From The Backcountry

Love you all, thank you for making this podcast such a meaningful project. I will talk to you all when I talk to you all! ~Will

Bond Almand is a professional endurance cyclist and a senior at Dartmouth College. Bond returns to the podcast to talk about his two most recent projects: his record breaking cycle through the United States and his record of cycling through 19 states in one week. We talk in this episode about his various projects, the push and pull of sponsorship vs. personal motivations, and what comes next for h...

Amber Constant is a athlete who lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. January 1st 2026, she set out with a bold plan - to set the record for vertical record for one year, all on foot. She is now a few months in to the project and has been absolutely hammering vertical. We talk all about her project, the challenges she's faced, and what is to come. Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEBA...

Join the boys this week as we talk all things AT in the lead up to my (Will) bid for the self-supported Appalachian Trail FKT in late April. In this episode we discus mindset, past records, strategy, gear, and much more. Enjoy! Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEBACKCOUNTRY at infinitnutrition.us for 15% off your entire order​ Burgeon Outdoor: Check out Burgeon's quality and locally made hikin...

Noah Dines is a mountain athlete best known for holding the human powered vertical record for ski touring 3.5 million vertical feet in 2024. Most recently, Noah completed an 8 day monstrous thru-ski of the Catamount Trail, a 320 mile XC ski trail that runs the entire length of Vermont. Find Noah on Instagram @noah.dines Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEBACKCOUNTRY at infinitnutrition.us for 15%...

This past summer Fyn Kynd set a new FKT on the Grafton Notch Loop, a top 25 Northeast FKT route with 35-36 miles and 12-13,000 feet of vertical gain that loops through the beautiful Grafton Notch in Maine. We talk all about Fyn's effort, his development as an athlete, and what efforts he plans to take on next. Find Fyn on Strava and on Instagram @fynthemtns Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEB...

Lukas Janulaitis and Brianna Karboski pushed the limits this year at Last Skier Standing through brutal conditions to ski tour for 65 and 64 consecutive hours, respectively - each racking up over 70,000 feet of vertical gain. Along the way Lukas secured his second straight win at the event, and Brianna smashed the female course record by over a full day. In this episode we talk all about their str...

Tara Dower is a professional ultra runner and thru-hiker who is making her fourth appearance on the podcast (see episodes #50 , #71, and #75). In August, Tara and her crew set the overall Fastest Known Time on the Long Trail, taking down my time and becoming the second person to run the Long Trail in under 4 days. We talk all about her record and more during this episode. Find Tara on Instagram @t...

Cara Baskin is an ultramarathon runner and co-president of the Upper Valley Run Club. In September she set the record for the fastest female completion of the White Mountains 100, coming in at a time of 34 hours 12 minutes and beating the previous female FKT by over 4.5 hours. We talk all about Cara's amazing run in today's episode! ​Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEBACKCOUNTRY at infini...

In this episode Will and Xander are back to break down all of the best FKTs set in the Northeast in 2025. They talk most inspiring efforts, best DNFs, "Xander's Under Duress" list, and much more. Thanks to all of you for making FTB part of your year in 2025, see you in 2026! SPONSORS! ​Infinit Nutrition: Use code FROMTHEBACKCOUNTRY at infinitnutrition.us for 15% off your entire order...

Jeff Colt is a professional ultra-runner with On who has some incredibly big efforts to his name including a top 10 finish at Western States, the Hut Traverse FKT, and much more. Most recently, Jeff went out and set the FKT on the Mahoosuc Traverse, a Northeast premiere route that is steeped in trail running history. He took around 40 minutes off the already incredible record set by Hillary Gerard...

The Mount Ascutney Vertical Backyard Ultra is a last person standing style race in which participants climb 1209 feet of vertical every hour (with 2.25 miles) until there is only one person left standing. 24 hours is equal to the elevation of Mount Everest, but this race went far beyond that. In this episode, we talk with finisher Conor Brown and assister Bill Tidd who ran over 200 miles and over...

Bubba's Backyard Ultra is a last person standing style race held each year in Center Conway, NH by Run The Whites. In this race participants must finish a 3.5 mile loop once per hour, and the last runner standing wins. This year saw more competition than ever before with 7 people going over 42 hours. In this episode Will interviews Lukas Janulaitis and Aaron Copeland, the 1st and 2nd place run...

Bubba's Backyard Ultra is a last person standing style race held each year in Center Conway, NH by Run The Whites. In this race participants must finish a 3.5 mile loop once per hour, and the last runner standing wins. This year saw more competition than ever before with 7 people going over 42 hours. In this episode Will interviews Katie Melsky and Erica Notini, the 3rd and 4th place runners and t...

Finn Melanson is an accomplished ultramarathon runner and host of the Singletrack podcast and media company. In September, Finn went out to the woods of northern Maine and set a new unsupported FKT on the Hundred Mile Wilderness in 28 hours 43 minutes. Finn, Xander, and I talk all about his effort in this episode and more! Find Finn on Strava and on social media platforms by looking up Singletrack...

A few weeks ago, I (Will) went over to Italy with my amazing friends and crew to run Tor des Géants. The race didn't go the way I wanted, ultimately ending with a DNF due to pneumonia. In this episode I break down the final stages of training, the race itself, and answer your questions. Thanks to all of you for following along.

Amber Constant is an endurance athlete based out of the White Mountains. She has put down multiple insane efforts this year including a 10-pack of Liberty and Flume in a single effort and the overall FKT for the New Hampshire section of Appalachian Trail. Most recently she became the first known person to complete a "yo-yo" of the White Mountains 100 in a single push. In this episode we...

Scott Benerofe is a backpacker and ultra-runner based out of Vermont. Scott has some pretty insane efforts to his name, including a winter Appalachian Trail thru-hike (see episode #20) and a single push link-up of the Pemi Loop, Presi Traverse, and Mahoosuc Traverse (see episode #74). In early August, Scott went out and took over 14 hours off of the unsupported FKT for the Adirondack 46 High Peaks...

John Kelly is a prolific ultrarunner known for three finishes at the Barkley Marathons, winning the Winter Spine Race, FKTs on the Pennine Way, Long Trail, and Wainwrights 214, and more. Most recently John was ahead of record pace 1900 miles into an Appalachian Trail FKT attempt when his attempt ended in the Whites due to injury. Both special guest host (and White Mountains Legend) Bill Tidd and I...

Tori "Chewy" Constantine is a thru-hiker from the Upper Valley who has extensive backpacking experience including thru-hikes of the Long Trail, Appalachian Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail. Most recently Tori set a new women's unsupported record on the Long Trail, a premier FKT route that is 272 miles long with almost 70,000 feet of vertical spanning the entire state of Vermont. She took 16 hours of...

Jack Kuenzle is a prolific mountain athlete and coach for Evoke Endurance. He has collected FKTs like Jeep drivers collect those weird dashboard thingies, including FKTs on Mont Blanc, Denali, the Bob Graham Round, the Presidential Traverse, Hut Traverse, Great Range Traverse, Devils Path, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. Shasta, and more. Jack is becoming my ultra-running coach in the lead-up to me run...

Maia Buckingham and Xander Keiter are no strangers to the Northeast FKT scenes. They have both proven their metal time and again on gnarly routes and epic efforts in New England. Recently, both went out with the goal of setting new FKTs on the Hundred Mile Wilderness, and both succeeded in taking significant time off the records. We talk all about their efforts in this episode! Find them both on S...

Andrew Drummond is a runner, skier, hiker, mountain athlete, content creator, and owner of Run the Whites/White Mountain Ski Co. He wears a great number of hats in the White Mountains community, from athlete to entrepreneur to race director. Most recently, Andrew went out a broke the record for the Unsupported New Hampshire 4,000 Footers, also known as the White Mountains Direttissima. He broke th...

Zan Alberici is a hiker and trail runner from New Hampshire who just recently got into trail running, but has thrown down some massive efforts in just a short period of time. Most recently, Zan became the first known person to complete the White Mountains 100 in an unsupported manner. The Whites 100 is a grueling 100 mile route with 34,000 feet of gain, and the DNF list is far longer than the list...

Cara Baskin and Joe Miller are incredible ultramarathon runners in the White Mountains. They recently took home wins at Mount Adams Vertical Day, a special day in the White Mountains where a bunch of crushers see how much vert they can rack up on Mount Adams in 12 hours. We talk all about their efforts, as well as efforts currently going down in the Whites including John Kelly's AT FKT attempt...