On July 21, Emily Keddie became the first athlete to finish the Oregon Volcanic Skyline Trail, setting the route’s fastest known time (FKT). The 420-mile trail involves summiting 15 of Oregon’s tallest volcanoes and scaling 69,000 vertical feet.
Keddie, 39, completed the route with a support team in 12 days, 17 hours, and 12 minutes.
Keddie is a Psych PhD turned endurance athlete and running coach with 32 FKTs under her belt. She developed the Oregon Volcanic Skyline Route on her own, as a technical test for herself and a way to reclaim and close a long personal history with these peaks.
It’s an open route that can be approached however athletes want, as long as it’s in one continuous connected push and they reach each summit.
Keddie started at the trailhead for Mount Hood (the highest peak on her route, with an elevation of 11,249 feet) on July 7 and finished at the trailhead for Mt. McLaughlin on July 19.
Oregon Volcanic Skyline Trail FKT: The Route’s Origins
Keddie first fell in love with endurance sports and the Pacific Northwest when she completed the Pacific Crest Trail. After the thru-hike, she dove headfirst into ultrarunning, completing a 50K before she ever did a marathon. Keddie began developing the Oregon Volcanic Skyline Trail as part of a personal journey.
“It symbolized my growth from that time nine years ago, being a thru-hiker [on the PCT], mentally and emotionally. I had a rough thru-hike with a relationship that I was in at the time, and there were just parts that were very difficult and painful,” Keddie said.
This new trail would be a reclamation of that experience, and a sign of how far she’d come. In designing the route, Keddie thought about her favorite peak in Oregon, Broken Top.
“From the summit, you can see every volcanic peak in Oregon from north to south,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful aesthetic line that’s very unique because it’s not a mountain range — it’s a cascading arc of volcanoes.”
Of the 15 peaks, Keddie had summited 13 of them before embarking on this route. Some, like Three-Fingered Jack, she had done multiple times, while others were parts of past completed FKTs. Putting all of these peaks, which had been so crucial to Keddie’s development as an ultrarunner, on one route was a fitting tribute to her love of the area.
A Technical Test
The Oregon Volcanic Skyline Trail route requires a lot from anyone attempting it, especially for an FKT. Endurance alone isn’t enough. Some peaks require ice tools and mountaineering skills, while others mandate sure-footed confidence while free soloing on Class 5 terrain.
“I felt like it was a really worthy project, combining all of my skill sets, from hiking to ultrarunning to climbing, and kind of mashing it all together and doing it all at once,” she said.
Due to snow and unstable conditions, Keddie summited three peaks (Jefferson, Three Fingered Jack, and North Sister) with protection and the help of a climbing partner.
“There are bodies on those peaks,” she said. “You have to have respect for the route. And not have a sense of bravado, but be very brave.”
As a result of the terrain, the route was an exercise in mental acuity as well. Even while utterly exhausted, Keddie had to lock in and be extremely focused while she scrambled up loose rock, for example.
“The mental game is huge. My brain was exhausted and compromised as it became an endurance effort,” Keddie said.
‘The Route Was Ridiculous’
While Keddie hopes others will attempt to repeat her route, she also wants them to know it’s not for the faint of heart.
“I didn’t go into it thinking it would be fun. And it wasn’t fun. There were joyful and humorous aspects, but the route was ridiculous,” she said. “Each day seemed to be hard in its own unique, torturous way.”
Although they did not hamper her FKT attempt, weather and wildfires are unpredictable factors. Conditions can change quickly in this area. No matter what time of year it is, some peaks will have snow and ice.
In the summer, thunderstorms and rain are common. Even the bugs can pose a challenge. Keddie quipped that at some points, the mosquitoes were so bad it felt like they were immune to DEET.
Keddie also suffered from a leg and hip injury during her attempt. She has not received an official diagnosis yet, but the pain was so severe that it forced her to change her plans. She switched from doing 8-hour running days to 14-hour hiking days.
“It was a major bummer, but I had to just accept that it was the only way I would be able to preserve myself and still be able to finish,” she said.
Keddie originally planned to try to hit a lower time, but finishing itself was a momentous victory. “I moved as well as I could for as long as I could, and then when I couldn’t run anymore, I moved relentlessly forward because I just wanted so badly to be able to complete it.”
Wrapping Up the Oregon Volcanic Skyline FKT
While Keddie isn’t hanging up her trail runners any time soon, she does feel that the completion of the trail closes a chapter for her.
“This project highlighted for me just the enormity of risk more than ever before,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anything bigger I could do in this set of mountains. It was a way for me to wrap it up and tie it up.”
Keddie has not only remade a place of sorrow into a place of triumph, but she’s also established a technical test piece for the sport and a place for herself in the world of endurance running.
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