Kedrowski: 2016 Ski Project Controversy

[mtn_nut]

If it makes anyone feel better, I've pulled every one of his business cards off the summits of the CA 14ers he's summited, packed them out, and trashed them at the trailhead

[mojah]

It seems that this thread may have actually accomplished something . . . ? We should all be very proud.

I'll admit, it's nice to see some concessions and some semblance of clear talk from him.

But there's one inconsistency that stood out to me. Per the Denver Post article (http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/08/va ... ki-record/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;),

Kedrowski took four attempts to ski the daunting Pyramid Peak in the Elk Range, finally skiing from the summit on June 1.

In his latest update (http://14erskirecord.com/live-progress/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;),

Pyramid was another big challenge for me, as it has been for most 14er skiers. It took 5 attempts.

[k-berger]

This has been a very interesting event to watch unfold. Despite the ridiculous record vs re-cord statement, I think his full write up satisfies most of the criticism brought upon him in this thread. The question is, if this thread and the comments on instagram didn't exist, would the statement have looked the same after his attempt ended? We will never know but I am glad to see him thoroughly explain the peaks in question.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Ok, Jomah, on the subject of Pyramid... I was watching that day and downloaded the Spot XML data plus took print screens of each of the points on the up and down.

I'm not saying that Jon didn't ski from Pyramid's summit on 6/1/2016 but since he has now stated that June 1st was the day, I submit this data to the group because it's really all we have at this point. Jon could clear this up in a hurry with some photos.

There's a 50 minute gap where the Spot was turned off (or not transmitting) around 13,200' and Jon would have had to get to the summit, transition and ski back to that point in those 50 minutes. It's also a bit weird that several of the 10-minute Spot tracking points in that 13,200-foot area were all fairly close together, in the area right before the route gets much more technical. For those of you who have done Pyramid in summer, these points are mostly in the area where you would leave the ridge to traverse to the "leap of faith" and cliff traverse. Jon mentioned that he had to downclimb a dry section after skiing from the summit so this transition and downclimb would have sucked up even more time. Additionally, a cursory look shows that Jon was moving at about 200-300 vertical each 10 minutes before reaching that more-difficult terrain at ~13,200'. He would likely have had to keep or exceed that pace and make very fast transitions and quickly ski back to ~13,200' to get the ski in that window. If you're interested, take a look and post your thoughts.

Ok, now here are two things that are especially odd: 1) Those two points (19 & 20, since 21 is an "OK" msg) on either side of the 50 minute gap are almost in the same location. Either it's coincidence that they were plotted like that or the Spot was in nearly the same area when it went off and later came back on. 2) Jon's Spot was apparently off and not transmitting track points for 40-50 minutes yet he sent an "OK" message in that period, at 7:12. How did the "OK" message get through but not track points?

This information and the fact that I haven't seen any ski photos of Jon on the two hardest ski peaks - Pyramid and Capitol - when he posts so many photos and videos of other peaks, is a bit unsettling. If he has the photos which show the Pyramid Spot data is "incorrect" or he got it in that small window, that would be great.

Seriously, Jon, I'm not "hating" on you here; I, along with others, are simply looking for clarity. If you didn't ski it from the summit, you didn't ski it from the summit. If you did, you must have photos you could share with the public.

Here's the Pyramid data:
Spreadsheet: http://www.14ers.com/misc/jk_pyramid_spot_20160601.xlsx
Individual Point Screenshots: 15 16 17 18 19 20 (OK msg) 21 22 23 24 26

And a simple snapshot of the spreadsheet:

snapshot.jpg

[lodgling]

Plus, the promotional value of Kastles atop Pyramid seems like a no-brainer.

And there's still LB, where there's precedent for cleaning up your yard sale, climbing back up and skiing back down after a death slide.

[Bean]

There's a guy who just finished running from LA to NYC about fifteen minutes ago, it took him 60 days. Every single step was tracked and posted to Strava.

[andretorres]

There's a guy who just finished running from LA to NYC about fifteen minutes ago, it took him 60 days. Every single step was tracked and posted to Strava.

Are you talking about Robert Young? I think these two may have more in common than you may think:
https://www.reddit.com/r/running/commen ... break_the/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sports-Illustrated
http://www.si.com/edge/2016/06/15/marat ... ing-doubts" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And Runnersworld.com
http://www.runnersworld.com/general-int ... llegations" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mojah]

Granted, I don't really know much about how satellite trackers work, but here's my interpretation of the data based on your assumptions (which seem valid to me).

I'm guessing point 20 was meant to be the summit message and was sent once a connection was established. Would that mean he summitted at 0712, or that connection was reestablished then? Irrelevant in the end, but like I said, I know little about how they work.

Points 21, 22, 23 are him waiting on the ridge (in the sun) for the temps to warm up so that the north facing amphitheater is in softer condition.

Point 24 is him moving back to the drop-in for the amphitheater and 25 is the custom message for when he continued his descent (to allay any fears that he's hurt and can't move).

Ok, let's assume he did summit, clicked into his skis on top, and that the SPOT coordinates for point 20 is in error because he had actually descended by the time it was able to transmit the message. Let's say he skied from the summit down to the ridge and into the amphitheater. To reiterate, I don't know if any of these assumptions about the SPOT are true, but for the sake of the argument and the benefit of the doubt, I'll roll with it.

Pyramid was another big challenge for me, as it has been for most 14er skiers. It took 5 attempts. I skied from the top of Pyramid- but had to down climb part of the middle section (75 or so feet of cliff bands on the East Face melted out by early June). I skied virtually every inch of the peak from different lines and aspects (Including the west/northwest face and ridge) the several times I went back there. I never gave up.

Now, to me, his update makes it sound like he skied the East Face (Landry Line?). I take the "downclimbing part of the middle section" part as the melted out choke on the Landry Line. Now why would his SPOT tracks on June 1 show him going down the amphitheater if he's saying he skied the East Face from the top on June 1? Perhaps it's just another shield of ambiguity.

[Bean]

There's a guy who just finished running from LA to NYC about fifteen minutes ago, it took him 60 days. Every single step was tracked and posted to Strava.

Are you talking about Robert Young?

Nope. Dude's name is Jeremy Bradford, he did it because he wanted to and is fundraising for cleft palate kid surgery stuff.

[BillMiddlebrook]

Jomah,
Bottom line is that he had no more than 50 minutes to go from ~13,230' on the ridge (below the technical terrain), climb to the summit, transition, take some pictures , ski some, transition, downclimb through some cliffs, ski some and be back at 13,264'. That's what we're down to.

Doable?

[SnowAlien]

Was he alone again? Why are we again reconstructing what the heck was he doing up there without reliable SPOT data, another pair of eyes and legitimate photos? If that dude Brad wasn't with JK on South Maroon and didn't post an honest report with the actual photo of the line they skied, we would have never known they didn't ski from the summit. Why do we have to guess? #nohonorcodeinthiscase #notuelisteck

[I Man]

Was he alone again? Why are we again reconstructing what the heck was he doing up there without reliable SPOT data, another pair of eyes and legitimate photos? If that dude Brad wasn't with JK on South Maroon and didn't post an honest report with the actual photo of the line they skied, we would have never known they didn't ski from the summit. Why do we have to guess? #nohonorcodeinthiscase #notuelisteck

Haha I love that hash tag. In the exact opposite case, I get upset when people question Mr Steck. He's earned the right not to be questioned. His visionary ascent of Annapurna I was within the realm of possibility for his skill and ability. If the man said he did it, it was done.