Tom Grundy's Sierra Challenge 2026 Page

This year the annual 10 day mostly obscure peak dayhike event that is the Sierra Challenge started July 24. It was a hard lineup. You can see a summary of my Sierra Challenges here as well as links to what the challenge is all about.

The Sierra Challenge 2026 lineup wasn't so exciting to me, and it looked hard. I had already done 4 of the peaks so I would have to find alternates for them - an increasingly difficult task as I have climbed many of the challenge peaks by now. The multiple over 30 mile or 10000 foot gain days had me a bit worried. Iris was pretty uninspired too and work was pretty busy so she chose to burn her limited time off elsewhere and only came for the last few days.

following the second train up the Pine Creek Trail on day 3

links to individual day pages

I am behind, so if the link doesn't work, I haven't finished or uploaded it yet, sorry. (so far only days 1-3 done)

I did 10 challenge peaks (4 were alternates) as well as a total of 21 peaks. That gets me first place for the green jersey, 5th for polka dot, and 3rd for yellow (out of 3 who did 10 challenge peaks with only alternates for peaks they had already done) - subject to change as the results are finalized. My totals were 200 miles and 68818 feet of gain. Once again this year I measured that with a Garmin Fenix 6X watch which I think is much more conservative (and probably more accurate) than the phone I used before 2025. My total time out was 138:50 - so more than half the total time available. This hurt me at the end as I got slower and slower.

Congrats to everyone, but especially Colin and Alex who had strong showings as well as Keith and Chris pushing the polka dot and Bob returning with a new hip and Clement crushing it on the days he was here even with a kid strapped to his front. There were a number of big days that had a lot of people succeed.

My main goal was to do 10 challenge peaks out of the same trailhead but not to repeat ones I had done before (except Carl Heller) - and I did Barnard E that day too. I did not particularly optimize my itinerary for ease or time or polka dot points.

For gear I used a 35L Ultimate Directions running pack. I carried a Sony a6700 with 18-135 lens on a Cotton Carrier chest harness. I stowed it into the pack for more serious scrambling but did manage at least some class 4 if not class 5 climbing with it. Some days I took ice axe and crampons but never used them this low snow year. I had half a pizza every day ( #peakpizza ) as well as some bars and other snacks (beef jerky) and things to make my water taste better and add electrolytes and sometimes calories and caffeine to it. I used a platypus filter and cnoc water bag as well as a smaller water bottle that fit in the front shoulder pocket of my pack. As usual by the end of the Challenge I was in a sleep deficit. I mostly wore Altra Olympus 6 shoes for the bigger mileage days and Topo pursuit 2 for others with evolv approach shoes to scramble Carl Heller. I mostly wore Darn Tough sox, sometimes with toesox inside them. I used trekking poles - Black Diamond distance Z poles which worked well for the first 2 days but stiffened up so much I couldn't use them after that. Then I had heavier BD poles that telescoped which worked ok but were heavier and slower and harder to stow for scrambling. I wore a Tilley hat except when I wore a climbing helmet. I also wore hooded sun shirts most days (some days long sleeve shirts without a hood plus a hood I cut off a ripped up sun hoody) and REI hiking pants every day. I wore sun gloves for most days but wore rubber palmed gloves for much of the scrambling - taking them off for the hardest climbing.

PeakPizza on Bannerette on day 2

I was relatively out of shape with just a few trips prior to this as training. Day 1 I started out behind and probably went too hard to catch up. I was hurting for the next few days and then just got worn down and exhausted on the last 4 days, especially the brutal bushwhack down George Creek in the dark setting me up for almost no sleep before the last 30+ mile day. It was certainly a challenge for me which I managed to complete, but I paid a price.

As usual the Sierra Challenge relies on the Sierra for the challenge, but the other participants make it all a lot more fun and manageable. Thanks to everyone who came along for the "fun", especially those going for all 10 days and that hiked along with me either for a few hundred feet or for miles and miles. I reserve a special thanks for Iris who helped me in numerous ways - from training and gear and food planning and prep before and during the event to food and other support during the Challenge as well as support in my effort to do every day, sadly I only got to hike with her most of one day this year.

panorama from Bannerette on day 2 with Thousand Island Lake and Garnet Lake below

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