Darcy Piceu – JMT Supported FKT attempt (NOBO)

Now SPOT has died, but we have a Garmin ping at the LYV junction at 10:30.
If correct, that’s 5.0 miles to go,  1 hr 15 min for Leor’s record!    Down to the wire.

Late morning on a Sunday,  Darcy will have some pretty serious Yosemite crowds to contend with  in the last couple of miles.

An interesting observation is that both Darcy & Aurelien’s SPOT signal dropped out at the same time.   I’ve never had the opportunity to monitor two spot devices that are well separated but in the same general part of the world.   Something to keep an eye on, but this is consistent with the idea that SPOT satellite coverage is just poor,  and that loss of signal is not related to local terrain.

We have been pingless for almost an hour now.   But there’s cell reception in the Valley, so hopefully we’ll get a prompt update from Darcy’s crew at the finish.

Jeebus,   the last Garmin ping has her going the wrong way, down the Mist Trail.   I really hope that’s just a signal error.    Some recent pings have been off,  so I’m too worried yet.

Oh boy. I hope it is an errant ping. You’re right, there have been a few that have been off. It’s not exactly on the Mist Trail either, and is in pretty steep terrain (vulnerable to multipath errors).

For the FKT from the Whitney Summit to Happy Isles, she does have a bit more leeway, doesn’t she?

Per my notes, an extra 37 minutes–or, 12:22pm.

Leor went up Whitney at a ridiculous speed, so that makes sense.

Another ping.   It sure looks like she went the wrong way there and then came back across to the JMT at the next junction, but it’s impossible to know for sure with the trails so close together.

ETA: but now a ping near Happy Isles that is also off, and displaced in roughly the same direction    So hopefully all was well.

Yeah, I was doing a little image composting while you posted that.

The two pings, in combination, do raise my suspicion a touch. The last one puts her precisely on the trail, but the wrong trail.

Just got a third ping from the cliffs above Happy Isles, so at least there’s consistency with errant pings, if they are indeed errant.

She sent out a manual ping (I think) at 12:15pm. Done?

So, well spotted Adam – she has probably missed Leor’s time from the Portal, but may have beaten his time from the summit.   I wonder if she has considered that?

She did it, by 7 minutes?

I’m not seeing any manual ping there, the arrow is just the latest auto-ping.   But there seem to be two on top of each other, indicating that she has stopped moving by 12:15.   Hard to be sure with the flaky behavior of the Garmin signal in the last section.    Let’s hope we get a definitive report from the crew soon.

Yeah, if I click on the arrow, it says “I’m at N 37 43.8106′ W 119 33.4826′, elev 4124 ft, course S (188 T) at 0.1 mph.”, with a timestamp of 12:15:45pm, whereas the last marker was at 12:14pm. No message icon, which is why I’m a little confused.

The side pane seems to indicate there was a message sent, too:

She did it, by 7 minutes?

If Darcy finished at 12:15:45pm, well–it’s still a little tricky.

I don’t think anyone has been extremely meticulous about recording the times that one left Whitney’s summit. To know if Darcy holds that FKT, one needs to closely examine the time that Leor and Darcy left the summit, not arrived; that’s the time that matters in consideration of the FKT from the summit. Peter will certainly be the best-poised to comment on that.

I will be curious to discover what happened on Darcy’s final descent from Little Yosemite Valley to Happy Isles, and whether or not she used the Mist Trail for part of the descent. Her pings alone suggest a much slower pace than she’d previously been doing; slow enough that she very well could have done some back-tracking to “make it official”.

I’ll be looking forward to a download from those on the ground.

Regardless of that, and however it plays out, what an impressive effort! I’m in awe.

Darcy started from Whitney Portal and was going for the Portal to HI record. you can parse all sorts of intermediate distances but the only question that matters is did she break the Portal to HI record.

I will be curious to discover what happened on Darcy’s final descent from Little Yosemite Valley to Happy Isles, and whether or not she used the Mist Trail for part of the descent. Her pings alone suggest a much slower pace than she’d previously been doing; slow enough that she very well could have done some back-tracking to “make it official”.

The Mist Trail (and the upper trail on the N side of the river, I’m not sure if that’s technically called the Mist Trail) is also far more narrow and crowded with tourists than the JMT.    It would be slow going under any circumstances.

Darcy started from Whitney Portal and was going for the Portal to HI record. you can parse all sorts of intermediate distances but the only question that matters is did she break the Portal to HI record.

To you, maybe.   There are no absolutes here – you’re not the arbiter of what other people find to be significant.   Personally, for SOBO records at least I feel that the Whitney summit is a more natural endpoint.

ETA: the summit is also technically the end of the JMT, I believe.   Peter has always recorded both Portal and summit times, to reflect differences of opinion on the matter.    In any event, the summit certainly represent more than just a split time.

<p style=”padding-left: 30px;”>Sure looks like she took the mist trail for part, no? That’s not good!</p>

A couple of days ago I warned Aurelien, who’s out there unsupported and doesn’t know the trail, about exactly that junction.   I made that mistake myself when tired on a training run, and I had been up that trail many times before.   It’s not well signed for JMTers.

Sure looks like she took the mist trail for part, no? That’s not good!

Well, we’re speculating a little. If I had to guess based solely on GPS pings, I’d say yes, she spent some time on the Mist Trail. But even if she did, her pace dropped enough that it’s possible she backtracked to cover the entire official JMT. I haven’t crunched any numbers to see what kind of scenarios seem plausible under this assumption, deciding that waiting for a boots-on-the-ground report is the only way to provide real clarification, anyway.

But boy–if she did take the Mist Trail–that would be a real heart-breaker. If Pacer-Guilt wasn’t a thing before, it sure will be in a few hours.

Ironically, if she did take the Mist Trail, she still has enough time over Sue’s time to hike back up and return on the JMT. Someone would need to get on the phone with Happy Isles ASAP, of course.

I called Allen as soon I saw the first ping apparently on the Mist Trail, to see if he had a way to contact the support crew.   Couldn’t get hold of him, unfortunately, he’s probably out on a run himself.

I sent Jeff Kozak a Facebook message; he has been providing updates and was crewing/pacing Darcy. He’s back in Bishop now and not at Happy Isles, but if there’s a way of reaching the crew at Happy Isles, he’ll know it.

” To you, maybe.   There are no absolutes here – you’re not the arbiter of what other people find to be significant. Personally, for SOBO records at least I feel that the Whitney summit is a more natural endpoint. ”

Ralph in my comment I was assuming this thread was about Darcy not you, and its clear that her efforts were for the Portal to HI course … lets hope she made it without going off route.