Route: US State Highpoints

Progression of this record for the contiguous 48:

30 days - Dennis Steward and the "Highpoint Hoppers" (1991)
23 days, 19 hours, 31 minutes - Jake Meyer (2006)
19 days, 7 hours, 17 minutes - Josh & Lindsay Sanders (2015)

We should probably have Colin O'Brady's "50 high points" record up here too
 

"In the summer of 2018, Colin took on the 50 US High Points. After a 13,000 mile journey in 21 days, 9 hours, and 48 minutes he completed the 50 high points challenge, setting a new world record. In the last 7 days of the project alone, in an astonishing final push, Colin climbed the 7 highest peaks in the lower 48 US states, totalling over 100 trail miles and over 50,000 feet of elevation gain. Along the way, Colin invited others to join him at their state’s high point and be part of what he called the “Forest Gump effect”."

Unsure of his time for the 48 though

Why is Dave Ashley’s effort recognized as a FKT when Colin O’Brady did this in half of the time?

David and/or his organization is taking credit for a record that he knows he did not break. They are blocking anyone on social media who points this out or even asks nicely for clarification. The actual record is 21 days, 9 hours, 48 minutes by Colin O'Grady in July 2018. If we're missing something huge, great, tell us what that is. Until then, David's time should be taken down.

I appreciate FastestKnownTime.com for validating our FKT and allowing the use of comments for others in the community to share their views on this page. This is a proper place for a public discussion of a claimed FKT. 

I’m a mountaineer, adventure racer, and organ donor. In fall 2022 I started planning an attempt for the 50 State Highpoint Guinness World Record to raise awareness across the country about living kidney donation. I formed a team of 5 living donors, set out to break the previous Guinness World Record, and we were successful.  

Like the Colorado 14ers guidelines, we didn’t use any professional guides, even on Denali. Taking the 3,000 foot ascent philosophy, we added climbs on high points in states like Hawaii, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina even though roads allowed access directly to the summit or near the summit.  Of course this added time and took energy, but it was important to us that this was a climbing record, and to climb as much as we could within the 42 day time constraint. I even added an ascent of Bear Mountain in Connecticut as it’s the highest “summit” in the state, the highest point is the shoulder of a mountain that actually summits in Massachusetts. I re-climbed Montana’s Granite Peak when our own internal review of GPS data showed I had missed the true summit in the dark and during a snowstorm by about 300 feet. 

We attempted the 50 State Highpoint Guinness World Record with our integrity fully intact. 

A huge thank you to all the supporters that helped make this happen, to our sponsor, and to my teammates. We wouldn’t have been successful without all of your support and love!

I’ve taken a few moments below to address the comments raised by other members of this site and received by our team and sponsor directly or posted publicly on social media. I won’t make any more comments or answer questions about our Guinness World Record. Our record stands, and we have all moved on to the next goals in our lives. If somebody wants to challenge that record, get approved by Guinness and do it!

I do welcome any media inquiries and look forward to sharing the message that living kidney donation is no barrier to a life full of adventure and extreme endurance athletics. 

First, I’ll address the other “world record” claim. I’m not an expert on world records or fastest known times, so this is based on my research of other well established multi-summit records, mostly from the extensive discussion on this site and Cave Dog’s for the Colorado 14ers. 

Other record:

For starting the clock at the top of the most difficult summit on this climbing FKT, Mount Denali, another athlete has a claimed a “world record”.  He also used a private jet multiple times. For that record, I don’t debate it’s the fastest for how it was done. If that is the standard and rules for multi-peak FKTs, such as the Colorado 14ers in the FKT community (should we start the clock on top of the first peak and allow climbers to use chartered helicopters?)…then he should apply and post his record on this site. No argument. End of story.

Team 5K50SS Guinness World Record

Now, I’ll share my perspective. That “world record” mentioned above is NOT the same as what my team did. We followed the guidelines provided by Guinness World Records.  Their rules required a start from the trailhead, not the summit, of the first peak. We started our timer from the trailhead on Denali. Our ascent of Denali took about 10 days, and that is part of our record time. We also used scheduled commercial flights available to anybody that wants to attempt this FKT.  This allows a fair and level playing field for other athletes that want to challenge our record. Importantly, Guinness World Records independently validated our evidence.  They certified our record based on required evidence including sworn statements, log books, video, GPS tracks, and other data.  I also applied to Fastest Known Time, they validated our evidence and it’s on their site as I write this.  

Those are the facts as I know them. 

Additional items for consideration:

Starting the clock at the top of Denali vs at the trailhead is a very important distinction, as it takes most climbers from a week or longer to climb from trailhead to summit. For any previous FKTs that excluded that climb, it likely changes the total time by a week or more. And it removes the opportunity for somebody to totally shatter the 50 state highpoint FKT by summiting Denali in a matter of hours, a feat shown possible several times now (with a new record set last June). Personally I can’t wait to see somebody do that and go on to shatter the 50 State Highpoint Guinness World Record!

Next, there were no faster records than the one we broke, 42 days and a few hours, listed on this site or with Guinness when we started in May 2023. Neither were there any faster times posted when we finished, nor when we submitted the record for validation. This other athlete did his achievement back in 2018, five years ago. And never validated with Guinness or FastestKnownTime.com. See this link to him celebrating Guinness approving him to attempt the record before he started…but again he never validated and registered it with Guinness  https://youtu.be/RENsJa-h37o

Final thoughts: 

Yes, our team has been blocking social media posts, email, phone calls, and text messages from this athlete and those who have been mentioning his name.  This was my decision. Yes, I emailed him back in February as we were researching this attempt and wrote he had the record, one we realized shortly after was quite different from the rules for Guinness and what I believe are accepted community standards for air travel.  We distanced ourselves from him at that point and focused on our goal, breaking the current Guinness World Record by their rules and by accepted FKT practices. 

Furthermore, this athlete had agreed to support us and our cause through his social media sites. That never happened. Instead me, our team, and our sponsor have been subjected to threatening messages, emails, and phone calls from this athlete. I’ve been accused of lying, being dishonest, being unprofessional, and fundraising under false information (we didn’t fundraise).  He has threatened to use his large social media base, not to help share our story, but to defame us and our sponsor, a company providing ground breaking support to people in need of kidney transplants in the USA.  He has verbally abused me and my sponsor on the phone. He has requested my sponsor cease supporting me, and attempted to compare my actions to those of Lance Armstrong and his deception for taking performance enhancing drugs.  Much of this was done BEFORE and DURING our attempt, when the outcome was unknown. Imagine dealing with these types of calls and messages within the team and to a sponsor while climbing on the clock, when our focus needed to be fully on safety and our mission. 

This behavior is completely unacceptable. Yes, I absolutely blocked him and anybody mentioning his name to me.  I will continue to do so. 

Meanwhile we had accommodated reasonable requests from him.  We made every effort to remove references to “world record” and used “Guinness World Record” in our social media and press releases at his request, even if we didn’t agree his record was comparable to ours. In another example, we didn’t mention the team’s Guinness World Record attempt at an awards gala held by our sponsor in late June, where the team was scheduled to receive accolades for the attempt still in progress, again at his request. And for another example, once our record attempt was complete we gave him several weeks to apply his record with Guinness before submitting our evidence, despite having had 5 years previously to do so. We waited several weeks for a reply.  Guinness rejected his submission, so we proceeded in submitting our evidence and were validated and approved by Guinness.  This delayed our approval by several weeks. 

Here we are today. I am still getting threatening messages sent to me and my team from people associated with this athlete. The latest is that a “coalition” of athletes is going to “set the record straight” and use Outside magazine to write a story to do so.

I welcome the opportunity to share my side of this story publicly.  I take full responsibility for me, my team, and my decisions in regards to this FKT and our Guinness World Record. I will share evidence to support my statements above, and will abide by the decisions of Guinness World Record and FastestKnownTime.com. 

But most importantly, I ask for the harassment and threats to my sponsor and my teammates to stop. Immediately. 

I’ll end with a quote from Cave Dog’s website, with his view of rules for climbing FKTs.  Our team grew through our 50 State Highpoint adventure. We are grateful for having the courage and support to try!  Perhaps it is time to more formally codify rules for this FKT, and to ensure a level playing field for all in the future.

“It should be remembered that these rules, as all rules for any game or competition, are completely contrived.  The rules themselves do not matter.  They are only guidelines that are a point of reference to compare one achievement to another.  These rules should never be used to denigrate a challenger's achievements.  These rules should never entice a challenger to do something dangerous or unethical.  In fact, there are nearly an infinite legitimate number of groupings of rules that could have been created for this one event.  In addition, there are many different reasons to legitimately argue for or against any particular rule; however, any particular distinction is insignificant.  Having rules is what matters.  They provide a level playing field for competition.  Without rules there could not legitimately be a record because the individual efforts would not be comparable.  Each effort would stand solitary by its own achievements.  That is fine.  Unfortunately, it is not compatible for having a record.  In the end, who holds the record is even less significant.  The important aspect of any adventure is the growth of all the individuals involved and how they can share what they learned with others.  It is to this ideal that we all strive.” http://www.thedogteam.com/14ers-Web_Pages/Colorado_Fourteeners/14ers-in…

Thank you. 

David Ashley

Colonel (retired) US Air Force

Team Captain, 5 Kidneys 50 State Summits (5K50SS)

I shared the statement above with Guinness, and they confirmed use of private planes is prohibited by the record's rules.  Happy on provide that email correspondence with any media outlet interested in doing a story about our Guinness World Record, and why it stands alone from what this other athlete did.