Last week, after days of treacherous trudging through unrelenting snow and loose rock in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains, Jason Heyn finally turned around.

He started walking down the road to the town of Red Lodge. He told himself he would accept a ride if one was offered.

“Sure enough, about 6 miles outside of town, someone pulled over and asked,” Heyn said. “That was it.”

That was the end of an audacious, unheard-of attempt in the Rocky Mountains that began in June in Colorado.

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After reportedly walking to all of this state’s 14,000-foot mountains and climbing up them, Heyn proceeded to walk to Wyoming. In mid-September, he reported scaling that state’s 36 mountains above 13,000 feet. He said he then walked to Montana, where 27 12,000-foot mountains would cap the challenge known as the Rocky Mountain Grand Slam.

The concept had turned heads in 2020, when Seattle’s Eric Gilbertson logged the 120 peaks in 60 days. That time was shattered this summer by a runner out of Oregon, Jason Hardrath, who knocked out the Grand Slam in 39 days.

Those men had the benefit of a vehicle shuttling them between mountains, along with other logistical support. It’s believed Heyn was the first to try the challenge all on foot, by himself, in thru-hike fashion.

After nine summits in Montana, Heyn accepted what he said was his first car ride. He marked his effort finished after 111 days, 104 mountains and 2,681 miles on feet that needed medical attention back in Red Lodge.

Any longer in the snowy wild, and he said his toes would have succumbed to frostbite.

“There’s definitely some discoloration still,” Heyn, 26, said late last week, back at his parents’ home in Gaithersburg, Md.

It could have been much worse, he figured.

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Going alone without a rope through Wyoming’s technical, glaciated Wind River Range was not exactly wise. In some areas, Heyn said he saw more grizzly bears than people — including one that came maybe 100 feet from him.

He counted himself lucky, too, on much flatter terrain.

“Road walking is super dangerous,” he said. “Especially if you’re doing hundreds and hundreds of miles, your chances of getting hit by a car greatly increase.”

Early into a post-college life of mountaineering and ultra running, Heyn said he spent more than a year plotting the Grand Slam. The preparation did little to quell the concerns of loved ones back home.

“I think my mom called search and rescue on me three times,” Heyn said. “Ultimately, it’s pretty selfish going out and risking my life and having people worry about me for three or four months.”

There was relief back home. There was a request.

Heyn’s mom wanted the long hair and beard gone. Heyn, a financial software consultant, knew it was not fit for the professional life to be resumed.

“I was thinking, man, I’m never gonna have this again,” he said. “But in the back of my head, I’m definitely gonna do something like this again. The hair and beard will be back at some point.”

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