"Climbing" 14ers and Erin Ton drama

Buff Johnsonwrote:

gotta be in the dark, full raging storm, ambients in the -20s, carrying some sorry ass carcass out, or it didn't happen

And legit high heels 

Nate Allenwrote:

I know the climbing discussed here is the "mostly 5th class" kind, and not peakbagging, but for those of you into doing 14ers in Cali or Colorado, what is your take on the Erin Ton story?  According to this article, she did 57 of the 58 (didn't do Culebra), then didn't admit to the omission for awhile, blocked anyone who asked about it and now finally admit she skipped it.

https://www.trailrunnermag.com/people/news/erin-ton-skipping-a-14er/

The takeaway from this article is that she got a bunch of blowback for skipping the peak, but if you read the body it seems that the blowback was mostly from not being transparent about it, lying about why, blocking people, etc.  Culebra is apparently on private property and requires a permit to climb; she'd been caught trespassing on it once before, was photographed flipping off the men escorting her off the property and then claimed he was "banned" from doing it so she skipped it.  Turns out she's not banned, decided not to do it for her own reasons, and then avoided admitting the true story when fluffing on social media about her "self-supported record".

I know for a lot of you this all falls into the "who cares" category, but it's been the talk of the dinner table here at my house.  (Yes, the wife is a peakbagger.)

Wouldn’t be the first or the last to lie for glory.

She didn’t complete the challenge, end of story.

Next time I punt the anchor of my project I’ll be sure to tick Lead - Redpoint (All Bolts Except Anchor)

Alex Lesliewrote:

I recall somewhere out there is a story of someone doing it all human powered and cycling between peaks for a summer.

Oh I've done that. I couldn't imagine having a bigger/better adventure in Colorado's high country. So much so, I did it twice (and rarin' to go again!). There's a few who have even backpacked the route. The first known bike/hike happened in the same summer as the first thruhike (1985)!  Both finished at almost the same time, but the cyclists won out Later, tthey all bbq'd/partied together right before the hikers finished on Longs Peak, then they invited them to hang at their house in Estes.  Here's some old Aspen Times clippings I've saved:

(this should be big enough to be readable if you zoom in)

The Dunmires were mountaineers in their own right. One of them later tried to hike the Continental Divide - and I don't mean the trail, I mean the actual ridge. I don't know if they finished or not (I think they did most of it). Having done some of the more cruxy parts, that's no small feat no matter how much they did. 

My ode to their trip, on my trip.

When it came to Culebra, I just made sure I made it on the time I was supposed to - they let you camp at the gate. The powerful fragrance of sage everwhere was amazing!. I bought the ticket back in March to get there in July. No big deal. I didn't take the train of course to Chicago Basin since it's a self-powered/self-supported attempt so the first time I rode the bike from the trailhead off the highway, the other time I hiked in from Molas Lake. Both times were highlights of the trip for sure.

Hey Lone Ranger!  That looks awesome. Nice stuff!

Desert Rock Sportswrote:

. I could see her trespassing to hike it and not posting a Strava track to self incriminate as well as just not hiking it and just leaving it out of the count. If she did hike it illegally... she really can't disclose unless she wants to get sued, right? Seems maybe she should have planned out better how to disclose, regardless of which way she chose to go.

People who watched her Strava said she didn't do it, and she's also saying she skipped it because "she was banned." (Turns out not to be true but w/e)

Apparently Culebra isn't hard at all but is a big time sync because of where it is and because you have to plan the day correctly (so your permit is valid that day), and doing it would have put her over according to some estimates.

Seems like Culebra should just be removed from the FKT list if it causes such a collective pain point for people...

Yeah, it's all arbitrary anyway.  Maybe remove the peaks that need the railway ticket too?

Heck remove all the shitty ones (which are most of them tbh) and just leave Long's via the Diamond and maybe Sneffels.

Oh this also reminds me of Peter Treseder, an Australian expedition "adventurer" who also made a lot of ultra endurance claims in the 1990s that were full of shit.

https://tinyurl.com/x8ydykwx

Bit tragic, because it seems he really was an absolute machine who really was witnessed doing impressive stuff, and also nice enough in person by many accounts, and continued on into a non-profit career to genuinely fundraise millions charity. So a "good" guy but absolutely he lied a lot about many accomplishments.

Race for the title of The World’s Greatest Hiker!  

I nodded off just writing that sentence. 

Long Rangerwrote:

Oh I've done that. I couldn't imagine having a bigger/better adventure in Colorado's high country.

Long Ranger is Justiner, correct? Tough dude, and I love your no-driving ethic! 

Balewrote:

Long Ranger is Justiner, correct? Tough dude, and I love your no-driving ethic! 

unmasked!

Noah Betzwrote:

Next time I punt the anchor of my project I’ll be sure to tick Lead - Redpoint (All Bolts Except Anchor)

Everyone knows a fall above the last bolt counts as a victory whip.

Sam Mwrote:

There's a joke that a newbie though that was how mtbers greeted each other on the trail. "Happy strava, and strava to you too!"

Indeed, Strava Ukraini!

Sam Mwrote:

I think self-reported or self recorded "fastest known time" speed stuff, is ultimately not the kind of achievement that should be lauded.

My experience is on the cycling side, but it seems similar with the Strava driven competitiveness. I was advised for MTB, if you want to go fast, Strava doesn't count, stump up for entry and do it between the tape (ie in a formal race).

shit take. FKT is different than racing. The goal is to climb all 58 14ers (or whatever) in the shortest period of time. The same athlete may compete in an organized race as well, but that's different and has different constraints and tests a different set of skills.

It would be logistically ludicrous to organize a race to climb the 14ers with multiple athletes starting at the same starting line at the same time. It's can be years between when an FKT is set and when it's challenged by a single different athlete. In Erin's case (not to defend her) there was no standing female self-supported record prior to her attempt. Not to mention, part of the challenge is just organizing the logistics to get yourself from place to place, plotting out a course that allows you to climb them most efficiently, using your mountain knowledge to choose a good conditions window. Those parts of the challenge would be removed by an organized race.

FKTs are usually done by the athlete organizing their attempt and verifying by posting it on Strava or similar, for example the new women's FKT of mont blanc this year.

In related news, Jason HARDrath finished the Rocky Mtn Grand Slam in just under 40 days:

All CO 14s (Culebra included)

All WY 13s

All MT 12s

Support crew driving between trailheads in the same style as it had been done previously (which took 60 days). 

I'm proud to announce I have set the Men's self-supported FKT record for CO 14'ers, with a time of 6 hours. I skipped 57 of 58 peaks. I just did Grays. 

Doug Simpsonwrote:

I'm proud to announce I have set the Men's self-supported FKT record for CO 14'ers, with a time of 6 hours. I skipped 57 of 58 peaks. I just did Grays. 

Car to Car?

Doug Simpsonwrote:

I'm proud to announce I have set the Men's self-supported FKT record for CO 14'ers, with a time of 6 hours. I skipped 57 of 58 peaks. I just did Grays. 

Did you start at least 3000 ft below the summit and finish at least 3000 ft below as well?  No supplemental oxygen?  Did you make your own clothes including shoes from recycled hemp?

Garrett Genereuxwrote:

In related news, Jason HARDrath finished the Rocky Mtn Grand Slam in just under 40 days:

All CO 14s (Culebra included)

All WY 13s

All MT 12s

Hmmmm.  Reading this makes me think there’s gotta be a few 15s lurking in New Mexico.  Makes perfect sense.  Find em, and be the first!

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mark Pilatewrote:

Hmmmm.  Reading this makes me think there’s gotta be a few 15s lurking in New Mexico.  Makes perfect sense.  Find em, and be the first!

was thinking the list should have continued, All the 15s+ in AK...

then at least there'd be some real drama