From The Backcountry

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...

Finn Melanson is a ultra endurance athlete and host of the single track podcast who is from the great state of Maine, now residing in Salt Lake City. Finn runs one of the top ultra media companies Singletrack, and he also happens to be an incredible athlete across multiple distances. Most recently, Finn finished 6th at the 2025 Cocodona 250, improving on his time from last year by four hours. We a...

Will gives his instant reaction to the third day of the 2025 Cocodona 250, as the first finishers start to roll in. Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us for 15% off your entire order. Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromthebackcountry/

Welcome back to instant reaction from day #2 of the Cocodona 250. The race is entering the pivotal second night, the temperatures are dropping, and it's still anybody's race. Will gives his instant reactions to day 2 of Cocodona and predictions for the rest of the way. Tune in tomorrow for reaction to the end of the race!

Will gives his instant reaction to the first 13 hours of the 2025 Cocodona 250, which starts off as an incredibly fast rendition of the race with a star studded cast. Tune in tomorrow and Wednesday for more instant reactions from Cocodona. Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us for 15% off your entire order. Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromthebackcountry/

Ryan Atkins is a multi-sport athlete who has earned a reputation for success as an endurance athlete, climber, cyclist, OCR champion, and more. Ryan has set multiple incredible FKTs including the Presidential Traverse, Great Range Traverse, Adirondack 46, Mount Washington Ascent, and many more. Most recently, Ryan headed over to Mount Washington for the annual classic the Tuckerman Inferno, where...

Philip Carcia is a hiker, athlete, and content creator from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. His accomplishments the single year NH48 Grid, single season White Mountains Guide, and now the first Quadruple Single Season Winter NH 48 4000 Footers hike. Philip chats with Xander and Will about his most recent accomplishment and what it takes to be completely dedicated to a set of mountains. Use c...

The Barkley Marathons came and went this year with no finishers and only one fun run finisher, the great John Kelly. Will gives his reaction to the event and discusses the elephant in the room - is the Barkley now impossible? Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us and hyperlitemountaingear.com for 15% off your entire order podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromthebackcountry...

The podcast returns with a new mysterious co-host to talk about the ongoing Barkley Marathons and to answer your questions! If you want us to answer your questions in future episodes of the mailbag, submit your questions via DM to the Instagram page @fromthebackcountry or email us at fromthebackcountry@gmail.com Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us and hyperlitemountaingear.com for 1...

Allison Mercer is an elite athlete as well as the director of Fastest Known Time. Recently FKT revamped their premier route list to include more routes, adding the SCAR in the United States and then expanding the list worldwide to include incredible routes such as Mont Blanc, Mount Fuji, Te Araroa, Camino de Santiago, Kilimanjaro, and more. During this episode we talk about the new list, how it ca...

Lukas Janulaitis is an ultramarathon runner and skier from New Hampshire. At 23 year old, Lukas has achieved multiple top 5 finishes at both Bubba's Backyard Ultramarathon and Last Skier Standing, as well as a 6th place finish at the Swiss Alps 100 miler. Most recently, Lukas won Last Skier Standing 2025, during which he skied for 71 hours and over 80,000 feet of vertical until everyone else...

Andrew Drummond is a local skier, content creator, and owner of White Mountains Ski Co in Jackson, NH. Chris Shane is a filmmaker & photographer documenting outdoor adventure & humans driving social change. Together they have documented some absolutely amazing ski efforts and moments in the White Mountains in hope of bringing these experiences to more people. Follow them and find their adv...

Xander Keiter returns to the podcast to talk about his new speedy record on the eastern trail, a 65 mile route that connects Portsmouth, New Hampshire and South Portland, Maine. He ran the route in about 8.5 hours, clocking sub 8 minute mile pace overall and taking almost 40 minutes off the FKT. In this episode we talk about this effort and his upcoming running plans for 2025. Use code fromtheback...

Bond Almand IV is a 20 year old endurance cyclist and undergraduate at Dartmouth College. This Summer/Fall, he biked from the top of North America to the tip of South America in a mere 75 days, a 14,000+ mile challenge called the Pan American cycling route. On the way he obliterated both the supported and self-supported speed records while himself being self-supported. Bond's story is an incr...

This is an episode from the Singletrack Podcast, hosted by Finn Melanson. Please go check out his podcast if you haven't already, it's a fantastic show for all things in the trail running world! Recently Jack Kuenzle and I (Will Peterson) went on Singletrack with Finn to give our takes on the 2024 FKT season and look forward to 2025. Rather than recording a separate episode for this podc...

A ton of cool stuff happened in the New England trail scene this year. In this episode Will breaks down some of the absolute best effort from this year. Will also goes on an extended rant about FKT ethics. What efforts did we miss!? Send us a DM on Instagram @fromthebackcountry or send us an email at fromthebackcountry@gmail.com Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us and hyperlitemount...

Heather Anderson is a legend of the multi-day endurance scene. She has set FKTs on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Triple Crown, and many more. Most recently, Heather became the second known person to hike the Arizona Trail in an unsupported fashion, also setting the unsupported FKT. In this episode Xander and Will talk with her about this incredible effort. Use code fromthebackcountry...

Nick Fowler is a multi-day athlete who is quickly solidifying himself as one of the best in the FKT scene. He has set FKTs on the Pacific Crest Trail, Pacific Northwest Trail, Oregon Coast Trail, and the Ozark Trail. Most recently, Nick set the overall FKT on the Arizona Trail while doing it self-supported. He covered the 800 miles in 12 days, 17 hours, 33 minutes. Xander and I talk to Nick about...

Welcome back to the FKT roundup! I don't know if you heard, but some crazy stuff has gone down on the Arizona Trail! New FKT Round-up co-host and FKT dictator Allison Mercer is here to talk about all things FKT. Hope you enjoy! Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutrition.us and hyperlitemountaingear.com for 15% off your entire order podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fromtheback...

Josie Fisher and David Sinclair are mountain athletes based out of New Hampshire and Vermont. They are each incredibly accomplished in both the mountain running and skimo worlds, and they threw down great times during the Run the Whites TRT throw-down challenge, minting new fastest known male and female ascents of Mount Washington. Find them on Instagram @josephinefisher and @david.a.sinclair.92 U...

Welcome to the FKT Roundup, a new segment where Xander and Will (or just Xander, in this case) bring you the latest news from the FKT scene. We plan to bring you these episodes in addition to the bi-weekly athlete interviews that you know and love. This week Xander talks about all of the ongoing efforts on the Arizona Trail, as well as other recent FKTs! Use code fromthebackcountry at infinitnutri...

David Hedges is a mountain runner who has made a name for himself with top performances in races and FKTs alike. You likely know him from his incredible FKT on Nolan's 14 last year. Most recently, David set the FKT on the WURL, an incredibly gnarly FKT route outside Salt Lake City which boasts 36 extremely technical miles and over 20,000 feet of vertical. Blake Bekken and SOAR Running put out...

There are hundreds if not thousands of FKT routes out there. Outside of the very limited premier routes list on the FKT website, how are you supposed to tell which routes are the most competitive and important? That is a question that Will and Xander hope to begin to tackle with their Northeast Premier Routes project. They polled dozens of Northeast FKT athletes to figure out which routes are most...

Tara Dower is a professional ultra runner and thru-hiker who is making her third appearance on the podcast (see episodes #50 and #71). In September, Tara and her crew set the overall Fastest Known Time on the Appalachian Trail, taking six days off the women's record, five days off the southbound record, and over 13 hours off of the overall record set in 2018 by Karel Sabbe. We talk all about...

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). In late July, Scott went out and established a route that he calls the White Mountains Triple, which is a 100-mile linkup of the Pemi Loop, Presidential Traverse, and Mahoosuc Traverse, all on foot. The route boast...