John Muir Trail Record Attempt 22-July

Very cool!

I wonder if I saw an attempt in August last year… we were camped near Little Pete Meadow and saw two female trail runners w/tiny packs blow through about 6 am. Our first thought was "speed attempt" for some reason…

Aaron,

What do you think they're chances are?

Ryan

I think better than 50/50 but only if they finish.
Jenn Shelton was 5 hours ahead of the record at Reds Meadow last year before she pulled the plug.

I think there is too much emphasis on the time splits. Brett flew for the first 2 1/2 days then struggled slowly to the finish.
He was ahead of Hal and Mike's time until the final day.
You need to back off just a little and not feel like death when you get to the Muir Ranch junction.
The trail improves dramatically from the lack of rocky terrain and almost all of it is easy enough to jog.

So Hal and Mike backed off (?) a little and still had something left at the end.
Although they only beat Brett's time by 42 minutes and Brett started with a 28 pound pack.
Brett's unsupported time will "never" be broken.

"and Brett started with a 28 pound pack."

Good Grief! Was he carrying anvils?

–B.G.–

He figured he needed (X) amount of calories, mainly from bars.
So twice an hour he stuffs a bar in his mouth, which he did the entire time.

Those calories came in to weigh I think 16 pounds?
Think his base was 12 pounds (but with a 3 liter bladder).
Brett was no SUL hiker.

This seems to be the year of the female on the JMT. Heather Anderson already attempted the FKT, but failed. Now Krissy & Jenn. And Darcy Africa has said she plans to go for the (women's) unsupported FKT. Fun to watch!

Follow their Spot Track Here :

Krissy and Jen’s Spot Track

You have to Summit Mt Whitney to do the JMT?

Mt. Whitney is the official start/end.

Why did they spend four hours getting from Whitney Portal to the summit of Mount Whitney?

The John Muir Trail connects Happy Isles in Yosemite with the Mount Whitney summit, not with Whitney Portal. It seems as though they should have started their timing on the summit.

–B.G.–

There has been a long battle about the Whitney Trail to the top being part of the time for the JMT.

The unsupported time stood as a top of Whitney time sense Reinhold did it.
Then Brett broke both records going unsupported, so now the times from car to car have stuck.

For now there are 2 times given at the end for the top to the end and the portal to the end.
Until someone breaks the car to car time and not the top to finish or vice versa, it probably will not change.

People have different views on this. While the southern terminus of the JMT is the summit, that's kind of a weird spot to start or end a hike – you still have to get to a road. Therefore, some people have reported times to/from the summit while others have reported "car-to-car" times. Some record attempts have literally started on the summit by the person sleeping there (which seems counter-productive to me). So, either way is valid. Presumably K&J wish to break both records (Portal & summit). Personally, I prefer the car-to-car thing as it just makes more logical sense and is the actual scope of the hike. Historically, for some reason I can't explain, "supported" trips (like K&J's) have tended to start the clock at the Portal, while "unsupported" people have tended to use the summit as the terminus (e.g., Ralph Burgess' recent SoBo unsupported FKT). Brett Maune (unsupported) was an exception to this.

Now we need an Act of Congress to Officially extend the JMT down to the Portal.

The Spot device sampling rate seems to be once every ten minutes, so it is missing a few of the twists and turns of the trail. For example, it seems to have missed the bottom 150 yards of the trail and the top 150 yards of the Whitney summit.

Still, these two women seem to have reached from Whitney Portal to the summit in about four hours, and that is highly respectable.

The fastest that I ever went to the summit was four hours 15 minutes, but that was about twenty years ago. I must have been a tiny child then.

–B.G.–

nm

"The Spot device sampling rate seems to be once every ten minutes,"

Except between #30 and #31, and then between #34 and #35.

For 45 minutes and then 100 minutes, SPOT took a break.

"SPOT took a break."

It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

I could understand if that terrain had lots of heavy tree cover, but it doesn't.

–B.G.–

If you have an accusation, spit it out. Sly innuendo is unbecoming.

Considering the number of instances I've heard from people when SPOT didn't' send, I would be surprised if there weren't gaps.

Having watched many adventures unfold via these SPOT tracks I can say that drop-outs lasting some hours are very common and often don't seem to relate to tree cover or other known interferences. I've often wondered what happens if a person needs to send an SOS signal during one of these mysterious drop-out periods. ??? A limited sample suggests that the DeLorme unit is much more reliable. But for purposes of record verification an unreliable SPOT is much better than no SPOT.

SPOT doesn't need to work all the time. If there's sometimes a several hour delay getting an emergency message out that would still be very useful.

If there's a several day delay until you don't come back home, and all they know is your total route, that would be much worse.

Being able to send and receive text messages like the DeLorme is invaluable.

Meanwhile, back to the thread ….

~ 44 miles +/- in 12 hours +/-

From Whitney Portal to almost Vidette Meadow.
With about 8,000'+ of climbing.

3.3 miles per hour.

Wow.

Assuming they keep this up, that will put them on Mather Pass at dawn.
That's a tough climb in daylight.

Edit: These number are off… I forgot the 4 miles to Whitney and back.

10:00 pm (Pacific)
the girls appear to be in the vacinity of Bullfrog Lake junction.
the track actually shows a bit before that but could be off.
they do not seem to have moved for over 2 hours.
could be resupplying here but it puts them behind the pace chart listed above.

Interesting, isn't it?

There are several criss-crossing trails around there. They might have misnavigated in the dark. Or, they may have had to duck off to Charlotte Lake to pick up a food package. Or, they may have had to take a nap.

–B.G.–

They emerged from that stall and are continuing up toward Glen Pass. The trail is a bit rough in there, so I hope that they have powerful headlamps for the night.

–B.G.–