Andrew Skurka: The Ultimate Testament to the Wooleator
DeFeet has worked with a lot of world class athletes over the last 28 years. Looking back, the most prolific and demanding user of our products wasn't a household name or someone seen on televisions across the world each year. It was Andrew Skurka, the solo, lightweight backcountry adventurer who also sports a 2:28 marathon PR.
In 2003, Skurka contacted DeFeet to outfit him for his upcoming Sea-To-Sea route, a 7,775 mile hike from Quebec through Washington state. He was asking for the Wooleator sock, and DeFeet delivered. His trip was a success, and he planned another, the Great Western Loop. For 208 days in 2007, Skurka averaged 33 miles a day to complete the journey. I recall he'd had a difficult time passing through the Cascade mountains of Oregon, that Spring. His feet were punching through a layer of crust on the snow into soft snow beneath it. He eventually made it, and as he passed along the Columbia River Gorge, he gave me coordinates, a day and time when he would pop out of the woods and cross a remote road. I arrived, and within minutes, Andrew suddenly appeared, smiling outside my car. He put on the much needed new pair of shoes I'd brought for him, ate a Tollhouse ice cream sandwich, and we starting hiking. I walked with him for eight miles before turning around and returning to the comforts of home. Skurka would go for another 20+ miles before laying down in the woods to sleep. The next days, my body felt wrecked. For him, it was merely one of the 208 consecutive days he did it. As we walked, I asked him "Why are you doing these things?". He replied, "I want people to know about these places, these routes. People need to use them, to be aware of them so they will be intact in the future."
Skurka remains the consummate adventurer with one of the most informative blogs of it's type in the world, andrewskurka.com. He guides trips every year and shares an amazing library of maps and logistics from each of his major trips. His testimonials and reviews of gear are, at this point, historic in nature. This review of the DeFeet Wooleator for Outside Online is as authentic as it gets.
Read Andrew's DeFeet Wooleator review at Outside Online: "I Tested the DeFeet Wooleator Socks for a Decade - And they've been my go-to running and hiking companion for more than 20,000 miles"
Skurka has been named "Adventurer of the Year" by both National Geographic and Outside Magazine. Backpacker Magazine awarded him "Person of the Year". He has traveled more than 30,000 miles on his thru hikes. Over a 10 year period, he logged more than 20,000 miles in his DeFeet Wooleator socks. Thank you, Andrew.
