GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK — Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) has responded to the incident of photographers documenting a rejected Fastest Known Time (FKT) attempt of the Grand Teton on Labor Day of this year.
On Sept. 2, Michelino Sunseri cut a switchback when he completed the fastest-known climb of the Grand Teton and was cited by GTNP. However, Jackson Hole News & Guide also reported that GTNP rejected permits for photographers Connor Burkesmith and Alex Rienzie who documented Michelino Sunseri’s Labor Day attempt, but they documented Sunseri’s attempt anyway.
The National Park Service (NPS) requires a permit for all commercial filming and certain still photography use.
“Photography and filming permits may be denied for a variety of reasons,” Emily Davis, GTNP Public Affairs, tells Buckrail in response to questions about Burkesmith and Rienzie’s denied permits. “Some examples include insufficient time between the application submission and proposed film date, health or safety risks to the public, if the project will place unreasonable burdens on staff capacity or if a requester can’t obtain required liability insurance or fails to pay the assessed cost recovery.”
Davis notes that filming/photography permit violations occur “relatively infrequently,” but confirms every permit violation is assessed on a case-by-case basis to determine the appropriate response.
The cost for filming permits funds is needed to recover administrative costs incurred by the NPS in both processing the permit requests and monitoring the permitted activities.
