This interviewee was suggested by long term listener Keith Foskett who met Philip on a mountain one day while hiking in the states.
His story and the target he set himself is pretty incredible and shows a massive amount of dedication, sacrifice and commitment to achieve it.
Philip J. Carcia is a hiker, runner, and media creator who has logged over 15,000 miles on some of the most iconic trail networks in North America. Growing up in Massachusetts and cutting my teeth in New Hampshire, he fostered a deep love affair with the mountains of the Northeast at an early age. Almost two-decades later, that love continues to widen, and has become an anchor in both his personal and professional narrative.
He’s a firm believer that in order to reach your true potential in life, you must give yourself fully.
Although he has completed the AT, PCT, Long Trail, JMT, Colorado Trail, and several other iconic long-distance routes, his biggest success has come in the last year when he climbed all 48 4,000-footers in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, start to finish, in every month, for 12 consecutive months, completing one of the most grueling and obscure peak-bagging projects in the United States – the Single Year Grid.
He began and ended it with a Direttissima which is one continuous through hike of all 48 mountains, some 240 miles which he achieved in an incredible 8 days, 7 hours and 40 minutes. Keep in mind it also had a total height gain of 75’000 vertical feet.
Right: 2019. Coming into my own at the finish of my last long-distance project – the Single Year Grid in New Hampshire.
What’s the difference? 13 years, 15,000 miles, and the realisation that fortune will always favour the bold.
I hope you enjoy this podcast, part two will follow next week.