Thorn Merrill walked into the Ultimate Mountain Athlete contest with low expectations and high hopes.
His strategy? Have fun, do his best. Winning wasn’t exactly on his radar. But after 10 days of competitive multi-sporting around Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, it was (spoiler alert!) Merrill who took home the win. (He also climbed the hardest rated climb in Ultimate Mountain Athlete history, a 5.12b.)
A Flylow athlete from Salt Lake City, Utah, and an environmental scientist with a focus on air quality, Merrill beat out an elite field of outdoor athletes to win season two of Ultimate Mountain Athlete, which airs in full this week on Outside TV. We spoke to Merrill about sleeping at 11,000 feet, what it’s like being named Thorn, and and his favorite Flylow pants.
My full name is Thorn King Merrill. It’s an intense sounding name. People sometimes think I say Thor when I introduce myself. You might think it’s a hippy name, but it’s just a great uncle’s name.
I tried to do my best without blowing it. My main strategy was to have fun and attack each sport in the way I wanted to do it. Sometimes that worked well—like climbing the hardest climbing route. Sometimes that bit me a little, like trying to do a bigger jump on the mountain bike ride and crashing out.
Pushing myself and trying to improve—that comes naturally. I like rising to the occasion. The last time I really competed was in slopestyle skiing in high school, so I don’t have as much experience with the mental side of competition or the strategy of when to push it and when to play it safe.
Thorn climbed the hardest rated climb in Ultimate Mountain Athlete history, a 5.12b.
I didn’t expect how hard it would be competing and sleeping at altitude. We slept at 11,000 feet. That was an adjustment doing aerobic activities at that elevation, especially the ski tour.
Skiing, mountain biking, and climbing are what I spend all my free time doing. It seemed crazy there was a competition that included all three. It was an added bonus that I’d never really explored the San Juans, so that was a unique opportunity.
The outdoor community is a huge space. We have an important voice that people listen to. I’ve worked with POW and learned through them that the collective voice is strong. I’m always trying to speak up for issues that I feel strongly about and issues that directly affect our outdoor activities. Like trying to show the link between skiing and dust from the Great Salt Lake. It’s all connected
Silverton Mountain basically didn’t have snow when we shot the show last April. It was such a tough winter in Colorado. Silverton opened just for us, and the venue was basically unskiable. But then we got a foot of snow, and everything turned around.
Folks were taking it seriously and trying to win. But it was a very positive, inclusive environment. That felt like a good balance.
You don’t have to limit yourself to just one activity. Try a bunch of different things.
The Hot Tub Pant is my favorite Flylow pant. I wear it climbing outside. It has a tie waist. I like the stretchy feel, so you’re not restricted.
Check out Thorn's film, "Downstream," about the shrinking of Great Salt Lake. And watch him tackle 5.12bs, sheer ice, and a massive kicker in Ultimate Mountain Athlete, season two.