Killian Jornet's Everest summit might not have happened

1) it's "Adrian" Ballinger

2) both are the SAME summit...approached from different sides of the mountain- NORTH or SOUTH. Ballinger and Richards were climbing to the summit from the north side.

Say what?!?! wrote:

Do some research, idiot wrote:

Andy, I respect some of your work but you are a headstrong fool who makes accusations without doing much research. Adam Ballinger went to the South Summit, which is the second highest peak on earth.

Guess where Killian went to. I'll give you a clue, it's the summit of the highest peak on earth.

1) it's "Adrian" Ballinger

2) both are the SAME summit...approached from different sides of the mountain- NORTH or SOUTH. Ballinger and Richards were climbing to the summit from the north side.

If you look at google satellite's view of Everest, looks like Jornet's end is the actual peak. I'm calling shenanigans on this witch hunt!!

Say what?!?! wrote:

Do some research, idiot wrote:

Andy, I respect some of your work but you are a headstrong fool who makes accusations without doing much research. Adam Ballinger went to the South Summit, which is the second highest peak on earth.

Guess where Killian went to. I'll give you a clue, it's the summit of the highest peak on earth.

1) it's "Adrian" Ballinger

2) both are the SAME summit...approached from different sides of the mountain- NORTH or SOUTH. Ballinger and Richards were climbing to the summit from the north side.

Yep, and Ballinger's photos indicate that he reached the true summit (not the South Summit). A veteran like Ballinger would not consider reaching the South Summit as a successful summit of Everest.

there is only 1 true summit, bro wrote:

Say what?!?! wrote:

1) it's "Adrian" Ballinger

2) both are the SAME summit...approached from different sides of the mountain- NORTH or SOUTH. Ballinger and Richards were climbing to the summit from the north side.

Yep, and Ballinger's photos indicate that he reached the true summit (not the South Summit). A veteran like Ballinger would not consider reaching the South Summit as a successful summit of Everest.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1010919986/overview

If Ballinger did go to the South summit it was via the north (true) summit which seems unlikely. The Strava activity indicates he stopped around the same point as Jornet, scam's screenshots are misleading and don't reflect what I see on Strava. I believe the Catalan.

Compare for yourseves:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1022238076

https://www.strava.com/activities/1010919986

Maybe so wrote:

If Ballinger did go to the South summit it was via the north (true) summit which seems unlikely. The Strava activity indicates he stopped around the same point as Jornet, scam's screenshots are misleading and don't reflect what I see on Strava. I believe the Catalan.

How are they misleading, exactly?

witch hunt

Witch hunt is what the Lance defenders always said. Let's stay objective and look at the facts. What do the mountaineers say?

Proving you made it to the summit is a big deal in the alpine community.

summarizer bot wrote:

Let me see if I can summarize the counter-claims:

1) He didn't document his attempts because he was setting speed records.

2) He has won many ultras over many years.

3) He makes really cool videos.

4) He has an unquestionable reputation.

5) Tons of people saw it happen.

6) He thought he was at the summit, but really wasn't (both times).

7) The author of the article questioning whether he summitted Everest is anonymous.

8) The author of the article put too much time into writing it.

9) All of the evidence exists, but it is a secret.

10) The Everest summit is on a huge plateau.

Pure genius.

please explain wrote:

Maybe so wrote:

If Ballinger did go to the South summit it was via the north (true) summit which seems unlikely. The Strava activity indicates he stopped around the same point as Jornet, scam's screenshots are misleading and don't reflect what I see on Strava. I believe the Catalan.

How are they misleading, exactly?

Jornet and Ballinger went to roughly the same point but the screenshots scam provided make it appear that Ballinger went further south. He didn't.

Take the gpx file from scam's Google drive and load it into reliable mapping software such as viewranger and it's clear that the gps trail goes to the summit.

A big fan............. wrote:

Also, why did he feel the need to tell about the switchback cutting at speedgoat? Everybody knows that is how they race in europe, the race was part of a series of races with all the others in europe and Killian was never told before the race about switchbacks. I am sure there are switchbacks at Hardrock that he has won 4 times since and I have never heard of him trying to cut any of them.

Everybody knows? First I heard you're allowed to cut switchbacks at races in Europe. Is this accurate?

I read this from 2012 and it sounds like the RD was 100% star struck and gutless. The right call would be full DQ. How is a race 50k if you're allowed to cut switchbacks and still get the official win, but not prize money? Gutless.

I downloaded the gpx files from Jornet and Ballinger's Strava and visualized them with GPS Visualizer (links below). Here's what I got:

https://imgur.com/a/1nBuM

Jornet Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1022238076

Ballinger Strava:

https://www.strava.com/activities/1010919986/overview

GPS Visualizer:

http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/

they look different to me wrote:

I downloaded the gpx files from Jornet and Ballinger's Strava and visualized them with GPS Visualizer (links below). Here's what I got:

Yep, I got the same result from using Strava. I've uploaded Ballinger's GPX file to my Google Drive now along with the Excel analysis file:

At Jornet's highest elevation, he is at GPS coordinates 27.988335, 86.925817. At Ballinger's highest elevation, he is at 27.988049, 86.925134. Putting these into Google maps satellite view, we can see that Jornet is near the bottom of a slope while Ballinger is on top of the summit. They are several hundred feet vertically and horizontally away from each other, not close. Jornet is clearly not at the summit:

Jornet's highest point:

Ballinger's highest point:

Ugh, the embedly doesn't show dropped points in Google Maps. Here are the screenshots:

Jornet highest point:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pmzdmVxpLKGP92knQsnJCawoczxPjpwl

Ballinger highest point:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1rX7Tbyp36P4zLXUC3KMjVgz0ADOr62mo

Have you checked whether the data collected on the GPS units used by Killian and Adrian were based on the same datum, and is it the same datum as that used in Openstreetmap’s map of Everest? Plotting GPS data on a map that is based on a different datum can result in significant vertical and horizontal misalignments.

Looks like Kilian was pretty darn close to the summit, either by GPS tracking error or navigational error.

In other words, he might have reached the summit but his GPS is off or he didn't reach the summit and the GPS is true.

Now, does the mountaineering community care enough to split hairs on the exact location?

Even if he has a photo of the watch at summit, it might be bad GPS reading.

holocaust might not have happened either wrote:

Can this be merged with one of the moon landing threads?

Personally, I'm not surprised this LRC site is into anti-Killian denial, which is literally the same as denying gravity. It's not like he's claiming to have made it while under sniper fire or something.

JJ1 wrote:

Looks like Kilian was pretty darn close to the summit, either by GPS tracking error or navigational error.

Pretty close doesn't cut.

In other words, he might have reached the summit but his GPS is off or he didn't reach the summit and the GPS is true.

Time for photos

Now, does the mountaineering community care enough to split hairs on the exact location?

Yes

Even if he has a photo of the watch at summit, it might be bad GPS reading.

It's time for the photos. Reinhold Meissner had a photo.

Unfortunately, the technical propeller heads have taken over this thread with explanations of how it "couldn't" have happened, relying on purported perfection of so-called consumer goods to track GPSes in Tibet, and some long-winded Excel post-mortem analysis that goes on and on and on... They tried to do the same with Amy Hughes's 53 in 53 days marathon record, ultimately sidetracking the discussion away from how much she has done for charity by her inspiration!

[quote]Impartial observer wrote:

Time for photos

[quote]

Assuming he does have some kind of contract that prevents him from using the photos, how hard could it be to get permission to use them to clear his name?