IMAGINE YOURSELF RUNNING THROUGH A REMOTE VALLEY...
Ahead, the trail winds beneath silvery steeples before rising to a notch in the mist.
As you climb to the pass, the clatter of fallling rocks draws your eyes to a group of chamois clinging to the mountainside. The whistle of a marmot pierces the air. At the top, you peer into the next valley where a jade lake glints below. Soon you’re in woodland, flying down pine-scented single-track. Your pack is snug and light on your back, your legs heavy from days on the trails, your mind buzzing with sights from the journey. Over dinner in a mountain hut you share stories before creeping into bed.
For any runner who loves immersing themselves in beautiful, wild places, this is as good as it gets. Welcome to the world of fastpacking.
WHAT IS FASTPACKING?
‘ We were wilderness running. Power hiking. Kind of backpacking, but much faster. More fluid. Neat. Almost surgical. Get in. Get out. I call it fastpacking.’
So wrote US elite runner Jim Knight in an article in Ultrarunning magazine following his 1988 traverse of the Wind River Range, Wyoming, US. He and his running buddy, Bryce Thatcher, completed the 100-mile journey in just 38 hours.
While the term was first coined over 30 years ago, fastpacking has come to refer to many styles of multi-day running adventure. But underpinning them all is the principle of ‘fast and light’ – taking only what you need to stay safe and happy. This allows you to travel further and faster in a day compared with hiking, running whenever the terrain allows it.
More and more runners are using fastpacking as a way to travel and explore. Adventure couple Anna Mcnuff and Jamie Mcdonald have between them fastpacked the length of New Zealand and across the US. Meanwhile, Jenny Tough is attempting to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent, having already ticked off the Tien Shan (Asia), High Atlas (Africa) and Cordillera Oriental (South America) ranges. But fastpacking needn’t be extreme. It could be an out-and-back trip from your front door, or running one of Britain’s national trails at a leisurely pace.