Castleton University Facilities Director Randy Crossman has been taking on a new challenge — hiking to the summit of Pico Mountain 365 times in 365 days.
Lovingly referred to as “PicoSummit365,” Crossman is hiking to foster awareness for Building Bright Futures, a non-profit organization whose mission working to improve the well-being of young children and families in Vermont.
His driving force is the love he has for his family; his daughter, Morgan Crossman, is executive director of Building Bright Futures and has her own young daughter named Amelie.
“I started hiking and running Pico when I was 14 years old, so I’ve grown up on this mountain,” Crossman said. “When I started PicoSummit365 last summer, I told myself I would try it for 30 days. I made it to 30 and decided to go for 50. I needed a cause to motivate me, so I told Morgan I wanted to raise awareness of Building Bright Futures and the great things they’re doing for Vermont families.”
Crossman has hiked through all seasons, most recently facing temperatures as low as 20 degrees below zero with 15 mile-per-hour winds. If all goes according to plan, he is on track to complete his challenge in June.
“The summer was hard,” Crossman said. “High grass, mosquitoes, high humidity. The pounding that your body takes every day, with no time for recovery. It got easier once the weather turned in the fall, but no hike is easy. Every day has different factors – rain, wind, dense fog, snow up to your waist. Maybe I’m not feeling well, or I had a hard day at work, but I’m still going out there. At this point, I’m confident that my body can physically handle this adventure, but it’s just as much mental as it is physical.”
Crossman summits the mountain twice in one day to make up for the days that he has missed a hike. On several occasions, family members have joined him.
“A heart pumper and surely a physical test,” Crossman’s sister-in-law Kim Levins said after joining Crossman on his 194th hike. “I cannot put into words how amazing he is to do this day after day after day. In most cases, night after night,” she said.
On weekdays, he hikes after work, often finding himself hiking trails in the dark. Having grown up skiing and hiking Pico Mountain, as well as serving as a volunteer rescuer on the mountain for several years, he considers safety to be of utmost importance.
Using an app called Life360 his family members are able to view his location on the mountain in real time, receiving notifications through the app as he reaches the peak and base so they can watch through the mountain’s live webcams. Crossman logs his mileage with the Strava app and has been wearing a GoPro camera to document his experience.
Each hike is just over 3.5 miles, meaning he will have hiked more than 1,277 miles when he reaches his goal of 365 hikes. So far, he has logged more than 700 miles and nearly 400,000 feet of total elevation gain.
Beyond awareness, his efforts have garnered more than $6,000 in support of Building Bright Futures.
“I’m in awe of my dad’s physical and mental toughness and am grateful for the continuous love and support he shows for our family and my work,” Morgan said. “I hope to spend some time on the mountain with him this summer, but I can't imagine that even if he carried Amelie up, I’d be able to keep up with him.”