Keep Climbing.
Keep Going.
Personalized 1:1 endurance hiking coaching for big mountain goals. Whether you're preparing for a 29029 event, a thru-hike, or a personal summit challenge — train with coaches who know what the mountains demand.
Endurance hiking isn't about speed. It's about what happens to your body and your mind when you've been on the mountain for 12 hours and the trail keeps going up.
Whether it's a 29029 event, a Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, a section of the Appalachian Trail, or a personal summit challenge — endurance hiking demands a kind of preparation that most fitness programs never address. You're not training for a race measured in hours. You're training for sustained vertical effort that can stretch across an entire day, a full night, or weeks on trail.
Most people who struggle in endurance hiking don't fail because they aren't fit enough. They fail because they weren't prepared for what the mountain actually demands: sustained effort over many hours, a nutrition plan that keeps your body fueled when you're too tired to eat, the mental framework to keep climbing when your legs and your motivation are both depleted, and the physical resilience that comes from training your body specifically for vertical gain and time on feet.
That's what 29029 Coaching is built for. Our coaches come from the world of mountain endurance — many of them helped create the 29029 event itself. They know where athletes break down and why. And they build preparation programs that address the real demands of endurance hiking — not just the fitness piece, but the full picture: nutrition, gear, pacing, and the mental game.
Built for the Climb
Endurance hiking looks simple. You walk uphill. But the discipline demands a kind of fitness and mental preparation that most athletes have never encountered. Whether you're repeating laps at a vertical challenge or covering 30 miles on a mountain trail, you're managing your body across many hours of continuous effort — fueling, pacing, managing fatigue, dealing with blisters and weather, pushing through the low points when everything in you wants to stop.
Coached endurance hiking preparation addresses all of it: the vertical-specific fitness, the nutrition strategy for sustained effort, the gear and foot care, and the mental framework that turns hard hours into just another part of the journey.
- Builds vertical endurance through progressive hiking volume and elevation-specific training
- Develops a pacing strategy for sustained effort over 24–36 hours — not a 3-hour trail race
- Creates and tests a nutrition plan for fueling across an entire day and night of climbing
- Programs hiking-specific strength to protect your knees, ankles, and hips across thousands of feet of descent
- Prepares your body for sleep deprivation, temperature changes, and the physical toll of repeated laps
- Builds the mental resilience to push through the low points that every endurance hiker faces
Coaches Who Live
in the Mountains.
Most fitness coaches have never hiked through the night. Ours have. 29029 Coaching was born from the world of mountain endurance — our team created the 29029 event and has coached athletes through Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim crossings, Appalachian Trail thru-hikes, and mountain challenges on every continent. They know where athletes break down, and they know how to build the preparation that prevents it.
Mountain-Tested Experience
Your coach has logged serious time on mountains — at 29029 events, on long-distance trails, and in the kind of sustained vertical efforts that teach you what the body actually needs. This isn't theoretical programming. It's coaching built from first-hand knowledge of what the mountain demands.
Vertical-First Programming
Endurance hiking fitness is different from running fitness. Your coach programs for what sustained climbing actually demands: uphill power, descent durability, time-on-feet capacity, and the ability to keep moving efficiently after 15, 20, 25 hours on the trail.
Real Human Accountability
Not an app. Not a training plan PDF. A coach who understands mountain endurance, watches your training every week, adjusts when life gets in the way, and is personally invested in getting you to your goal — whether that's a belt buckle, a canyon crossing, or a peak you've been thinking about for years.
From First Summit to
Bigger Mountains.
Our endurance hiking coaching serves athletes at every stage — from people preparing for their first big mountain challenge to experienced hikers pushing for bigger goals.
29029 Athletes
Preparing for a 29029 event is unlike preparing for anything else. We build your vertical fitness progressively, develop your nutrition and gear strategy, prepare you for the mental demands of hiking through the night, and make sure you arrive at the mountain ready to earn your belt buckle — not just survive it.
Thru-Hikers & Long-Distance Hikers
Whether it's a section of the AT, a Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim crossing, or a multi-day traverse, long-distance hiking requires specific preparation for sustained effort across days or weeks. We build the endurance, the nutrition strategy, and the physical resilience to keep you strong from the first mile to the last.
Mountain Goal Seekers
You have a mountain goal that doesn't fit neatly into a category. A peak you want to summit. A route you've been thinking about for years. A personal challenge that means something to you. Our coaches build custom programs for any sustained vertical effort — because the principles of endurance hiking apply everywhere the trail goes up.
The 1:1 Coaching Model
A real human who has logged serious mountain miles, watches your training week-to-week, knows your specific goal, and is fully invested in getting you to your summit — whatever that looks like for you.
Application & Match
We review your hiking experience, your goal — whether that's a 29029 event, a thru-hike, a canyon crossing, or a personal mountain challenge — your fitness level, and what matters most to you. Then we match you with a coach whose experience and style are right for where you are.
Personalized Training Plan
Your coach builds a periodized plan around your goal date and current fitness. Vertical hiking sessions, strength work, time-on-feet endurance, stair training, and recovery — all calibrated to the specific demands of your mountain objective.
Weekly Check-Ins
Every week you connect with your coach — reviewing training data, discussing how your body is responding to the vertical load, dialing in nutrition and gear, and adjusting the plan based on what's actually happening versus what was planned.
Goal-Day Strategy
Your coach develops a detailed plan for your objective: pacing, nutrition timing, gear changes, rest strategy, and a framework for the mental low points that hit deep into a long effort. You arrive knowing exactly how to execute — whether that's 36 hours of laps or 3 days on trail.
Post-Goal Debrief
The experience is data. Your coach reviews what worked, what you'd change, how your body responded to the sustained effort — and uses it to inform your next goal, whether that's a harder route, a longer distance, a 29029 event, or a mountain challenge you haven't dreamed up yet.
The mountain
rewards
the prepared.
Endurance hiking strips everything down. It's just you and the trail and however many hours of climbing you signed up for. The people who thrive in that environment aren't the strongest or the fastest — they're the ones who trained specifically for what the mountain demands. A coach builds that preparation into every week of training.
More Than Walking Uphill
Endurance hiking training isn't just about logging miles on trail. It's about building the specific physical and mental systems that allow you to keep climbing efficiently for 24 to 36 hours straight.
Vertical Gain Training
The core of your preparation. Your coach programs progressive vertical sessions — trail hikes, stair repeats, incline treadmill work — building the uphill power and muscle endurance you need to sustain climbing across dozens of laps. Volume builds gradually so your body adapts without breaking down.
Time-on-Feet Endurance
Endurance hiking isn't a day hike. Whether it's 36 hours of laps or 10 days on trail, the challenge is sustained movement over durations that most training plans never prepare you for. Your coach builds your capacity with progressively longer sessions and back-to-back training days that teach your body what it feels like to keep going when you're already tired.
Hiking-Specific Strength
Your knees, ankles, and hips absorb thousands of feet of descent. Your coach programs targeted strength work — single-leg stability, eccentric loading, hip and core strength — to protect your joints and keep you moving efficiently from the first lap to the last.
Nutrition & Fueling Strategy
You can't hike for 30 hours on willpower. Your coach helps you develop and test a nutrition plan that sustains energy across the full effort — real food, electrolytes, calorie timing, gut tolerance — all practiced in training so nothing is a surprise when the climb counts.
Mental Preparation
Every endurance hiker hits a low point. It usually comes somewhere between midnight and dawn, when your legs are heavy, the air is cold, and the summit feels impossibly far away. Your coach builds mental resilience into the training itself — through deliberate discomfort, visualization, and a framework for navigating the hard hours that turns them from a crisis into just another lap.
Mountain People.
Always.
29029 Coaching's endurance hiking coaches live in the world of mountain endurance. They've completed thru-hikes, guided athletes through vertical challenges, crossed canyons, and built the 29029 event from the ground up. They coach from experience because endurance hiking demands coaches who understand what the mountain actually asks of you.
Brent Pease
Head Coach · Event Creator · Since 2017
29029's Head Coach since the very first event. Brent created the training guide that has prepared thousands of athletes for the mountain and has been at every event since 2017. He brings unmatched knowledge of every venue, every trail, and what it actually takes to earn the belt buckle.
Grant Miller
Endurance & Mountain Coach
Performance coach and endurance athlete who blends physical training with mental resilience. Grant has guided athletes through 29029 events, Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim, and ÖTILLÖ Swimruns. He meets people where they are and moves them forward with intention — one step, one breath, one climb at a time.
Joe Jude
Hiking & Ultra-Endurance Coach
An endurance juggernaut with 350+ events and a 2024 Appalachian Trail thru-hike completed in 81 days. Joe specializes in hikers and endurance athletes at every level and loves helping people create adventure goals they never thought possible. He's a great fit for anyone taking on 29029 TRAIL.
From the Mountain.
In Their Words.
"I signed up for 29029 Whistler with zero endurance hiking experience. Brent looked at my fitness background and said 'you have more base than you think, we just need to build on top of it.' He had me doing stair repeats and long hikes on weekends and within two months I could feel the difference. Finished all my laps with time to spare and honestly couldn't believe it. The training made me feel like I belonged out there."— Sarah L., 36 · 29029 Whistler Finisher
"Coach Grant got me through the hardest night of my life at Sun Valley. I almost quit around 2am on lap 11. I texted him from the base and he told me to eat something, change my socks, and just do one more. I ended up finishing 3 more laps after that. The mental prep he built into training is what saved me. He taught me that the low point isn't the end, its just a lap."— James T., 47 · 29029 Sun Valley Finisher
"I came back for my second 29029 wanting more laps. Joe completely changed how I thought about nutrition and pacing. First time around I was eating whatever was at the aid station and bonking by lap 8. Joe had me practicing my fueling strategy during training hikes for months. Second event I felt strong the entire way through. More laps, faster pace, and I actually enjoyed the overnight hours this time."— Michelle R., 42 · Two-Time 29029 Finisher
"I'm 58 and my doctor told me I needed to be more active. A buddy talked me into signing up for 29029 and I thought he was crazy. Brent built a plan that started with walking 30 minutes a day and slowly built up from there. Nine months later I was on a mountain in Stratton at 4am hiking my 12th lap. My kids were tracking me on the app and they couldn't believe it. Neither could I honestly. Changed how I think about what I'm capable of."— Robert D., 58 · 29029 Stratton Finisher
Everything You Need to Know
What counts as endurance hiking?
Endurance hiking is any sustained hiking effort that goes well beyond a typical day hike — vertical challenges like 29029 events, long-distance trail efforts like Rim-to-Rim-to-Rim or thru-hike sections, multi-day mountain traverses, or personal summit goals that demand serious preparation. The common thread is extended time on feet, significant vertical gain, and the physical and mental stamina to keep going.
How do I train for endurance hiking?
Training requires building vertical endurance, time-on-feet capacity, hiking-specific strength, and a nutrition strategy for sustained effort. Your coach builds a periodized plan that progresses from base hiking fitness through goal-specific preparation, including long hikes, stair training, back-to-back sessions, and mental readiness work tailored to your objective.
How long should I train before a big hiking goal?
Most athletes benefit from 16–24 weeks of structured prep, though the ideal timeline depends on your current fitness and the scale of your goal. If you're newer to endurance activities, a 6–9 month build gives you a safer path. Your coach builds a realistic timeline that gets you to the mountain ready, not just surviving.
Do I need to be a runner to do endurance hiking?
No. Endurance hiking is its own discipline. While running fitness helps with general aerobic capacity, the demands of sustained uphill hiking — time on feet, vertical loading, pacing over many hours — require specific preparation. Many of our most successful athletes come from non-running backgrounds.
How is this different from trail running coaching?
Endurance hiking demands a different kind of fitness. The pace is slower but the duration is usually far longer — you might be managing your body over 24–36 hours or multiple days. Training emphasis shifts to vertical gain capacity, sustained nutrition, sleep and fatigue management, and the mental fortitude to keep climbing. It's a fundamentally different program.
Is endurance hiking coaching worth it?
Big mountain goals are significant commitments of time, money, and energy. Coaching ensures you arrive prepared — physically, nutritionally, and mentally. Athletes who train with a coach consistently perform better, experience fewer injuries, manage nutrition more effectively during their effort, and report more confidence and enjoyment on the mountain.
Endurance Hiking Deep Dives
Focused reads on specific hiking goals — from your first endurance hike to training for 29,029 feet of vertical.
Ready to Climb?
The mountain is waiting. The path to your summit begins with the right coach — and a plan built for the way you train, the way you live, and the goal you're chasing.
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