Michelino Sunseri cut a switchback when he completed the fastest-known climb of the Grand Teton Sept. 2. Now he faces a possible $5,000 fine.
In the latest bit of fallout over Michelino Sunseri’s decision to cut a switchback during his fastest-known out-and-back climb of the Grand Teton, national park rangers have issued him a citation.
Rangers gave Sunseri a ticket for violating 36CFR2.1(b) — which prohibits “leaving a trail or walkway to shortcut between portions of the same trail or adjacent trail in the national park.” The citation comes with a penalty of $5,000 and/or up to six months in jail, according to Grand Teton National Park spokesperson Emily Davis. Sunseri is due in court Nov. 19 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick.
The citation is not the only consequence of the trail transgression. Even though the 32-year-old Driggs ultrarunner shaved more than two minutes off the record that’s stood since 2012, Fastest Known Time — the organization that arbitrates and tracks official speed attempts — rejected his submission due to the offense.
The decision stripped the North Face-sponsored athlete of an official record he devoted years of training toward. He defended his effort, but has vowed to return to the peak next summer for a fresh attempt on the officially accepted route.
The high-elevation incident has stirred up new debate about appropriate behavior for trail users, including elite mountain athletes striving to attempt superhuman feats — and the companies that sponsor them.
The North Face “unequivocally does not support the misuse of public lands,” it said in a Tuesday statement to WyoFile.
“While The North Face was not involved in any aspects of permitting, content creation or route developments in connection with the FKT Grand Teton attempt, we expect our athletes to abide by public signage, and local and national rules and regulations,” the company said. “Our athlete is currently complying with the necessary steps to remedy the situation with local agencies and organizations.”
Route choice
On Sept. 2, Sunseri ran and scrambled from the Lupine Meadows parking lot to the summit of the 13,775-foot Grand Teton and back in two hours, 50 minutes and 50 seconds. The feat is by any measure astonishing. Many climbers spend several days and use ropes completing the challenge, which entails 13.2 miles of travel with 7,064 feet of elevation gain and technical climbing sections.
Sunseri had first set eyes on the iconic peak in 2020, and began training not long after for an attempt to break a 2012 record set by ultrarunner Andy Anderson. Sunseri, who has notched several “fastest known times” in the Teton region, had climbed the Grand Teton more than 40 times in the run-up to his speed attempt.
Late-August snow complicated his weather window, and Sunseri set out on Labor Day, a federal holiday that can see crowded trails in the park. After leaving the parking lot at 7:45 a.m., he raced up the peak. He was behind Anderson’s pace, however, and cut a switchback on the way down.
“I made the decision to cut the last switchback and avoid the Congo line [sic] of hikers that would be heading up Lupine Meadows Trailhead,” he wrote on the personal speed-tracking website Strava immediately after his climb. “If I had to make this choice again, I would 100% make the exact same choice.”
Grand Teton National Park rangers, however, didn’t look kindly on Sunseri’s decision.
“Shortcutting a switchback along a trail is prohibited in the park because it causes resource impacts, like trampling vegetation, creating erosion and worsening trail conditions,” Davis said.
Fueled by concerns, rangers got in touch with FKT, Grand Teton Park’s Davis said. Conversations that followed led to FTK’s decision to deny Sunseri’s submission.
Renny Jackson, a former park climbing ranger, said managing proper trail use is a never-ending task for park employees. “The Park Service has their hands full with trying to keep people on official trails where they are designated,” he told WyoFile in September.
Though FKT didn’t add Sunseri’s name to the top of its Grand Teton page, it did update the page after his climb with a new bold-faced note: “The National Park Service has emphasized that cutting switchbacks on this route is a violation of the park service regulation 36 CFR 2.1(b) … Any future attempts to cut switchbacks will result in complete rejection, and the NPS intends to pursue criminal charges against athletes who engage in this behavior.”
Precedent
Sunseri did not respond to a request for comment on the citation. But in a Sept. 13 statement emailed to WyoFile, Sunseri pointed to the routes of previous record holders Kilian Jornet and Jen Day Denton, both recognized by FKT. “My route retraced their exact steps for what I knew to be an accepted course to achieve a new speed record,” he said.
Current record-holder Anderson, meanwhile, did not cut switchbacks, according to his route map.
Sunseri accepted the FKT’s decision, he went on to say. “I look forward to next summer, when I hope to again attempt The Grand Teton FKT, on the officially accepted section of this trail.”
Just after Sunseri’s Sept. 2 climb, the North Face marked the occasion with an Instagram post lauding his “impossible dream—come true.” It had nearly 9,000 likes as of Sept. 12.
That post has since been taken down in light of the land misuse revelations, the company said. That move also came amid calls for its deletion; critics said Sunseri was setting a bad example for the company’s 5.4 million followers.
“The North Face chose to remove the social media post supporting our athlete’s accomplishment, which was made prior to knowledge of any missteps made by our athlete,” the statement said.
Photographers were also on the mountain to film the attempt without permits, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported, but they have not been cited.
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