The Stirling Completion

"Chasing the awe and wonder of our beautiful backyard will always push me to explore more and is the testing ground for challenging myself to be more than I am." Perhaps these words best summate the adventure philosophy of Jake Reid, whose Stirling Completion project would certainly classify as 'challenging'. We sat down with Jake to hear all about this epic trek that took him to the edge and back.

Question: So tell our readers a little about yourself?

Jake: I'm Jake, a 24-year-old adventurer, content creator, and lover of all things outdoors. Growing up in Western Australia has meant I've always had a playground of adventure right at my doorstep from the red dirt desert of the Pilbara in my early years to the weekend trips all around the southwest. The more I have explored our country the more love I have to be able to call it home.

Jake Reid, adventurer. (Image courtesy of Jake Reid)

Q: And the big one: what is The Stirling Completion?

J: I recently set off to become the first to complete every climbable peak nonstop within Western Australia's well-known Stirling Range National Park. This means 110km over more than 30 hours including more than 5,500m of elevation gain. Starting with what some consider the most dangerous trail in Western Australia, The Stirling Ridge Walk, then following long road sections to each of the remaining five peaks through both day and night.

Q: Why did you have a go at this? What was the catalyst for you attempting this?

J: I've always loved Stirling Range National Park. It's what sparked my sense of adventure and love for hiking and mountains as a whole. I was 13 when I first summited the popular summit of Bluff Knoll and from that day, I've now had the opportunity to climb it over 17 times in every kind of weather from miserable windy days to the rare and beautiful snow-covered mornings. With this in mind, I was pondering what I could do to push myself this year. Beyond anything I had done before, and the thought came to mind: why not all of it? All of them nonstop? At first, that seemed far-fetched. Sure I love hiking but I'm no athlete. I don't even go to the gym. After then reflecting on my original desire to push myself it was decided. It's perfect.

The Stirling Completion: 110km over more than 30 hours including more than 5,500m of elevation gain. (Images courtesy of Jake Reid)

Q: Tell us about how it felt out on the trails and upon completion?

J: The emotions out there on the trail were an absolute rollercoaster. The first 10 hours were absolute bliss. Traversing my favourite trails in the country, enjoying the sunshine, my body feeling great, and being completely in the zone as to my pace and effort. It felt great but I was absolutely humbled in the hours that followed.

Q: What were the biggest challenges you faced on the adventure? Mental? Physical?

J: Just when I thought I was going to smash it, reality hit me square in the face. As I summited Mt Trio a sudden click in my knee saw a sharp pain run right up my leg every step. I told myself it would go away, but as the darkness set in, it only worsened. For 65km I was moving only able to bend my left leg, dragging the other along as if it were another of my trekking poles. It made me fight for every step. With 20km to go the cramps kicked in hard and not one part of my body was pain-free. A good cry saw me reflecting on 'whose silly idea this whole thing was anyway' and all the time I had put into preparing for this. And with that, I mustered up all the determination I needed to see myself through to the end of The Stirling Completion. I had done it!

Tread Carbon trekking poles (left) proved useful when the inevitable exhaustion kicked in (right). (Images courtesy of Jake Reid)

Q: What was the best thing about the adventure?

J: Once again traversing through my favourite national park in Australia, right where my love of the outback started. Pushing myself beyond anything I had done before and proving to myself I can truly smash anything I put my mind to. Seems cliché but it really was such a revelation to me of how much I can do.

Q: What previous achievements/trips have you done?

J: Only a few months before this I had a silly idea to attempt to be the first to paddle the whole Swan River on an inflatable SUP more than 75km over rapids and endless stretches of river all the way to the river mouth in Fremantle. What an adventure that was!

Q: What preparation have you undertaken?

J: Before committing to The Stirling Completion I wasn't even attending a gym so there was a lot of work to be done. Regularly doing hours upon hours on the stair machine as well as hikes through the night to test my physical and mental stamina in the dark. The preparation was tough but it only made the completion that much better!

Q: What's next for you?

J: At the moment my next big thing is building Endless Parks. A brand I recently started with my wife to encourage people to get out there exploring, appreciating, and looking after our national and marine parks. We also moved to Cairns in Queensland at the start of the year so continuing to explore everything I can over the other corner of Australia is also a big one! In saying that I can feel myself getting hungry for that next big challenge to push myself even further. And finally, accomplishing The Stirling Completion also set a new FKT route and FKT record which I am so looking forward to seeing others tackle and bring that time down to way less than I could ever do!

Always looking on to the next adventure. (Images courtesy of Jake Reid)

Photo Credits

All images supplied by:

Jake Reid

• Instagram @indeedjakereid
• YouTube @IndeedJakeReid