FKT: Jason Hardrath - Rocky Mountains Slam (CO, WY, MT) - 2023-08-03

Athletes
Route variation
Standard route
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Male
Style
Supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
39d 23h 44m 0s
Videos
Report

I feel it is important to include this analysis a friend helped me with to preserve the differences between Eric and my endeavors since he included extra peaks in his RMS in 2020:

Important comparisons note: Despite the temptation, Jason's time of 39 days, 23 hours should not be directly compared to Eric Gilbertson's time of 60 days, 9hours, which was celebrated as #3 FKT of the Year in 2020 as Eric's time included climbing many extra peaks that are not a part of this challenge. Eric talks extensively about how he included extra peaks to complete the centennial peaks within his 2020 iteration of the Rocky Mountain Slam, because he wanted to climb them too.

A few pieces of math to attempt to more fairly compare the improvement, if any, on Eric's endeavor by Jason:

Colorado comparisons

Jason did the 58 - 14ers in 19 days, 14 hours -  while Eric climbed 100 tallest CO peaks in 33 days, 23 hours - [Jason did follow the Colorado 14ers FKT 3000' on-foot rule, which Eric did not thus his multisport designation, but Eric did his endeavor much more self-supported]

Peak per day comparison:

Eric 100 peaks / 33.9 days = ~2.95 peak per day average

Jason 58 peaks / 19.6 days = ~2.96 peak per day average

mileage to time comparison:

Eric 685mi/33.9days = ~20.2 mile per day average

Jason 394mi/19.6days = ~20.1 mile per day average

vert to time comparison:

Eric 293,000ft / 33.9 days = ~8,630 ft per day average

Jason 173,000ft / 19.6 days = ~8,830 ft per day average

Colorado Analysis:

So while the daily efforts are very similar across daily outputs for Colorado, this means ~14.3 days off the record came from just not climbing extra peaks for Jason during his effort, or in other words at the same pacing Eric's record would have been ~14.3 days faster without his extra peaks would have given Eric roughly a 46 day, 2hour finishing time for the project. However it is likely with less on his plate, Eric would have also pushed harder each day by some margin.

Wyoming comparison: 

Eric 16 days, 17 hours 

Jason 11 days, 16 hours, 42 minutes

Jason took 5 days off of Eric's time here directly.

 

Montana comparison:

Eric 6 days, 23 hours

Jason 5 days, 10 hours, 44 minutes

Jason took 1 day, 12 hours off Eric's time here directly

Final Analysis:

It would seem fair, though perhaps still generous, to say that it is more accurate to characterize Jason's performance as a 5 to 6 day improvement over Eric's performance, rather than a 20 day, 9 hour improvement.

 

Every summit had photo/video and live pings from satellite tracker verified by climbers like Andrew Hamilton, Eli Boardman, and various other FKT and mountain enthusiasts 

I talk extensively about the experience of the Rocky Mountain Slam on these podcasts:

https://blisterreview.com/podcasts/off-the-couch/jason-hardrath-the-rocky-mountain-grand-slam-ep-180

https://www.yogitriathlete.com/episode-383-jason-hardrath-ambassador-of-experience-on-his-rocky-mountain-grand-slam-fkt/

https://cultratrailrunning.libsyn.com/250-rescuing-the-wisdom-of-the-past-with-jason-hardrath

https://open.spotify.com/show/3ccbAy60tDlv9TDzyBBfxR

 

Also Please check out my two films

"Journey to 100"

"Journey to Infinity"