JMT FKT youtube link (Andrew Bentz) 2014

[andrew bentz]

Figured some of you on here would appreciate seeing this video I made of my JMT FKT two summers ago. Took me a while to get over the anxiety the footage gave me and also my procrastination with the footage. Enjoy!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7PbffxyKLw

 

[Aaron Sorensen]

Thanks

[Valerie E]

Nice, Andy!  I especially related to the part where you said that you were glad you did it, but that you weren’t always glad while you were doing it!

[Window walker]

Nicely done Andrew congrats!

 

Nice edit by John Zahorian as well.  I think I recognize you from Pa’lante Packs.

Ben

[Ralph Burgess]

Thanks for posting Andy, this is great!

Your expression at the end looks very familiar.  Unfortunately for me, last year I looked liked that (or probably significantly worse) about 50 miles earlier at Garnet.

Do you think that the unintentional extra few hours sleep may have ended up being a good strategy, since you obviously slept really well?   It looks like you made it straight through without a third sleep after that?

Fyi, it’s not too important, but I think you misread your notes for your arrival time at Forester.   All of the other timings in your video are steady and consistent, and make perfect sense looking back at my own schedules last year.  But given your arrival times to Whitney and Pinchot, you would have made Forester in around 9.5-10 hours — so I’m guessing you probably got there at 9:50 am and misread your notes as 7:50 am?   (Also, the video also shows the same 7:33pm arrival time for both Glen and Pinchot – obviously it’s meant to be the latter.)

 

[andrew bentz]

Ralph,

 

Yeah you are definitely right about the timing. I kind of just guesstimated the timing on some of the passes because I don’t have exact numbers. I knew the more experienced JMTers would notice that.

I think that extra sleep must have helped me. I rested for about 2 hours after that like 20ish miles before the finish. I could have made that rest a bit shorter but I knew I was a good amount ahead of Brett’s time and too far away from Leors to get his.

[Ito Jakuchu]

Very nice to see (and also liked the music) – thanks!

What kind of pack and other gear were you carrying?

 

[andrew bentz]

Ito,

I was wearing a pack that I made (company now called Pa’lante Packs) it was pretty small because all I carried was a sleeping bag, ground sheet, sleeping pad, food, and electronics. Probably missing a couple small items but that was what I carried mainly.

[Tony Wong]

Thanks for sharing such a personal/intimate video of your trip.

Just amazing accomplishment…incomprehensible from my perspective.

(I did the JMT in 2011 over 15 days, 1 zero day….couldn’t imagine myself going faster than we did).

Were you “walking” the majority of the time or were you running/jogging to be able to get so many miles in each day?

Tony

[andrew bentz]

Tony,

I was walking the vast majority of the time. Trying to always keep a 3 mph average. That sometimes meant I’d have to run a mile or two downhill every so often.

[Allen C]

Great video and amazing performance Andy! (Especially considering how many of us have now tried and failed to beat your time)

Here are the splits I calculated from the video (with Ralph’s corrections) and times mentioned in your TR – If I have any of these wrong let me know and I will fix them:

Whitney 3:52
Forester 9:50
Mile 40  13:00 (1 hr rest about 1 mile below Glen)
Glen ~14:30?
Pinchot 19:33
Mather 23:30 (3 hrs rest)
Muir 34:39
Mclure Meadows 37:00 (1 hr rest)
Selden 43:27
Mono Pass Trail Junction ~48 hrs (6 hrs rest – overslept by 3 hrs)
Silver 55:33
Vivian Lake? 64:00
Donahue 70:28
Bridge near Tuolumne 75:00 (2 hrs rest)
Happy Isles 82:59

Total Moving Time: ~70 hrs
Total Rest Time: ~13 hrs
Avg moving speed: 3.16mph (221 miles in 70 hrs)

[Author]

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