LOCALadk Magazine

Winter 2015 LOCALadk Magazine 29 LOCALadk excess of "sugary carbs." At around 6 am, 15-hours into the adventure, Wellford described his personal low, "I was feeling horrible and my stom- ach was a mess. I lied down on the ground and actually fell asleep and had a 20-minute nap." Around this time, and in the discomfort and sickness, the thought of stopping did cross his mind. However, for this challenge he actually had a little extra motivation to press on. Wellford had raised $1,235 for the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention, "This was the first time I tied one of my personal goals to a cause." "It gave me a lot more reason to push on when it got hard. Other people had invested in this too and they were definitely there with me, keeping me going when I didn't want to go on," he recalled. Both athletes mentioned that the continual hours of darkness and haunt- ing quiet can make it hard to press on, the body likes to slow down at this time and the mind can get discouraged. Like the highs and lows of elevation along the trail, so it also went for physical and emotional peaks and valleys along the way. One reward Wellford described, "Popping out on Skylight (fitting name in this case) at 9 pm, was magnificent, you couldn't see a drop of artificial light from anywhere and the stars were amazing, like nothing I have ever seen." Another highlight was the anticipated encounter with Jeff Mogavero. Around 11 pm as they descended adja- cent mountains, they spot- ted each other's headlamp glow in the distance, Well- ford coming down Haystack and Mogavero descending Basin. The anticipation add- ed adrenaline and a kick in the already-kicking step, the two soon met up along the trail and after salutations and congratulations they passed on into the night and con- tinued on their solitary, but common journeys. Jeff Mogavero is a 21 year-old St. Lawrence University student from Havertown, PA. His lean build, long dark hair and bold glasses support his scientist persona as he is currently majoring in Conservation Biology. When he is not in the lab researching Zooplankton, he is commuting to the Adirondacks to explore as much as possible. He hiked his first Adiron- dack High Peak as a college freshman and has continued to capitalize on holidays and weekends to retreat into the mountains. "The outdoors is definitely where I feel most at home," he describes. After running cross country in high school and continuing to race in his college years in trail races and ultra marathons, Mogavero is no stranger to suffering and persevering. It is this drive that inspired him to see how many peaks he could finish in 24 hours a year ago last fall. There were some challenges that included losing the route, the weather and general inexperience that had him calling it a day after summiting Marcy, his 18 th peak, nearly hypothermic but not defeated. With more experience under his belt, and a summer full of exploring, climbing and trail racing to victory in Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, Mogavero considered himself in much better condition to try again for his "24 in 24" which he says he initially got the idea to do because, "It just had a ring to it." Where other's might try and fail--later deciding it maybe just wasn't a good idea in the first place, athletes like Wellford and Mogavero get back to work, training, strategizing, route planning and researching to extend the expectations of what is possible. Something unique in their physical and mental wiring keeps them going where others would stop. When he wasn't running along the trail, or humbly laughing at himself when tripping flat on his face 17-minutes after starting, there were some dark moments along the way. "I had been under the headlight for about an hour already and the prospect of having only my thoughts and the darkness for the next 10 hours was really daunting—I remember sit- ting down on a rock with my head in my hands thinking why am I doing this?" he recalled. Other lows included running out of water due to an unexpected dried-out streambed. Hours later with inevitable dehydra- tion setting in, his reflecting headlamp revealed a shiny puddle of water which was the salvation he needed to continue his ascent up Marcy in the black night. Some of his memorable highlights included seeing Jan's light in the distance and knowing he wasn't alone in his quest, enjoying a defrosted microwave bur- rito, complements of the warm crease of his sweaty lower back, and seeing the sunrise over Algonquin af- ter 11 hours of scurrying in the darkness. Despite having accomplished this unfathomable feat, neither Mogavero nor Wellford are the type to rest on their laurels or brag about what they have done. They both hope their stories and success will inspire others to try the same or similar adventures and have each kept amazing web records and blogs with route information so that others can benefit from their experience. Mogavero described, "There are not many others out there doing this kind of stuff at this level, so when you find someone else, it is really awesome." What's next? Wellford will be training for his Nordic Ski-racing season with the Peru Masters and Mogavero later in September had already raced and placed 7 th in the Vermont 50-miler. As for the High Peaks, not surprisingly, each of them felt with more training and research, they had their sights on adding a few more peaks into the route for future sea- sons, but, admittedly, "27 In 24" won't quite have the same catchy ring to it. Jan's route with an elevation profile at the bottom

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