Following Jared and Ty’s JMT FKT attempt

[Adam White]

Okay, finally something to look at. Things are a little more complicated–I'm basing this off my assumption that they departed the Whitney summit at 11:07am, when the "OK" was sent. Times are relative to that, for the time being. Average speeds are calculated using the Whitney time, and the "time to beat" I'm using is Andrew's unsupported 79h 10m from Whitney Summit to Happy Isles.

I show the splits along the mountaineer's route for interest. I assumed they started at 7:00am as planned (edit–per Aaron, started at 7:03am). Coupled with my assumption above, that means that they started 4h 07m (edit: 4h 04m) before departing Whitney.

A lot of assumptions!

The table is a little confusing for now. I show Whitney ETAs (their splits, but adjusted for when I think they actually left the Whitney summit), and Whitney average speeds (their average speed after leaving the Whitney summit).

Enough explanation! They're on their way up Forester now.

(edit: updated through Forester)
(edit: updated through Twin Lakes)
(edit: updated through Pinchot Pass)

Table:

Profile:

[Simon Kenton]

Thanks for doing this Adam!

[Art …]

link to Jared Campbell's web site where he announced their FKT attempt.

includes :
Spot link
planned time chart

Jared Campbell and Ty Draney

[Tipi Walter]

I see no point in posting FKT accounts here on BPL as it's a fringe sport having little to nothing to do with backpacking. Just because they do it on a recognized backpacking trail like the JMT means we have to pay attention to them? If they did it on the Blue Ridge Parkway no one would care.

Why encourage fastest known times and the guys who do it? Who cares about setting a record moving quickly thru the woods?

It's crazy in my opinion. It's sort of like saying "I go to church and pray and get communion and have developed a way to do it in 3 minutes instead of the usual one hour". Or: "I have learned thru certain techniques to give my children quality face and play time in much faster allotments so instead of playing catch with Timmy for 2 hours I've shortened it to 5 minutes."

Traveling fast thru wilderness is a real oxymoron—don't buy the hype, newbs!

I'm much more interested in seeing guys pull a 21 mile trail in 7 days and do 3 miles a day while camping of course. SKT—Slowest known time.

With all the voices here seemingly enamored with the FKT sport, well, there needs to be a balance of voices against it. So, with every thread devoted to the fringe sport, some posts in that thread need to offer a different opinion.

[David Ure]

You get your base weight down to 10-12 lbs from 35 lbs and we may consider not talking about FKT.

[Bob Moulder]

With all the voices here seemingly enamored with the FKT sport, well, there needs to be a balance of voices against it. So, with every thread devoted to the fringe sport, some posts in that thread need to offer a different opinion.

Let's call 'em The Evil PEWIATTs (R. Burgess' "People Enjoying the Wilderness Incorrectly According To Tipi"), scourge of the NECTULs (Mike M's "Not Even Close To Ultra Light").

[George F]

I have a 12 day trip coming up in a couple of weeks and while I won't be going that light or fast it would be nice to have some guidelines posted so I can tell if I am enjoying myself or not.

[Scott Bentz]

"I have a 12 day trip coming up in a couple of weeks and while I won't be going that light or fast it would be nice to have some guidelines posted so I can tell if I am enjoying myself or not."

Looks like it's 3 miles a day or less for real enjoyment of the backcountry. Any more and the scenery will just go whisking by and you will not enjoy yourself.

[Bob Moulder]

And be sure to carry lots of extra food and a snow shovel in case you're pinned down for a few days by 3 inches of fluff, LOL

edit to add link

[Adam White]

> Why encourage fastest known times and the guys who do it? Who
> cares about setting a record moving quickly thru the woods?

If I were going to run a marathon, where would I want to do it? On the streets of Boston? Or in the spectacular high sierra? I bet you can guess my answer. That's all these guys are doing–a tremendous athletic endeavor amongst the spectacular high sierra. I encourage and support them because I recognize what a fantastically difficult thing it is to do, and I respect that. Particularly in a day-and-age where couch-potato-ism seems to be the status quo.

> I'm much more interested in seeing guys pull a 21 mile trail in 7 days and do
> 3 miles a day while camping of course. SKT—Slowest known time.

So do it! And post a thread about it! I'd read it.

> With all the voices here seemingly enamored with the FKT sport, well, there needs
> to be a balance of voices against it. So, with every thread devoted to the fringe sport,
> some posts in that thread need to offer a different opinion.

With all the voices here seemingly enamored with kittens, well, there needs to be a balance of voices against them. So, with every thread devoted to the fur balls, some posts in that thread need to offer a differing opinion.

See what I did there? Why do you hate kittens, Tipi?

[Andrew U]

Did I miss a memo that said no one is allowed to go slow anymore?

Are you guys being mean to Tipi and somehow forcing him to go quickly, against his will?

If so, you should stop. That's not nice.

[David Ure]

"See what I did there? Why do you hate kittens, Tipi?"

Post of the year.

[BlackHatGuy]

"Just because they do it on a recognized backpacking trail like the JMT means we have to pay attention to them?"

Actually, and I know this will blow your mind, but no, you don't have to pay attention to them! I know, right? In fact, you don't even have to click on the thread! I know, what fun is that. Then you don't get to be annoyed and petulant.

"So, with every thread devoted to the fringe sport, some posts in that thread need to offer a different opinion."

Because that's what petulant children, and adults it seems, do.

FKT, BPL's new microaggression.

[Adam White]

So, following Jared and Ty is a little confusing.

They took the Mountaineer's Route up Whitney–no problem. If they started at 7:00am, I think they were a little behind when the summitted, which I guessed was around 10:15am–about 20 minutes after tracking point 9, which was still about 1,000 feet below the summit.

But the next SPOT message came from Arctic Lake, and was a manual "OK".

Then I looked closer at their splits. They say:

note: Creek to Guitar Lake

Were they planning on descending the North Face of Whitney, and following Whitney Creek to Guitar Lake? It appeared so.

The next two SPOT points came in on the wrong side of the crest, so were clearly erroneous.

Then, points 12 through 15 were back on track–on the JMT–descending towards Guitar Lake. But the timing is now pretty far off their splits–they expected to be to Guitar Lake at 4h 27m, which would've been around 11:30am.

So, my best guess is that:
A. They took a longer break on Whitney's summit than planned, and sent the manual "OK" from there. Probably arrived 10:15ish, and probably departed around the time of the "OK" (11:07am). Maybe the MR was a little tougher than they expected, and they know the official FKT is summit to HI, so they wanted to recharge
B. They're descending the JMT; Creek to Guitar Lake really just means they're crossing the creek at the Guitar Lake inlet.

Anybody reading the tea leaves differently than me? Below is the SPOT track.

[Bob Moulder]

Some of those pings above look funky… 9, obviously, and 10-11-12.

If they were actually off-trail for 11-12-13, it looks from the satellite imagery as if they were on some extremely difficult terrain.

Anyone know if they're using a Gen2 or Gen3 SPOT?

edit "they're"

[Ralph Burgess]

Excellent, Tipi! It was shocking that a thread in the "Speed Hiking and Fastpacking" section of the forum, with "FKT" in the title, was just full of posts from people who all seemed to be INTERESTED in FKTs. Thank you for your efforts to add balance.

Are there any other topics that you are not interested in? I'd be fascinated to hear. How do you feel about clouds?

[Adam White]

Well, they're well on their way now…they should be on top of Forester within the hour.

[Hiking Malto]

"I see no point in posting FKT accounts here on BPL as it's a fringe sport having little to nothing to do with backpacking. Just because they do it on a recognized backpacking trail like the JMT means we have to pay attention to them? If they did it on the Blue Ridge Parkway no one would care.

Why encourage fastest known times and the guys who do it? Who cares about setting a record moving quickly thru the woods?

It's crazy in my opinion. It's sort of like saying "I go to church and pray and get communion and have developed a way to do it in 3 minutes instead of the usual one hour". Or: "I have learned thru certain techniques to give my children quality face and play time in much faster allotments so instead of playing catch with Timmy for 2 hours I've shortened it to 5 minutes."

Traveling fast thru wilderness is a real oxymoron—don't buy the hype, newbs!

I'm much more interested in seeing guys pull a 21 mile trail in 7 days and do 3 miles a day while camping of course. SKT—Slowest known time.

With all the voices here seemingly enamored with the FKT sport, well, there needs to be a balance of voices against it. So, with every thread devoted to the fringe sport, some posts in that thread need to offer a different opinion."

How about you stop reading threads in Trail running ans speed hiking forums and your problem is solved.

[Allen C]

Just a thought…

[Ken Thompson]

Let's not. I find human endurance efforts interesting, That this is done in a backpacking fashion makes it fine to post on BPL as far as I am concerned. I'll sacrifice my vote if only to counter Tipi's

[Allen C]

Looks like 1 hour rest at Vidette Meadow/Bubbs Creek between 7:45-8:45 PM

They are now past Glenn Pass, appears they hit it at about 11:30 PM/16:30 elapsed time

[Aaron Sorensen]

They started at 7:03.
I've seen worse Spot hits.
They went up the Mountaineers Route and down the trail following the JMT.
I'm just willing one of them is not acclimated enough and is having a hard time?

[Adam White]

Thanks Aaron and Allen–updated the table, etc.

They stopped (and sent an OK) near Twin Lakes at 5:50am, and as of their last ping (6:58am), they were still stopped there. They're starting to slip behind their splits–when they stopped, they were about 2h 6m behind their splits from Whitney. After they get going, that will increase to over 3h.

(edit: they just started moving again, as of their 7:19am ping)

Hope everything is okay, but it's probably not.

[Allen C]

Pinchot Pass around 8:25 AM. They are well behind their splits, which had them at Pinchot at 3:42 AM. So apparently things are not going as planned. Will be interesting to see if they continue and try to make up some time or bail…

[Adam White]

Yep, they're about 4:40 behind their original splits, and 3:31 behind their splits after Whitney.

The time was all lost between Glen Pass and Twin Lakes, but somewhat uniformly throughout–lost an hour between Glen Pass and Woods Creek, then another hour between Woods Creek and Twin Lakes, then 1.5 hours for the unplanned stop at Twin Lakes.

But, they made good time on the last segment (Twin Lakes to Pinchot Pass), and maintained their splits on that climb.

It makes me wonder if it's not "they" anymore–if one of them was having problems and exited at Sawmill this morning, and the other is trucking forward. Not a very supported hypothesis–plenty of other explanations.

The next 10 miles will be telling–if they can zip down to the South Fork Kings at >3.5 mph, and ascend Mather at >2.5 mph, I think we have a ballgame!

(edit: also, forgot to mention that the table/plot where updated)

[Author]

Posts