You don’t need to leave Charlottesville to conquer Mount Everest. Just ask University of Virginia second-year student Mason Allen, who faced the climb armed with a unicycle and pure determination.
On Nov. 2 around 5 a.m., Allen embarked on his journey to beat the “Everesting” record, a pursuit described as the “most difficult climbing challenge in the world.” It involves climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest, or 29,032 feet, going up and down the same hill.
Endurance athletes worldwide have completed the challenge using bikes, skis, stair climbers, and, more recently, unicycles – each on a course of their choosing.
Allen chose a hill beginning on McCormick Road for its 9% incline – a looping 219-foot climb he circled nearly 130 times to complete the challenge. (Photo by Jack Looney)
Allen selected a familiar route: a loop winding through McCormick and Edgemont roads that includes a 219-foot climb. He pedaled 128 laps, totaling 119.85 linear miles and the required vertical distance to complete Everest.
Allen completed his journey in 21 hours, with about 18½ of those hours actively unicycling. Prior to this attempt, Allen had never ridden his unicycle for more than four hours at a time.
He refrained from listening to music until hour 14 or 15 to conserve his phone battery. “I tried to dedicate as much brainpower as I could to counting how many laps I did, which I ended up losing count of,” he said.
The most difficult moments came around the 13- or 14-hour mark. “It wasn’t that I was considering stopping,” Allen said, “but I had to take longer and more frequent breaks because I had pretty severe pain in my ankles and knees.”
Sam Lindblom and Annette Dusenbury, friends from the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Group, came to support Allen while he pedaled his way to the height of Everest. (Photo by Jack Looney)
Friends and local cyclists came by to cheer Allen on, with some even joining him for a lap or two in solidarity.
By a twist of fate, Allen’s trek ended just minutes after the clocks shifted for the end of daylight saving time, moving his end time from 2 a.m. to 1 a.m., though his total time remained 21 hours.
Only one other person had ever completed the Everesting challenge on a unicycle: 29-year-old Ben Soja, who set the record in 2018 with a time of just over 23 hours on California’s Mount Lowe.
Allen managed to shave two hours off Soja’s record, mostly by minimizing his stopping time, which he strategically controlled throughout his attempt.
“I looked at the data since (Soja) posted the GPS data for his attempt, and I thought, ‘Hey, I think I can beat this,’” Allen said. “That’s when the idea sparked.”
Spot a student riding a unicycle on Grounds? It's likely Allen. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Communications)
Allen’s athletic background began early. The Crozet native grew up in a family of athletes, with his parents regularly competing in triathlons. He entered his first bicycle race at 9 and continued participating in competitions, including racing for his high school cycling team.
He first tried riding a unicycle in middle school after receiving one as a gift from a family member. He only started taking unicycling seriously in 2020 when he purchased a 26-inch Nimbis mountain unicycle, which he still uses today.
That same year, Allen participated in Monster Cross, a 25-mile gravel unicycle race in Richmond, in which he competed again earlier this year.
Since arriving at UVA, Allen has been an active member of UVA Club Cycling, even competing in a collegiate mountain bike race during his first weekend on Grounds. The organization unites students who share a passion for cycling, whether for casual rides or competitive races.
“Most of my weekends either consist of traveling to a race, driving out to ride local backcountry routes or cycling in Charlottesville, whether with friends or by myself,” he said.
Beyond cycling, Allen is majoring in economics and English, with plans to add a math minor. His concentration in English is poetry writing. “I don’t like boxing myself into a single field,” he said.
“In economics or math, you’re solving puzzles where logic forms the pieces, but in English classes, there is satisfaction in solving a different type of puzzle,” Allen said. “You’re trying to figure out how to arrange and compose the words on the page, similar to a puzzle.”
