John Tidd Supported JMT FKT attempt (SOBO)

Wow.  What a feat

Holy cow.

Looks like he had crew meet him at Red’s Meadow but was only there for 45 minutes or less. Next long stop I can see is near the Bishop Pass turnoff where it looks like he got about 3 hours of sleep last night between 7:45 and 11:00 pm. This guy is a machine. He is 53 years old and has a pretty accomplished Ultra resume:  https://ultrasignup.com/results_participant.aspx?fname=John&lname=Tidd

It looks like he summited at 4:07 am,  so he beat 3 days SOBO to the summit.
The InReach message at the summit says “I’m stopping here”.   I don’t know if that’s a preprogrammed message, of if he really is backing off for the descent – he is on his way down to Whitney Portal now.

Closer inspection of the InReach track shows that the “I’m stopping here” message appeared to be sent from a point shy of the summit.    I initially took it to mean that he had summitted, and was just going to take it easy on the descent.   But perhaps the message meant something else.   In any event, he appears to be down safely, pings from the Portal.   We’ll have to wait to see just what happened when he checks in.

From Luciana Moretti – John’s Crew – on Facebook (English translation below)

John está bien y ya en la cama durmiendo después de tres noches sin dormir absolutamente nada.

Parece que estando a menos de 10 minutos del refugio que simboliza la cima de Mt Whitney y con más de 4 horas por debajo del record de Happy Isles a Mt Whitney, a las 4.07 am decidió comenzar el descenso por no poder encontrar el refugio debido a la poca visibilidad. No había luna y estaba rodeado de nubes por lo que la visibilidad era mínima y considerando el clima a 4400 mts decid<span class=”text_exposed_show”>ió que no valía la pena arriesgar estar más tiempo en la cima y comenzó el descenso sin llegar al punto del record oficial.</span>
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Estoy feliz (y aliviada) por su inteligente decisión y si bien no hizo el record oficial, su tiempo Southbound con soporte es extraordinario y al menos yo doy más que logrado el objetivo (FKT oficial o no). Ya escucharemos su versión pero probablemente será después de muuuchas horas de sueño.

Gracias por el soporte de todos!

PS: Perdón por la demora en la actualización, pero fui a encontrarme con John a mitad de su descenso de MT Whitney y no había cobertura.

TRANSLATION (per Facebook autotranslator):

John is fine and already in bed sleeping after three nights without sleeping absolutely nothing.

It seems to be less than 10 minutes away from the shelter that symbolizes the top of Mt Whitney and with more than 4 hours below the happy isles record to mt Whitney, at 4.07 am decided to start the descent by no To be able to find the shelter because of the low visibility. There was no moon and was surrounded by clouds so the visibility was minimal and considering the climate at 4400 mts decided that it was not worth risking to spend more time at the top and began the descent without reaching the point of the official record.

I am happy (and relieved) for his clever decision and although he did not make the official record, his time rightnowsouthbound25 with support is extraordinary and at least I give more than achieved the objective (official fkt or not). We’ll hear your version, but it’ll probably be after you’ve been sleeping hours.

Thank you for the support of everyone!

PS: sorry for the delay in the update, but I went to meet John in the middle of his descent from Mt Whitney and there was no cover.</div>
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Good on him for not risking more than seemed smart to him. And definitely a very impressive Ultra resume!

I thought I heard François d’Haene say that he was going to try for an FKT on the JMT. Don’t know if supported or not, and nobo or sobo.. Considering his FKT on the GR20 and his fresh win at UTMB and all the other stuff he has been doing should make his attempt interesting to follow along.

Francois says Oct 14th here, but not other info.

http://www.irunfar.com/2017/09/francois-dhaene-2017-utmb-champion-interview.html

That’s quite late in the season, let’s hope he finds a good weather window.

Posted a trip report and some thoughts on the FKT in FB: https://www.facebook.com/john.tidd.10/posts/10215082600363835

better late than never…John Tidd