I believed I’d be again quickly. After which, , I ended up going. It was six hours above Camp 3, simply up after which down. So, yeah, that was fairly tough, truthfully. The [lack of] hydration was brutal.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: Are you able to describe your psychological battle upon reaching what mountaineers name the Loss of life Zone? What helps you deal with the large issue of ascending that altitude with out oxygen?
Andrews: I truthfully suppose {that a} great a part of the work above 7,000, perhaps 7,500 meters, is all above the shoulders. It’s actually totally different from every other form of athletic factor I’ve ever needed to do. There’s nobody piece that feels notably arduous or dangerous. It’s simply the way in which that manifests for me as a sensation. It’s this actually great need to show round.
I’m identical to, “God, I don’t need to do that,” ? And I’ve all the time been a extremely massive fan of breaking issues up into smaller items on the psychological facet. I suppose that is my different superpower that I inform folks: I’m extremely good at mendacity to myself. Self-deception is certainly one of my biggest strengths.
So I’ll say, “Oh, what, I’m going to go 50 extra meters, after which I’m simply going to show round and go down.” And you then say, “Cool, okay … Now I’m going to do it once more.” And the reality is, you’re simply getting your self by that rep. And it’s precisely the identical up there.
Look carefully and you’ll simply make out Tyler Andrews operating close to Manaslu.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: The place and the way does run coaching/cardio improvement issue into prep for outings like this, together with all the opposite variables you’re attempting to coach for?
Andrews: That is the factor that surprises folks most about me as an athlete, after I meet folks on an 8,000-meter mountain. I’m approaching this principally the identical as if I have been coaching for a path race. Clearly, actually massive mountains, you want a talent set, proper? So there’s all the time a steadiness of talent and health, proper? So, like operating on a treadmill is 100% health and 0% talent.
I’m approaching this as a runner. And so the routes which are most fun to me are those the place health is an enormous share. A part of the explanation that you simply’re seeing this report is as a result of folks strategy it extra as a talent than a health problem.
And for me, it’s like 90% of the route is strolling uphill. There’s a cause that Manaslu is [considered] a newbie’s mountain. Loads of it’s strolling uphill. That’s principally a take a look at of your engine. I understand how to get my engine actually, actually massive and match.
That is most likely probably the most outrageous factor that I’ve ever completed, however I truly introduced a stationary bike as much as Base Camp at 4,900 meters above sea degree.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: You introduced a stationary bike to Manaslu Base Camp?! How did you utilize that in your coaching?
Andrews: The rationale for that’s that is my third 8,000-meter expedition. I knew from the final couple of years of coaching that staying energetic is absolutely essential for my health. And so I might exit each single day within the morning and go as much as Camp 1 or one thing, about 1,000 meters up, come down, relaxation, and have lunch.
After which I do a few hours on the stationary bike within the afternoon. And it was about coaching quantity, but in addition about depth. So once more, it goes again to simply this concept that nobody is aware of what they’re doing, together with me. It was an experiment, and it appeared to work fairly nicely. However most individuals are like, “You introduced a motorbike to camp? That doesn’t make sense.”
However I used to be actually simply approaching it like an uphill race.
A portrait of Tyler Andrews.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: How do you view your accomplishment within the context of Reinhold Messner? He proved that ascending these mountains with out supplementary oxygen was attainable 52 years in the past. Now we’ve athletes such as you setting FKTs on these mountains — additionally with out supplementary oxygen. What do you consider your house within the mountain’s historical past?
Andrews: When Reinhold Messner was attempting to climb Everest with out oxygen, folks have been like, “Yeah, he’s gonna’ die. He simply can’t try this.” And, , I believe he’s another person who simply form of bucked standard knowledge and was like, “Hey, I’m gonna determine this out.”
I’m not attempting to cheat loss of life. However when folks inform me athletically that one thing I need to do is just not attainable, which I’ve heard a number of instances, that simply will get me actually fired up. I might guess that Messner most likely had a little bit little bit of that, too. So it’s an honor to be eager about him and me in the identical sentence.
GearJunkie/iRunFar: What do you hope to attain by making use of these operating methods to the world’s highest mountains?
Andrews: Hopefully, [Chris Fisher and I] are heading as much as the Khumbu Valley/Mount Everest area. In order that’s actually thrilling, and we’ve an entire bunch of targets there. It’s probably the most stunning, spectacular place on earth. No matter we find yourself doing, it’s going to be nice.
I used to be not an athletic child in any respect. However then I completely fell in love with coaching at excessive altitude. I had completed a number of mountaineering and mountaineering in my day, however I actually didn’t consider it as one thing I wished to do competitively for a really very long time, till I used to be most likely 30.
It’s been a journey, a mix of my love of self-discovery and pushing myself, coupled with this unbelievably aggressive interior drive.
A few of that’s being aggressive in opposition to myself, and a few of it’s that I need to be the most effective on the planet. And I’m not embarrassed to say that. I need to go to probably the most aggressive routes, the most important mountains, the most important phases, and the very best strain. That’s thrilling for me.
[Editor’s Note: Since this interview took place, Andrews has already set another record in the Himalayas. He and Chris Fisher ran from Lukla to Mera Peak (6,476 meters) and back to Lukla in under 44 hours. This required a 51-mile run in addition to the summit.]
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