Le Col has partnered with Strava to run the 8848 Challenge for several years now, and it’s a popular one! This year’s event starts on June 1st.
The challenge is to “Record 8848 meters of elevation for a chance to unlock the Limited Edition Le Col x Strava 8848 Jersey.” You must do the climbing between June 1-30, 2024, and the climbing can be done outdoors or on virtual rides (like Zwift). Read on for more details…
Why Do It?
Two reasons:
- As a cyclist, it’s always good to do more climbing. This challenge gets you on the hills!
- Completing the challenge earns you a free (or deeply discounted) IRL jersey (more below).
The Jersey Deal
If you complete the challenge in a single activity, you’ll unlock a voucher to get the jersey for free (you must still pay shipping and handling). If you complete the challenge over multiple activities, you’ll earn a £100 voucher, so the jersey will cost £65.
If you’re curious about jersey specs, it looks like the 8848 jersey is Le Col’s “pro aero” jersey, which you can read about here. I also reviewed the jersey in my Tour de Zwift 2024 kit review here.
Subscribers Only
While anyone on Strava can join and complete the challenge, you must be a Strava Premium Subscriber in order to unlock the free or discounted jersey deal.
Additionally, you must sign up for Le Col’s free club (LC__CC) in order to get the jersey deal. Sign up here >
Any time there is money involved, I encourage people to read the terms and conditions carefully. Here are the T&Cs for this Strava challenge.
Signing Up
Sign up for the challenge on Strava >
Looking for more tips? Here’s a helpful video from Le Col, created for last year’s challenge. It covers planning your month, choosing a climb, pacing, and fueling:
More on vEveresting on Zwift
If you’re looking to get a free jersey by completing the 8,848m of climbing in one Zwift activity, there are lots of articles and videos out there from folks who have completed this monumental challenge. Here’s a Zwift Insider post from Zwifter Ron Chatfield sharing his vEveresting experience.
Let’s see what climb of the month we have on Zwift. I reckon Fuji (125%) would be ideal for this challenge as it’s super steady.
But waaaay too much distance!
You didn’t need to be a Premium subscriber to get the Everest jersey last year.
Got the latest 3 jersey, need this one too 😎😁
Has anyone here had their ride validated by Le Col yet? Everesting.cc got me approved, but I’m feeling nervous that Le Col is going to want me to do it again.
yes, it took about 4 days
I have over 15,000 m for the month. Do I qualify?
Strava challenges usually work so that you can sign up late and still count all of the miles/elevation already done during the period of the challenge. So if you are a Strava Premium subscriber and a LCCC member (which is free), then you should qualify as soon as you sign up for the challenge in Strava.