With a new year comes new year resolutions, but now we are in February, and a lot of people might not be where they want to be. We’re in the second month in the new year and many of us are working hard to accomplish some of our goals.
“I think it’s good for people to have goals to work towards,” said Scott Hurst, director of Recreational Facilities and Resources at BYU-Idaho. “Whether those be fitness goals or just goals that help you be active and motivated to do things.”
Hurst set a giant goal for himself this year and has turned his personal goal into a challenge for students on campus.
“I personally am not a goal setter as far as personal goals that you hear about,” Hurst said. “I do more of a broader thing like I’m going to climb Mt. Denali, that’s a goal I set I’m working towards it.”
Mt. Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America. It’s also known as Mt. McKinley. It stands at 20,310 feet and is located in the Alaskan Range. To try to help students around campus set fitness goals, Hurst and the Outdoor Resource Center have created the Denali Challenge.
Hurst will fly out at the end of May and will be on the mountain for a month. That’s a long time on a mountain, so Hurst is going through a series of workouts to get himself ready. He started last October with a few hours a week and now, 15 weeks into his training, he’s close to 20 hours a week.
Hurst does things like hike ski trails or runs on the treadmill indoors. He said no matter what physical goal you’ve set, you really just need to stay active.
“Pretty soon I will start working on getting used to pulling a toboggan full of weight because that is one of the things on Denali. is we’ll have about 120 pounds of gear between me and my partner apiece for the whole month,” he said.
If you have a big fitness goal, Hurst recommends building endurance and doing it slowly, over time. The Outdoor Resource Center is a great resource for students to do active things no matter what time of the year it is. The ORC is geared toward human powered recreation. Equipment for activities like hiking, boating, snowshoeing, skiing, Nordic skiing, or snowboarding are all available at the ORC.
The Denali Challenge will have an example tracking sheet that would be like climbing the 20,310-foot mountain. In order to participate you must sign up online. Once you sign up you can copy and paste the Example Tracking Sheet tab to your own Google file and track your own progress.
At the end of the 6-week challenge, Hurst and his intern will review the top finishers’ tracking sheets and award prizes.
Incentives can help people who want to exercise and stay healthy, Hurst said. Some students have already accomplished the feat and have made the 20,310 feet. Being steady and doing a little bit each day over the course of the challenge will help you accomplish your goal.
You can go online to find out the full details of the challenge, how to submit and how to win prizes such as T-shirts, water bottles, free rentals and other items from the ORC. Everyone receives a prize when they finish the challenge.