🎉 The Stoke Report is back :)

Good morning, Stoke Crew. Oops! I got a bit distracted from writing the Stoke Report. I've been busy starting a new job and going on adventures with my friends. I started to slack on my twice-weekly newsletters, but we're back! Shout out to my friends who reached out to encourage me to start writing again, you know who you are <3.

We're coming into my favorite season ever, Colorado fall. Crisp fall mornings, aspens changing colors, it's truly a beautiful, peaceful time, and I'm excited to get outside with my people. Thanks to all of you for the support, and here's to twice-weekly Stoke Reports hitting your inbox again!

In today's report:

• Climbing all of the lower 48 14ers
• New Trail on Mount Shavano
• $400 million dollar Alterra investment

Today’s Stoke Story

⛰️ One Month to Climb All of the Lower 48 14ers

The Report: Five-time Hardrock 100 champion Kilian Jornet launched his United States climbing adventure on September 3rd, attempting to summit approximately 67 fourteeners across the lower 48 states in just one month using only human powered travel! The Spaniard began at 4:29 a.m. 9/3 from the Longs Peak trailhead with a small team and a Trek bike that will carry him the 1,000+ miles from Colorado through California to a planned finish on Mount Rainier in Washington.

True to his artistic approach to mountain adventures, Jornet is choosing aesthetic routes over speed, including the exposed 35-mile ridge traverse known as the “LA Freeway” from Longs Peak to the Indian Peaks rather than standard descent routes. The project represents another badass challenge for Kilian, who last year climbed all 82 peaks above 4,000 meters in the Alps in just 19 days, though he acknowledges the American West presents unique challenges with vast distances between mountain ranges.

PS: That photo is the south facing view of Capital Peak, one of my favorite views in Colorado.

Local Stokelight

⛰️ New Trail on Mount Shavano

The Report: After four seasons of backbreaking work, Colorado Fourteeners Initiative has completed over 1.5 miles of new trail on Mount Shavano as part of what Executive Director Lloyd Athearn calls "the biggest, gnarliest project that CFI has ever undertaken!" The nonprofit announced they've finished construction in the lower woods and are making progress on connecting the middle section to the upper reroute above timberline, with work continuing next summer on the complex rock engineering required at elevation.

The project became necessary after Shavano received the absolute worst grade in CFI's comprehensive 2012 assessment of Colorado's fourteeners, earning its failing mark due to dangerous steep grades, annual creek flooding, severe erosion, and a maze of confusing trail braids approaching the summit. What makes this project truly cool is that CFI had to purchase privately held mining claims that blocked trail improvements since 2012 - a newer move for the organization that's been working on fourteener trails since 1994.

Mountain Briefing

⛷️ Ski Resort News!

The fight for Park City Mountain is heating up as tech billionaire Matthew Prince publicly escalated his campaign to buy the resort from Vail Resorts, arguing that activist investors are circling the struggling ski giant and could force asset sales! Prince, the Cloudflare CEO worth over $5 billion and longtime Park City resident, has been building his case against Vail's centralized management approach while positioning himself as a local alternative by purchasing key properties including the Town Lift Plaza and acquiring The Park Record newspaper in 2023.

The billionaire contrasts Vail's corporate model with Alterra Mountain Company's approach, which allows for local ownership of some Ikon Pass resorts, claiming this leads to superior guest experiences and stronger business outcomes. Friction between Vail and the Park City community has intensified over infrastructure problems, overcrowding, and management issues, culminating in a damaging two-week ski patrol strike during the crucial 2024 holiday season that highlighted the growing disconnect between the corporate owner and local stakeholders.

Alterra Mountain Company just announced a massive $400 million investment across its North American resort portfolio for the 2025-26 season, with the headline grabber being Deer Valley's mind-blowing expansion that will more than double the resort's size! The Utah resort is adding 80 new trails, six new lifts plus a 10-passenger gondola connecting East Village to Park Peak, and a staggering 3,700 acres of new skiable terrain that will make it one of the largest ski resorts in North America. Sorry boarders, Deer Valley is still skiers only. You guys are too reckless and disorderly.

Beyond Deer Valley, the investments span the entire Alterra network including replacing Crystal Mountain's 40-year-old Rainier Express with a detachable quad that increases uphill capacity by 50%, building an 18,000-square-foot Shavers Center at Snowshoe, continuing Winter Park's snowmaking system rebuild that's already cut energy consumption in half, and adding premium lounges at Stratton, Steamboat, and Palisades. Alterra also emphasized its commitment to workforce improvements with seasonal healthcare for over 14,000 U.S. employees, wage increases for skilled positions like patrollers and lift mechanics, and housing projects adding hundreds of beds across multiple resorts.

What else is going on

• Women paralyzed after falling out of a chairlift in Crested Butte gets $20 million.
• Trail runner found guilty for going on a closed trail in the Tetons.
• DH World cup will go to Whistler for the first time in 2026. I'd bet on Jackson Goldstone winning.

Trailhead Trivia

How many people have summited all 58 of Colorado 14ers?

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Answer!

According to the Colorado Mountain Club there have been 2,265 reported summits of all 58 Colorado 14ers!