New Crazy Fast Speed Record on Denali
This American climber, skier and ultrarunner has been shattering FKT records since he started mountain running just over a year ago
Jack Kuenzle just climbed from base camp to the summit of Denali and back again in only 10 hours and 14 minutes, which beats the existing fastest known time (FKT) by well over an hour. Kuenzle is a coach with Evoke Endurance, which was founded by Scott Johnson.
The previous FKT was set in 2019 by Ecuadorian/Swiss climber Karl Egloff at 11 hours and 44 minutes. Egloff had bested Kilian Jornet’s time of 11 hours and 45 minutes by one minute. The FKT for women is 21 hours and six minutes by Katie Bono in 2017, however Meredith Edwards is reportedly attempting to beat that time this month.
Over the past two years, Kuenzle, a former Navy Seal, has set several FKTs around the world. Just this year, he set the FKTs for Mount Rainier at three hours and four minutes, and Mount Shasta at two hours and 30 minutes. In September 2022, Kuenzle set the FKT at 12 hours and 23 minutes for the Bob Graham Round in the U.K.’s Lake District, a 106-kilometre loop that summits 42 fells and gains 27,000 feet of elevation. See his other FKTs here.
Kuenzle grew up in Connecticut and began running 100-kilometre races in 2019. He said, “2020 and 2021 are when I really started focusing on FKTs. I started focusing on more mountainous FKTs. Then in 2021, I did a project to try to set records on all the most competitive one-day FKTs in the northeast United States.” Follow him on Instagram below.
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