RUN THE WORLD MOUNTAINS
Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, mountains have always been home. Travelling the world, I’ve always discovered commonalities with mountains - and mountain people. This major project is to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent where indigenous mountain people live isolated from the outside, urban world.
Running solo and unsupported comes with obvious logistical as well as physical challenges, and travelling in this way forces my dependence on the small communities inhabiting these remote regions. Running is also a common language - all people around the world do it - and has always helped me build an instant rapport with the people along the way.
SOLO
Out now in paperback
SOLO chronicles Jenny's journey every step of the way across the Tien Shan (Asia), the High Atlas (Africa), the Bolivian Andes (South America), the Southern Alps (Oceania), the Canadian Rockies (North America) and the Transylvanian Alps (Europe), as she learns lessons in self-esteem, resilience, bravery and so much more. What Jenny's story tells us most of all is that setting out to do things solo - whether the ambitious or the everyday - can be invigorating, encouraging and joyful. And her call to action to find strength, confidence and self-belief in everything we do will inspire and motivate.
EXPEDITION RUNNING
This is more than a really long way to run. It’s a series of expeditions, where, in addition to the physically challenging task of running over mountain ranges, I have to arrange my own logistics in a foreign country, navigate the wilderness, carry all of my own equipment, and find a way to survive. In all honesty, running is the easy part.
The months leading up to each expedition are spent training hard to build excess muscle mass to cope with the extra pack weight, while pouring over maps and resources. Satellite images may help me to find remote communities, water sources, or impassable grades. Still, running in remote areas where perhaps no one has ever attempted a traverse before comes with little guarantee, and through years of mountain experience I have acquired the skills and the resilience to pursue a route where no path exists.
The Tien Shan (Asia)
Completed September 2016
On September 18, 2016, I ran - somewhat stonkered - through the city gates of Osh, in the southwest of Kyrgyzstan, having run just over 900 kilometres in 25 days from the northeast city of Karakol via the Tien Shan mountains, solo and self-supported.
The High Atlas (Africa)
Completed November 2017
"Tamazight" means 'free people', and is what the Berbers call themselves in their own language. In October 2017, Jenny Tough ran solo and unsupported across the High Atlas Mountains, a place still populated by the Tamazight, but patrolled by the Moroccan Gendarmerie.
The Cordillera Oriental
Completed October 2018
"No tienes miedo?" - Aren't you afraid? It's the first question I got asked in every pueblo as I ran through the Bolivian Andes. For 17 days, I battled with the fear inside my head - and reflected in the people I met - as I ran solo and unsupported across the Sierra Oriental, the third range in my global challenge to run across a mountain range on every continent.
The Southern Alps (Oceania)
Completed March 2019
The beautiful Southern Alps of New Zealand are filled with abundant wild nature, technical trails, long stretches between supplies, and views for days. The first developed country in the project, the difficulty of the trail system was a hard awakening.
The Canadian Rockies
Completed July 2020
In my global project to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent, I went back to the Canadian Rockies where I grew up to attempt my fifth journey. The route was nearly 1000km of incredibly remote backcountry, and I carried everything I needed in my 30L Trailblazer backpack, resupplying every 4-6 days in small towns en route.
The Transylvanian Alps
Completed September 2021
Bears, blisters, and bivouacs. The Transylvanian Alps were my final journey in this global project, and were an emotional finale to five years of working towards this goal.
