Well, since someone (Brian Story) came within 3 minutes of breaking the Grand Teton speed descent record this weekend, as well as an impressive time on a Grand, Middle and South Teton ski descent link-up (Nathan Brown and Zahan Billamoria, 10:39), this video of Bryce Thatcher and Creighton King’s battle for the summer ascent and descent record on the Grand Teton of 3:06 seems rather appropriate. I haven’t heard much about this project, the movie, and I wonder if it is moving forward towards a longer edit?
If you were running down the snow-packed scree to the west of the Needle from the Upper Saddle and did a free glacade on the Middle Teton Glacier, you could make some good time. The problem with that scenario is that it conditions up top are rarely perfect for speed when there’s snow to the west of the Needle.
Coming down is fast is certainly the hardest and most dangerous part.
It’s a most impressive feat and an actual official race to the top would be one of the World’s most impressive sporting events.
Love to see a longer edit.
This is what the life is all about 🙂 What a life!
It’s a thrill ride, that’s for sure.
For the record, my time was 5:22:16.
Nice work! Are you guys doing anything to ensure the times of your speed attempts are verifiable?
About 8 years ago this guy named Dan Howitt claimed a bunch of speed records on volcanoes in the PNW (Mt Raininer, Mt Hood, Mt Adams, etc). They all sounded a little too good to be true, the guy had no record of accomplishment in other sports, no one had heard of him before, etc. So a few well-respected climbers decided to investigate the records and, sure enough, there was no documentation of them and they concluded the claimed times were false. The guy was mocked endlessly on CascadeClimbers and probably still is.
Gaper,
On our 5:17 run on the Grand, I used a GPS. The GPS lost satellite signal in the Stettner, but other than that, the data is intact. The data shows time and place. Is that sufficiently “verifiable”? I suppose one could argue that the GPS was strapped onto a marmot, and not me. . . .
Beyond that, I suppose we could do as Mike Traslin suggested, and place spotters and timers at the summit and finish. But I’ve never taken what we’re doing that seriously.
But if we are going to trumpet speed records and “spray” them on the web, it’s fair and reasonable to expect the veracity of our claims to be challenged, in which case, we ought to give some thought to making what we do verifiable.
So, I ask again, is a GPS sufficient? Or are first-hand witnesses required?
Jared
Now that’s a really good question: how to verify times in speed efforts. Unfortunately, nothing works.
GPS data, like photos, can be manipulated.
Spotters can be bribed.
Watching crowds can be brainwashed.
The PED tests at the trailhead at the outset can be tampered with.
It would also be really easy to hide a blood transfusion machine in the aforementioned marmot’s hole.
It’s going to have to come down to a police helicopter following all parties attempting to set any sort of speed record. But then, there’s the artificial assistance of the spotlight to consider. It’s just not pure enough this way.
As even the venerable Olympics have demonstrated, once money is on the line, fraudulence can, and does, happen.
Until then, we can probably just believe the time on the watch.
Would the third-party timers be marmots, grizzlies, or Sasquatches? GPS data and a good reputation work for me. If you wanted to add an extra degree of verification you could also check-in with a SPOT. At the very least I would recommend using multiple timing devices (if not a GPS and a watch than two watches) as it’s easy to accidentally stop a watch or have a device fail.
If you do use a GPS, make sure if you doctor the data you do it in a way it’s not blatantly obvious. That was one of Dan Howitt’s problems: for his first Rainier speed “record†he provided obviously manipulated GPS data that put him going over several ice falls and heavily crevassed sections of the Ingraham (in the middle of Fall too). He later retracted the time.
Gaper Jeffey
(who times USATF-sanctioned track and road races)
BTW, the OS route is in outstanding shape and doesn’t require protection if anyone is interested in Solo Free Climbing in the near future. I was up today (Sat, 9th). You will need crampons and an ice axe to reach the Lower Saddle. Conditions can get sloppy on the way down from the LS especially on the steep snow slope above the Meadows. Going up is fast. Everything above the Lower Saddle is prime with just a few patches of snow. The chimney’s are really clean. The catwalk had running water but no ice at 2:30pm. Early morning climbers might want to look out for verglas. The Eye of the Needle is also open. A female Black Bear with a very small cub was along the trail just below the S/A Lake cutoff. Have fun, be safe.
The 1571 ft on Snow King is easily done in 20 minutes by strong runners. Add another 10 to get back down.
At 30 minutes your average is 105 ft / min (up & down = 3142 ft). Lets play it safe and say a strong runner hits 75 ft / min. That would put the round trip time on SK at 42 minutes.
3 hours gets you 13500 ft at 75ft/min (180min X 75ft/min).
Bryce’s record sounds reasonable to me.
@Jared I… I believe and very much respect what you guys accomplished!!!! And that is how I wanted it to come across!
(I should explain) There is this very popular hike in Vancouver,Canada (Grouse Grind) where the mountain has put a timer at the bottom and the top.A hike that is steep, but everyone from a beginner to an Olympic Athlete can go up….(Not the case in regards to what you guys did)
So when I made my comment (I was being lighthearted) You guys were making something that is not a walk in the park….seem like one….So somehow it just made me think of this Grouse grind thing…
Dan Howitt actually is the first person in history to set truly Official speed records on Mt. Rainier, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood.
Howitt hired timing-officals for each mountain. Oregon Peak Adventures for Mt. Hood (Joe Whittington and John Waller). Adams Mountaineering Incorporated for Mt. Adams (Sergeant William Smith). Shasta Mountain Guides for Mt. Shasta (Ned Bair and Jonathan Earl). Climb Max Mountaineering and Ft. Lewis Army Rangers for Mt. Rainier (Brogan Adams and Carl Poland).
Dan Howitt’s start and summit photos are the only such photos for any speed record of Rainier, Hood, Adams, Shasta. None of the past record-claimers for all of the mountains has summit photos. Nor photos taken by 3rd party witnesses. Jim Whittaker (Everest legend) set the 1st ever Rainier official speed record with 5:20 up and 7:20 roundtrip. Dan beat his ascent time with just over 5 hours to the summit.
Some webpages I found
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7797/adamsmountaineeringinct.jpg
http://forums.climbing.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2268
http://forums.climbing.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2268&page=2
http://jsweb.yuku.com/topic/2394/Dan-Howitt-Official-Speed-Records-Shasta-Rainier-Hood-Adams#.TlsufV2wUWI
Howitt’s official times. Done in one summer.
1:56 ascent Mt. Hood from Timberline Lodge-Summit
2:58 ascent of Mt. Hood from Government Camp-Summit (start from Huckleberry Inn at Govt Camp Loop Road.
4:47 ascent-descent of Mt. Hood from Govt Camp-Summit-Govt Camp
4:14 ascent of Mt. Shasta from Northgate Trailhead to Summit via Hotlum Bolam Ridge and Gawry Direct Variation above 13,000′.
2:39 ascent of Mt. Adams on South Spur Route