On summer solstice 2019, Sophia Tidler became the first woman to solo the Chugach Linkup. The Linkup, also known as Cosmic Integration in the Chugach is the linking of the 12 peaks over 5000 feet in the Front Range of the Chugach in one outing. We interviewed Sophia at the end of the summer, along with multiple other record-setters from an extraordinary year of linkups. At the end of our interview, when asked if she had any other big adventures planned, she hesitated and said she wasn’t sure if she should say it out loud. When pushed she confessed that her goal was to do the Linkup in the winter. On winter solstice 2019, Sophia began a winter linkup from the Rabbit Lake trailhead; almost 55 hours later she walked out from the north end of the linkup at Arctic Valley road, becoming the first person to complete the linkup outside of the summer months.
GUEST:
Segment 1: Sophia Tidler became the first woman to solo the Chugach Linkup and is now the only known person to complete it in winter.
LINKS:
- Lisa Keller’s October 2019 Outdoor Explorer “Imagine hiking all the tallest summits of the Chugach Front Range in one trip. These people did it this year.”
- Charles Woolforth’s May 2018 Outdoor Explorer “The 12-Peak Challenge and Chugach Trails.”
- Chugach Front Linkup, Joe Stock’s website
BROADCAST: Thursday, March 12th, 2020. 2:00 pm – 3:00 p.m. AKT
REPEAT BROADCAST: Thursday, March 12th, 2020. 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. AKT
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