Lowest to Highest Route Death Valley

With temperatures that can reach 130 °F (54 °C) Death Valley is the hottest and driest of the national parks in the United States. The route from Badwater to the top of Mount Whitney connects the lowest point, 282 feet below sea level with the driest, hottest place in the United States. The two places are only 80 miles apart but the course’s cumulative elevation gain exceeds 19,000 feet (5,800 m).

Badwater

The park is located in the Mojave Desert in California that has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve to balance the conservation of nature and cultural heritage with sustainable resource...

Furnace Creek Inn

Pacific Coast Borax Company built the Inn in 1927 partly to provide more business for their Death Valley Railroad. The mining company understood Death Valley’s rustic charms could be easily...

Panamint Springs

Panamint Mountains are a rugged range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park. Panamint is a Southern Paiute name for a group of Native Americans in the area; a...

Lone Pine

Located in the Owens Valley near the Alabama Hills and Mount Whitney, between the eastern peaks of the Sierra Nevada to the west and the Inyo Mountains to the east. In 1913 the...

Mount Whitney

Mount Whitney is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States and the Sierra Nevada, with an elevation of 14,505 feet.It’s the end point of the Lowest to Highest Route...

Badwater 135

Jul 7, 2025

Badwater, CA, USA

Jul 9, 2025

Mt. Whitney, CA, USA

Globally known as “the world’s toughest foot race”, Badwater 135 takes place every Summer in Death Valley, California, USA.The most challenging part of the race is the heat, as temperatures can reach 130 °F (54 °C). Up to 100 BadAsses yearly toe the line and attempt to cover the 135 miles (217 km) route non-stop, from the bottom of Death Valley to high on Mt. Whitney. It started with Al Arnold’s original trek from Badwater to Mt. Whitney in 1977. Arnold, an ultrarunning pioneer and human potential guru, competed in a solo effort: it was just him and his support...

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Marshall Ulrich-SMI-photo-mountaineers-route-in-winter

First Winter Badwater - Marshall Ulrich

Feb 21, 2021

Badwater, CA, USA

Feb 27, 2021

Mt Whitney, CA, USA

From February 21 through Feb 27, 2021, Marshall Ulrich completed the first-ever Winter Badwater in California, USA! The 69-year old running legend crossed the desert on foot from the Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level in Death Valley National Park to the Whitney Portal closure gate above Lone Pine, (the typical Badwater ultramarathon course), then climbed to the 14,508-foot summit of Mount Whitney via the Mountaineer’s Route. The lowest to the highest points in the continental US. Marshall completed this crossing in honor of his dear friend, and always and forever Stray Dog Mark Macy, who has early...

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Badwater SOLO - Croix Sather

Aug 23, 2012

Aug 26, 2012

Just two years after Croix began running, and 1 year after his run across, he challenged himself to beat one of the world’s hardest races. It’s called the Badwater SOLO self-contained crossing ultramarathon – commonly called the Badwater-Solo. He was the third person to ever finish the completely unassisted self-contained crossing. At age 41 Croix beat the 13-year-old record set in 1999 by running legend Marshall Ulrich by almost five hours for a new world record time of 72 hours and 55 minutes. Croix made two attempts at Badwater Solo in less than four days. His first try started on August...

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Ulrich BW Quad by Brooks Whitney Trail 2001

Badwater Quad - Marshall Ulrich

Jul 20, 2001

Badwater, CA, USA

Jul 30, 2001

Mt Whitney, CA, USA

In 2001, Marshall Ulrich was the first runner to complete the “Badwater Quad”, consisting of two back-to-back Death Valley 300s for a total of four consecutive Badwater/Whitney transits. He completed the course, a distance in excess of twenty-two marathons, in ten days. In 2003, Sawyer Manuj became the first Asian-American to complete the Badwater duo. In 2012, Terry Abrams (54) became the first woman to complete a solo Triple 146 crossing, 438 miles, which includes two summits of Mt. Whitney. She is also the oldest woman to complete the Double, 292 miles. In 2014, Lisa Smith-Batchen (54) became the first woman to...

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Lowest to Highest Route Death Valley

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