FKT: Joe Grant - Colorado Fourteeners (CO) - 2016-08-26

In 2016, Joe Grant repeated Simoni's self-supported bike/hike adventure, completing the 14ers in a quick 31d8h33m, July 26 - August 26, 2016. Grant's start/finish point was his home in Gold Hill. The trip was followed enthusiastically on 14ers.com (and documented on trackleaders.com), with Simoni providing many insightful comments on Grant's route, etc. It is of note that both Simoni & Grant chose not to summit Mt Bross, which is on private property and technically closed to the public (note that Andrew Hamilton and all previous record holders have summitted Bross). Simoni ascended to the highest "legal" point on the mountain (above 14,000'), while Grant simply skipped it. Bross it done as part of the Lincoln-Democrat-Cameron-Bross group, and probably adds less than an hour to the total time for these peaks. Grant explained his omission as follows: "I chose not to summit the peak because of the implications at a community level. While I made transgressions in other areas (such as riding the train tracks or stealth camping) those decisions ultimately impact me and me alone. On Bross, the sign at the trailhead and note on the 14ers Initiative state that summitting the peak could have negative repercussions on the possibility of having the peak open to the public in the future. I felt I wasn't entitled to the summit and in such a public forum did not want to send out the wrong message, hence the reason for not summitting." A nice first article on Grant's trip was printed in the Denver Post (however, with an incorrect total time for the trip). Grant's trip was highlighted on the local Fox TV station, and profiled on outsideonline.com.