Man climbs Colorado's 100 highest peaks in less than 23 days

He did it! Andrew Hamilton did it!

Last night, Andrew Hamilton, a well-known name in Colorado's mountain climbing community, finished his mission of climbing Colorado's 100 highest peaks faster than anyone else had before. His time was 22 days, 16 hours, and 54 minutes, with his journey including 471 miles of trail and 249,201 feet of vertical gain.

The accomplishment was announced on Hamilton's Instagram page with an image of Hamilton standing on top of Longs Peak with outstretched arms, marking 100 of 100 of the state's highest peaks summited, plus a few more non-Centennial peaks to make 110 total summits. That's an average of roughly 4.85 summits per day, with the 100 highest peaks ranging from 14,433 feet in elevation on top of Mount Elbert to 13,809 feet on Dallas Peak.

Hamilton's journey was tracked on Garmin and followed by many in Colorado's fourteener climbing community and beyond. According to his official trip stats, the mission also meant 156 hours in a vehicle, traveling 1,901 miles between trailheads. During previous record-breaking trips, he's used this travel time as precious time for sleep.

Andrew Hamilton was supported by Andrea Sansone during his journey around the state, who also joined him on the summit of 21 peaks. While Sansone was by his side for much of the journey, Hamilton followed the 3,000-foot rule, which included not getting any support within 3,000 feet of the summit of a peak.

Aside from overcoming minor injuries and exhaustion, Hamilton also pushed forward in his quest despite access issues related to some peaks. He started his mission with Culebra Peak and Red Mountain on the private Cielo Vista Ranch and was also able to obtain special permission to climb the peaks in the area of the Decalibron Loop, currently closed to the public due to issues related to overcrowding.

According to Hamilton, three people have climbed the Centennials in a single season, two by bicycle and another in a similar self-supported approach that took 34 days.

Hamilton is best known for climbing all of the state's fourteeners in less than 10 days – a record. In addition to that, he's climbed all 58 of the state's fourteeners by biking between them in 20 days and has summited all of the fourteeners in a single winter season.

Congrats goes out to Andrew Hamilton, an incredible mountain athlete in his 40s that pushes the physical and mental limits of the human body. This will likely be a record that stands for a long time.

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