Jeff somehow convinced some of the crew and some friends to come along on a 37 mile overnight fastpack through the Santa Monica Mountains with nearly 8,000 feet of elevation. When he was asked to comment on it, he said he was too busy because he was already out in Colorado setting treasure jars for the third edition of the KETL Treasure Hunt: Rocky Mountain Oyster Challenge. But here are some photos from the brave souls who went and some quotes from their experience.
"In true Jeff fashion, we crawled, ran, scrambled up and across mountains and through enough poison oak to take down a small horse, and even got the pleasure of a victory meal: a mediocre fish taco from Malibu Seafood. If Jeff said it wasn’t hard, don’t believe him — caught him passed out on the ground in the parking lot later that day. Only our 2nd parking lot nap of the trip." - David
"We fastpacked 37 miles through the mountains overnight with my wife Carly, fearless leader Jeff, Luca, David, and Trevor. Every step pushed us out of comfort, every climb begged us to quit, especially sleeping in the dirt with a trash bag to keep us warm - but we kept reminding ourselves: we can be uncomfortable, and we can do hard things, we are athletes. If we can do this, we can also succeed in other aspects of life." - Zack
"This past weekend a few brave souls of coworkers and friends set out on a 37 mile, overnight, point to point fastpack mission. Decked out in KETL gear of course. None of us besides our fearless leader Jeff had ever done something like this before so it was uncharted territory. It involved scrambling up the highest point in the Santa Monica mountain range, running some downhill segments to keep a good pace, trekking into the grim hours of the morning, sleeping in a bivy on the ground and waking up early to carry on to the same ol' sh**. We all pushed our limits, dealing with legs that left the chat, bars and gummies for dinner and breakfast, and walking 3k downhill to Malibu. It was a ton of fun and with a couple of different gear choices I would absolutely do it again." - Trevor
Maybe this inspires some of you to get out there and get out of your comfort zone, and maybe even explore some paths that are rarely trodden. Or you might think why the heck would I ever want to sleep in a trash bag in a dirt parking lot? The answer lies in the pursuit of a life well lived.
