Michelino Sunseri’s FKT is not any extra, or technically, by no means was. Final week, GearJunkie reported on Sunseri’s FKT try, wherein he summited the Grand Teton in 2 hours, 50 minutes, and 50 seconds. The file was not licensed.
No one doubts Sunseri climbed and descended the Grand Teton in file time. However the official file was disqualified after park rangers and arbiters at fastestknowntime.com realized that he disregarded a signed closure by short-cutting a switchback on his descent.
“It was reported to us by a number of sources, together with the Nationwide Park Companies and park rangers in addition to his Strava,” Allison Mercer, the director of fastestknowntime.com instructed GearJunkie.
The file keepers at fastestknowntime.com didn’t select to disqualify Sunseri’s file flippantly. Mercer instructed the native publication WyoFile that they mentioned it extensively earlier than making the decision.
Sunseri described descending from the height in a wild rush. When GearJunkie interviewed him, he stated, “I’ve by no means thrown myself down the rock so laborious, touchdown on my heels, giving zero [bleeps] about my very own well-being.”
WyoFile reported that on Strava, Sunseri stated of the ascent, “I made the choice to chop the final switchback and keep away from the Congo line [sic] of hikers that might be heading up Lupine Meadows Trailhead. If I needed to make this alternative once more, I might 100% make the very same alternative.” And that, as he was descending, he shouted to a member of his path crew, “We’re reducing the switchbacks!’”
His Strava route appeared to substantiate that he had, certainly, taken a shortcut — one that’s expressly prohibited inside Grand Teton Nationwide Park. Park Rangers caught wind of the truth that Sunseri might need damaged that rule. They contacted fastestknowntime.com to lift their issues.
“We very not often reject routes, solely when the submitter doesn’t notice it isn’t a sooner time by mistake,” Mercer stated. “We haven’t needed to cope with legal guidelines being damaged like this.”
Grand Teton FKT: Rejected Over a Switchback
It isn’t unusual for fastestknowntime.com to take a number of days to substantiate a brand new file. However within the days following Sunseri’s Grand Teton FKT, the web site’s silence was notable. Then, when the web site posted the next message to the Grand Teton FKT webpage, questions began circulating.
“The Nationwide Park Service has emphasised that reducing switchbacks on this route is a violation of the park service regulation 36 CFR 2.1(b) … Any future makes an attempt to chop switchbacks will lead to full rejection, and the NPS intends to pursue felony prices in opposition to athletes who interact on this habits.”
It wasn’t till September 18, 2024, 16 days after he thought he’d claimed the file, that his FKT try was formally rejected.
GearJunkie has reached out to Sunseri for touch upon this story. We have now but to listen to again from him.
FKTs have develop into a extremely sought-after goal for endurance athletes lately. Fastestknowntime.com is the official file keeper and arbiter for FKTs on completely different routes world wide. Athletes have profiles, and file makes an attempt are tracked because the athletes are making them. Pictures and GPS monitoring knowledge are submitted as proof to the web site, which then confirms (or denies) each FKT.
With Sunseri’s file being dismissed, the Grand Teton FKT goes again to its long-time holder, Andy Anderson. In 2012, Anderson ran the route in simply 2 hours, 53 minutes, and a couple of seconds.