• Sid Palmer was looking for a fresh endurance challenge and signed up for 29029 Snowbasin #1 in Utah - a unique ultra event where participants repeatedly hike a mountain until they reach the equivalent height of Mount Everest (29,029ft/8,848m)
• For this event, participants had to climb Snowbasin Mountain 13 times within a 36-hour period to successfully reach the summit of Everest and claim their ‘red cap’, which is awarded to 29029 finishers
• Despite thunderstorms causing delays with the gondola taking participants down the mountain, Sid successfully ‘Everested’ in 33 hours

Hydration

• On the mountain, Sid relied on his one litre (32oz) hydration pack to carry his electrolytes and fluid and he refilled this as required after almost every ascent. Sid alternated between using PF Energy Drink Mix , PH 1000 and PH 1500
• To simplify his strategy in future, we’d generally recommend that Sid considers mixing the products as directed in order to maintain the relative sodium concentration of the electrolytes (e.g. one PH 1500 tablet in ~500ml (~16oz) of plain water)
• Using both PF Energy Drink Mix (500mg sodium serving per serving) and PH 1000 during early hikes allowed Sid to get a small quantity of carbohydrate on board, while replacing a high amount of sodium. Over the whole event, Sid consumed ~13,307mg of sodium which, alongside the fluid he drank, meant the average relative sodium concentration of his intake was ~1,224mg/L (mg/32oz)
• We know from Sid’s Sweat Test prior to the event that he loses 983mg of sodium per litre (32oz) of sweat, so the slightly higher relative concentration of his intake will have replaced a good proportion of his losses
• In terms of fluid replacement, Sid drank to thirst throughout the event which was suitable over this long challenge, but he made sure to be mindful of the volume he was drinking when his sweat losses were higher (i.e. during warmer parts of the day and when he was working at a higher intensity)
• The numbers illustrate that he drank ~329ml (~11oz) of fluid per hour on average. Despite being slightly lower than we’ve seen other 29029 participants drink, this is to be expected as conditions were generally very cool (average temperature of 15°C/59°F) and Sid doesn’t report having a high sweat rate. Also, due to the length of this event the likelihood of error in this fluid calculation is increased as a result of the large number of times he refilled his pack and the variance in that refill

Fueling

Conclusions

• Sid was extremely happy to claim his coveted “Red Cap” after completing Snowbasin #1 and he felt he implemented an effective fuel and hydration strategy
• One thing Sid mentioned was that in future he’d like to make his strategy slightly more uniform and structured, which would allow him to make sure he was getting enough fuel and electrolytes on board in while making things slightly simpler for himself during the event