Everesting Flagstaff

It was a warm summer morning in Boulder, Colorado when Bobby Ryan left his house for a bike ride up the iconic Flagstaff Mountain. As a popular road biking route, Flagstaff is a routine ride for many of Boulder’s cyclists. For the non-cyclists, Flagstaff is still a common vista for Boulder locals and visitors alike - it’s a popular hiking area, scenic drive and even a Friday night date spot for those in love hoping to catch a beautiful sunset. Boasting an average steep grade of 7.4%, and peaking 2,200ft above town at its base, this ride is anything but easy.

But Bobby saw an opportunity…

What is “Everesting?”

During the Covid era, a number of endurance athletes began “Everesting” their local hills. As a way to push themselves in new ways, these athletes challenged themselves to climb bike, ski, run, etc. the elevation of Everest. As defined by the all-knowing Wikipedia, “Everesting is an activity in which cyclists or runners ascend and descend a given hill multiple times, in order to have cumulatively climbed 8,848 metres (29,029 ft) (the elevation of Mount Everest).”

Just like the tallest mountain in the world, this is a big endeavor.

Searching for Purpose

After a few hours of filming Bobby in the gym, on a training ride and interviewing him in a small conference room near my office we got to talking about the reason why he wanted to do this. As an endurance athlete myself, I understand those motivations that drive you forward when you hit that first wall. For some, they want to set a new personal best or prove they can set a goal and complete it. But for some it goes deeper. Some athletes are overcoming addiction or battling with mental health and can use the discipline that is required for training for an endurance event as a exercise in healing.

For Bobby, it took the form of philanthropy...

Fundraising for rare disease research

Bobby has been a skier for most of his life. He’s currently a member of the University of Colorado Boulder ski team and a sponsored athlete regularly competing in downhill races. When he was in high school, his ski coaches son, Shane, was diagnosed with a rare disease. Because it was rare, there wasn’t a wide array of resources, research, and money to understand how to treat it. Over the past few years, Bobby and his friends have completed various fundraising rides for Shane but this one was the biggest - both in distance and in fundraising numbers.

The morning of the attempt…

As I rocked up to Bobby’s house on the morning of the ride I could tell he was excited. He knew he had a long day ahead of them but like with any big attempt, the only way to conquer is with one small step at a time. While he was sipping on his cup of Yerba Mate from a company that he started with his teammate, Drink Birk, I was going to do the logistics of the day with him.

How he plans to “Everest”

Each lap will take about an hour and, in order to conquer that amount of elevation, he needed to do about 12.5 laps. We started at 5:00am so it would be reasonable that we would finish the day at around 7pm. 7pm came and went. At 9pm, I can see Bobby really begin to fatigue. At midnight, me and his friends that joined him for moral support are shocked he still going. At 1am, I sit down to have a conversation with him as he drinks some soda before his final lap. He’s obviously exhausted but still has that optimistic personality that makes him a joy to be around, even in pretty terrible moments.

“I just keep thinking about Shane. My coach in high school inspired me and gave me the resources to become the athlete I am today. The impact that he had on my life was amazing so if I can do this little thing to show him that what he did for me made a difference, it’s all worth it.

Plus, I believe we are capable of so much more than we think and this just gives me an opportunity to prove that to myself.”

At 2:12am on August 3rd, Bobby successfully summited Flagstaff Mountain for the 13th time and completed his Everesting attempt. He didn’t break any records or win any awards but he was met at the top with hugs from friends and his college ski coach - which matters just as much.

Feel free to share the full video or the trailer with your friends if you enjoyed it! It helps a lot :)

About Me

Roo is a commercial/documentary filmmaker and photographer based in Boulder, Colorado but travels all around the world for his filmmaking career. He has produced films for Outside Magazine in Ireland, camera operated for Netflix in the Rocky Mountain West, photographed among indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador, directed videos with professional climbers in Mexico and has received notable recognition in his hometown of Orcas Island in Washington State for his work telling uplifting stories in the outdoor space.