Jackson Hole Everest 29029 Training Plan

$49.00

  • 9-Week, 6 day/week training program
  • Designed to prepare fit athletes to complete the Jackson Hole Everesting 29,029 climbing event
  • This training plan is one of the 450+ Plans included with an Athlete’s Subscription.

Description

This 9-Week, 6 day/week training program is sport-specifically designed to prepare fit athletes to complete the Jackson Hole Everesting 29,029 climbing event.
Everesting 29029 events are held across the country at ski areas. Participants complete uphill hiking laps on the same hill that total 29,029 feet of vertical gain. At the top, participants hop on a ski lift and ride it down to the bottom, where they get off, and begin hiking the next lap. Participants must complete the requisite number of laps until they reach 29,029 feet of gain. They have 36 hours to complete the required number of laps and most, if not all of the participants use trekking poles.

At Jackson Hole, participants hike up Snow King Mountain, and ride down the lift, a total of 19 times. Snow King is approximately 1,650 feet of vertical gain in 1.1 miles. The 19 laps required to complete the event total 20 miles of horizontal movement in addition to the vertical gain.

This training plan is specifically designed to be completed the 9 weeks directly before the Jackson Hole event. Week 8 is a taper, and the actual event starts on the Thursday of week 9 of the plan.

This training program has 3 general objectives:

  1. Build specific uphill hiking strength and endurance to complete the 29,029 feet of vertical gain.
  2. Build trekking poll-specific tricep, arm, back and grip strength and strength endurance for using trekking pole for the event.
  3. Maintain general total body and functional core strength.
  4. Prepare your mental fitness, leg strength endurance and cardio fitness for an extended endurance event.

This is Version 1 of this plan, built May 2025.

Programming Approach

The programming in this plan is heavily focused on uphill hiking strength and strength endurance using trekking poles. Training time is dominated doing step ups on a 12-inch box or bench. Snow king is especially steep for a lift-assisted ski hill with inclines approaching 50% in parts. MTI has used step ups to effectively train uphill endurance for nearly two decades, and they are efficient and effective. More directly, while completing this plan you’ll complete hours upon hours of step ups, 4 days/week. Like any long endurance event, this plan will demand extended weekly training time. The plan purposely places your longest training days on Saturday and Sunday.

One day/week you’ll “Nordic Walking” outside or on an inclined  treadmill using trekking poles. Most participants complete the event with trekking poles and for an event this long, you need to build the specific upper body strength, strength endurance and grip strength endurance for using trekking poles constantly for 12+ hours. Nordic walking is simply walking with trekking poles.

One day a week you’ll complete a gym-based strength and chassis integrity (core strength) event.

Below is the approximate weekly volume you’ll complete in vertical gain doing step ups:

Week  Volume in Vertical Feet

1         10,480

2         13,070

3         15,650

4         18,310

5         20,910

6         23,520

7         26,140

8         13,070 (taper)

9         1,000 (event week)

WEEKLY SCHEDULE 

  • Mon: Total Rest
  • Tue: Step Ups
  • Wed: Strength Training
  • Thu: Step Ups
  • Fri: Nordic Walking
  • Sat: Long Step Ups
  • Sun: Long Step Ups

COMMON QUESTIONS

What is the Required Equipment?

  • 12″ box or step for step ups
  • Hand counter or similar to count step ups
  • Barbell, plates, rack, dumbbells for the weekly strength training session
  • Trekking Poles
  • Foam Roller

How Long do the Sessions Last?
Gym-based sessions last 45 minutes. Step Up sessions can extend to several hours. Longest days will be Saturday and Sunday.

How do I know I’m fit enough to start this plan?
To determine if you need are ready for this training plan,  complete a max rep effort of 30 minutes of step ups, at a 12-inch bench or step. If you score 400x or less reps in your effort, we recommend completing the Mountaineering / Hiking Prep Plan prior to beginning this plan.

Why are there two numbers listed for the exercises with assigned loads?
The lower weight is the prescribed weight for women, and the higher is for men, for example, Barbell Complex @ 45/65# means women use 45# and men use 65#.

What if I miss a day?
Begin where you left off when you return to training. This program is progressed – each session builds upon the prior session – so don’t skip a session or skip around. Follow the training sessions in order, regardless.

Where do I find unfamiliar exercises?
See our Exercise Library HERE. The Run/Ruck Calculator is listed as an exercise.

What about nutrition?
See our Nutritional Guidelines HERE.

Can I print out sessions to take to the gym?
Yes – you can print a week of programming at a time.

More Questions? Email: coach@mtntactical.com

DISCLAIMER

Before beginning any exercise program, consult with your physician to ensure that you are in proper health. Physical training contains inherent risks including, but not limited to, muscle strains, tears, physical and bodily injury up to and including death. This training program is not meant to provide medical advice; you should obtain medical advice from your private health care practitioner. If you are unable to assume these risks then you should not engage in this training program. No liability is assumed by Mountain Tactical Institute, Inc, its owners or employees, and you train at your own risk. Mountain Tactical Institute makes no warranty, express or implied, of any kind in connection with this training program.

Required Equipment


  • 12" box or step for step ups

  • Hand counter or similar to count step ups

  • Barbell, plates, rack, dumbbells for the weekly strength training session

  • Trekking Poles

  • Foam Roller

Sample Training

Monday – Session 1
OBJ: Uphill Endurance

Warm Up
3 Rounds

  • 525 Step Ups @ 12” Box – Moderate Pace

  • Run 200m

“Grind” = work steadily not frantically for the prescribed time or rounds. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest

2 Rounds

  • Instep Stretch

  • Foam Roll Quads, Low Back


Tuesday – Session 2
OBJ: Strength, Chassis Integrity

Warm Up
3 Rounds

  • 5x Walking Lunges

  • 5x Hand Release Push-Up

  • 1x Pull Up

  • Instep Stretch

  • Lat + Pec Stretch

Training
5 Rounds

  • 5x Walking Lunges – Increase load rapidly each round until 5x is hard, but doable

  • 3x Scotty Bob – 15/25#

  • Hip Flexor Stretch

4 Rounds

  • 10x Weighted Situp – Increase load each round until 10x hard, but doable

  • 10x Good Morning – Increase load each round until 10x is hard but doable

  • 5x Kneeling Slasher to Halo – Increase load each round until 5x is hard, but doable

1 Round

  • Foam Roll Complex


Wednesday – Session 3
OBJ: Uphill Endurance

Warm Up
3 Rounds

  • 525 Step Ups @ 12” Box – Moderate Pace

  • Run 200m

“Grind” = work steadily not frantically for the prescribed time or rounds. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest

2 Rounds

  • Instep Stretch

  • Foam Roll Quads, Low Back


Thursday – Session 4
OBJ: Nordic Walking

Training

  • 4 Mile Nordic Walking with Trekking Poles – Moderate Pace

“Moderate” = comfortable but not easy … but still walk (don’t run/jog)
Use trekking poles … also slight incline if possible – gentle hill or treadmill @ 10–15% incline

2 Rounds

  • Instep Stretch

  • Foam Roll Quads, Low Back


Friday – Session 5
OBJ: Total Rest / Recovery Walk

Warm Up

  • Rest or Recovery

  • Total Rest today or 30-minute easy recovery walk/spin


Saturday – Session 6
OBJ: Uphill Endurance

Warm Up
5 Round Grind …

  • 880 Step Ups @ 12” Box – Moderate Pace

  • Run 200m

“Grind” = work steadily not frantically for the prescribed time or rounds. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest

2 Rounds

  • Instep Stretch

  • Foam Roll Quads, Low Back


Sunday – Session 7
OBJ: Uphill Endurance

Warm Up
3 Round Grind …

  • 990 Step Ups @ 12” Box – Moderate Pace

  • Run 200m

“Grind” = work steadily not frantically for the prescribed time or rounds. Pace yourself, but don’t stop to rest

2 Rounds

  • Instep Stretch

  • Foam Roll Quads, Low Back

1)  Mission Direct

Gym numbers mean nothing. All that matters is mission performance. 

To this end, MTI’s fitness solutions and programming are not boxed in by convention, tradition, orthodoxy, public opinion or any other artificial constraint driven by inside or outside forces.

We begin with the raw fitness demands of the mission and build a fitness solution which directly prepares the athlete for those demands.

 

2) Fitness Solutions Built from the Ground Up

MTI’s programming is not “re-tread” bodybuilding, football, CrossFit, kettlebell, strength or general fitness programming. We’ve built our fitness programming for mountain and tactical athletes from the ground up.

The Fluid Periodization methodology we deploy to concurrently train multiple fitness attributes is completely original and has continued to evolve and improve over the years.

Our mid-section training methodology, Chassis Integrity, is also original, as is our endurance programming, 7 strength training progressions, tactical agility, and work capacity programming.

Our mountain sports pre-season training plans, tactical PFT, selection, school, course, and fitness improvement training plans across military, LE and Fire Rescue are MTI-developed, tested and athlete-proven.

Over the years hundreds of athletes and coaches have taken our advanced programming and unit fitness leader programming courses and MTI is widely recognized within the mountain and tactical professions and fitness media as a thought leader in fitness programming for military and tactical athletes.

 

3) The MTI Method

→ Research: MTI begins program design with extensive research of the fitness demands of the mission, sport or event, identifies the exercises and progressions which sport-specifically meet those demands, chose end-of-cycle goals, and program backward to design the training plan.

→ Deploy & Assess: We deploy the training plan “Lab Rats” at our Wyoming facility. Training session and cycle issues are identified and fixed as we work through the training plan. Post cycle we assess the programming’s effectiveness and efficiency. We keep the stuff that works, and fix or toss the stuff that doesn’t.

→ Publish & Assess Again: Plan is published for purchase as an individual training plan and made available to our subscribers. Feedback/results are assessed.

→ Iterate: We take what we learn from lab rats and athletes, re-visit, update and improve already published training plans. Several of our individual training plans are on their 4th or 5th version.

 

4) Mission-Direct Research

MTI exists to “Improve Mountain and Tactical Athletes mission performance and keep them safe.” To that end, we have developed a unique research methodology aimed at identifying real world areas of improvement and identifying immediately deployable mission-direct solutions. Click HERE to learn more about MTI’s Mission-Direct Research methodology, and Here to read about just few of our research efforts.

 

5) Field Proven

Our stuff works. Weekly we receive unsolicited reviews of our programming and testimonials to its effectiveness.

 

6) Programming Breadth

MTI’s library of 200+ sport-specific fitness plans for mountain and tactical athletes is unmatched. Resources range from specific programming for tactical special forces selections, to specific plans for climbing Rainier and Denali, to general fitness solutions such as running improvement, to post-rehab from injury.

Over the past decade, MTI has partnered with hundreds of athletes throughout their individual mountain and tactical careers, and provided fitness solutions as they face new mountain objectives, tactical schools, selections, PFTs and deployments, and came back from injury.

 

7) Worldwide Influence

Our work is not limited to US Athletes.

We’ve developed selection-specific training plans for Canadian, UK, Australian and German Special Forces Selections and worked with individual military personnel from Scandinavia, South, and Central America.

Canadian, Australian, UK and western European law enforcement and fire/rescue athletes have used MTI programming for mission-direct fitness.

On the mountain side, Alpinists from Japan to Slovakia have consulted with MTI and used MTI’s programming to prepare for mountain objectives.

 

8) Mission Performance beyond Fitness

MTI’s exists is to improve Mission Performance for mountain and tactical athletes and keep them safe. 

This focus on “mission direct” solutions, enhancements and improvements drives our work and research and extends beyond fitness solutions to include training, leadership, gear, team culture, and safety. 

Fitness is just one area of our work.

Our non-fitness research has included tactical cultures, combat uniforms, and gore-tex performance, and effect of stress on marksmanship.

Our work on defining what it means to be a Quiet Professional has had penetrating influence and driven healthy conversations with both mountain and tactical professionals.

 

9) Direct, Honest, Clear Answers

Since 2007 we’ve taken and answered dozens of questions weekly from mountain and tactical athletes. We’ve saved these individual Q&A’s and now thousands are archived on our site.

We’re not salesmen, and our answers are noted for their directness, honesty, and clarity. Our stuff isn’t for everyone. If we can help, we’ll let you know. If we can’t, we’ll let you know that, too.

– Rob Shaul, Founder

 


All of the Above is Backed Up By Our Promise: Our Stuff Works. Guaranteed.

Our Stuff Works. Guaranteed.

By Rob Shaul

I received notes frequently from athletes hesitant to purchase a subscription or training plans asking me to sell them on why they should make the purchase.

While I understand the question, I’m not a salesman – so I can’t put a hard sale on anyone for our programming.

I can tell them the process we go through to design our programming.

We begin with extensive research on the fitness demands of the event, identify the exercises and progressions which sport specifically meet those demands, chose end-of-cycle goals, and program backward to design the plan.

Then we test the cycle on ourselves and our lab rats here in Wyoming. We document, note what works and doesn’t work, re-assess, and make changes and modifications.

Then we publish the programming in the form of one of our plans or as part of our subscription daily training sessions for tactical and mountain athletes.
We don’t stop there – our daily programming is the “tip of the spear” for our programming evolution. We use these sessions to learn and make continuous improvement.

As we learn more and improve, we go back, and update the sport-specific training plans on the website. For example, we’re currently on Version 5 of our Ruck Based Selection Training Plan and Version 3 of our Dryland Ski Training Plan and Version 4 of our Big Game Back Country Hunting Training Plan.

We understand our programing isn’t cheap, but we believe it’s a great value. The $79 for the Ruck Based Selection Training Plan, and $39 for the Dryland Ski Training Plan reflect the, research, work, innovative theory, iteration, testing and feedback we’ve put in and received to make these plans effective.

All that matters for us is outside performance, and we feel strongly that Our Stuff Works in the real world.

Here’s our guarantee:

1) Individual Training Plan Purchase:
If you purchase an individual training plan, follow it as prescribed before your season/event/pft/selection, and if you don’t feel you were physically ready for your season/event/pft/selection, and/or didn’t see dramatic improvements in your early season performance, we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

2) Athlete’s Subscription
If you purchase an Athletes’ Subscription, follow the training sessions as prescribed, and are not satisfied with the quality of the programming, notify us within 30 days of purchase, and we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

Questions?
Email: rob@mtntactical.com

COMMON QUESTIONS:

Do you have any reviews or testimonials from athletes who have used your Athlete’s Subscription
Yes. Click HERE.

Is it true you guarantee your stuff works?
Yes. If you purchase an Athletes’ Subscription, follow the training sessions as prescribed, and are not satisfied with the quality of the programming, notify us within 30 days of purchase, and we’ll refund your money, no questions asked.

How is MTI programming different than CrossFit?
This is a common question. Read our answer HERE.

You have a lot of competitors. Why should I choose MTI?
MTI is driven to improve mountain and tactical athletes’ mission performance and keep them safe. This emphasis and focus on mission performance sets us apart. Read about more that sets us apart HERE.

If I purchase a plan or subscription, how do I access the programming?
All of our plans are online, accessible via username and password.
You can log in through our →Website  or Mobile App →IOS and Android.

Do you have downloadable .pdf’s of the training plans?
No. But you can print the programming, by week, from your browser. You access individual training plans online via a username and password.

Do you have a mobile app?
Yes, we do. Available for IOS and Android.

What is the difference between purchasing an individual training plan, packet of plans or an Athlete’s Subscription?

  • Plan – Like purchasing the DVD of the first Star Wars movie. You own it forever, including any updates we make to the plan.
  • Packet – Like purchasing the DVD’s of all the Star Wars movies. You own them forever, including any updates we make to the plans.
  • Athlete’s Subscription – Like subscribing to Netflix. You get access to all 200+ plan in our library, but lose access if you unsubscribe.

If I purchase an Athletes Subscription Can I cancel on my own, anytime?
Yes.

Do I have to contact MTI to cancel or can I do it myself?
You can do it yourself. Instructions HERE.

If I purchase a subscription and have questions about where to start or what plans(s) to use for my goals, will you help?
Yes. We answer dozens of training questions from athletes weekly. Email coach@mtntactical.com.

If you add new plans or update existing plans after I subscribe will I have access to them?
Yes. We are continuously adding training plans and packets (2-5/month) and updating plans. With your subscription you’ll have access to all new plans, new courses and plan updates.

What Equipment is Required?
Click the “Required Equipment” tab to find out what equipment is required for the specific plan you are interested in.

Where do I find unfamiliar exercises?
See our Exercise Library HERE. The Run and Ruck Calculators are listed as exercises.

What about nutrition?
See our Nutritional Guidelines HERE.

Can I see sample training?
Click the “Sample Training” tab to see the entire first week of programming.
You are encouraged to do it before purchasing.

What if I have more questions?
Email rob@mtntactical.com

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