New Speed Ascent Record On Mt. Rainier? Justin Merle Puts Up Quick Time

Speed ascents seem to be the all the rage in mountain climbing. Over the course of the past year, El Capitan has played host to one of the most publicized competitions going on in the world of Mountain climbing. The Huber brothers and Hans Florine with Yuri Hirayama have battled it out to have the quickest ascent time on one of the world’s toughest rock faces, The Nose. This record has changed hands a total of four times in the past couple of years, with each new record being set by mere minutes.

Another speed ascent record has recently come to light, but probably hasn’t received the Press that it should. One of the reasons is that the time has not been posted as ‘official’.

On July 11th, 2008 IMG (International Mountain Guides) guide and mountaineer Justin Merle set an ascent time of 4 hours, 45 minutes, and 35 seconds. His time, if quantified, could be a new ascent record on Mt. Rainier. The previous record was put up in 2004 when Chad Kellogg rose to the occasion with a time of 4 hours, 59 minutes, and 1 second. Both of these are very quick times, but both are also unofficial records.

The records have to be verified by an official at Camp Muir and the summit. That is something quite hard to do when no one else is around.

Justin Merle is no stranger to Mt. Rainier. In his personal climbing, as well as guiding clients for IMG, Merle has topped out on Mt. Rainier a total of 106 times, and quite possibly more. He knew that if he managed to go after a speed ascent record, that he would need the proof to back it up-even if no officials were around. The proof is in his photos.

From Justin’s trip report on the Mount Rainier Climbing blog:

I timed myself on my Suunto watch, and also used the logbook funtion to record the ascent/descent. The only “proof” I have of the times are a couple of before and after photos of the watch, and video taken with the same camera, before and after (I left the camera in a stuffsack at the trailhead). I did sign the register, and saw a lone climber on Columbia Crest, but did not speak with him.

Should it be enough to warrant Justin the ‘official’ record?

Here’s my thought:  If someone wants to put officials at base camp and the summit in order to record an ‘official’ climbing record, then those personnel should be available at all times.  The times are plainly recorded on the watch, you can see them here, and Justin also has a video record both before, on top, and after his climb.  That should be enough proof to land him the record.  Most of the time, as these things go, Justin will probably not be recorded as the ‘official’ record holder in the Mt. Rainier climbing books.  With very little press coverage, or questions being asked, this might become one of those issues where he is known for the record in climbing circles, but no where else.  Luckily, I found this story.  Now the questions can begin to be asked–

What are your thoughts?

Photo: Justin Merle, from Mount Rainier Climbing blog