Podcast: Episode 157: Pawel Szafruga: The Colorado Fourteeners taken to another level

This is a 43 day thru-hike with almost 300,000 feet of elevation gain, summiting all 58 Colorado 14ers ... entirely self-supported, solo, never getting into a car ... how did he do that?!

"For the 3 months leading up, I did more pre-planning on this than my work."

"I didn't publicize this in advance. You have to Walk the Walk before you Talk the Talk".

"Some people are like, "Why isn't there more on the Internet?"  I'm not changing the world with what I do, so I like to stay private."

"People can get addicted to getting "Likes".  If there wasn't any Likes, how would you feel about it?  What would you be doing if no one was watching?"

Pawel is a wealth of insight and information. All students of multi-day efforts should listen to this. 

"My Base Weight (all clothes and gear) was 8.5 lbs. Which included a helmet."

But did not include a stove - he used the 'cold soak' method.  

And he finished with a degree of liver and kidney malfunction; his doctor told him "No alcohol" for a few weeks.

"It would be super hard to travel long and fast and eat healthy.  Going through towns, I would eat a comical amount of food.  I would eat 3 breakfasts at one sitting." 

Gear Lists

Pawel personally builds out custom camper vans with the same ethic as his thru-hiking: lightweight and efficient.  This is his company's van Instagram and this is the website.

His hiking gear list is very accurate and helpful (his entire 'kitchen' setup totalled 2.2 ounces).