For Immediate Release: 5:00Am Aug 7, 2005
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For Immediate Release: 5:00am Aug 7, 2005: College Student Rides Bike & Climbs to Summit of World’s Tallest Mountain to Set New Record Ben Jones, of Lynnwood, WA, set a new world’s record when he reached the summit of Mauna Kea in HI last night. He called from the 9,240 foot Onizuka Center for International Astronomy to report he had successfully reached the 13,796 foot summit at 7:47 pm, completing his quest to reach the highest point in each US state more quickly than anyone has done before. (Mauna Kea is the world’s tallest mountain, because the entire mountain is over 33,000 feet tall when measured from its base on the Pacific Ocean floor. Mt Everest is 29,030 feet tall). That journey started 50 days, 7 hours and 5 minutes previous, when he stood on the summit of Mt McKinley in AK on June 17 at 12:43pm. Since that time he has visited every state and the District of Columbia, and climbed, hiked, biked or driven to the highest point in each one. His record breaks the previous 50-state mark of 66 days, 21 hours, 47 minutes set by Whit Rambach and Todd Huston 11 years ago on Aug 7, 1994. Jones, at 20 years old and a Junior at Biola University in southern California, was not old enough to rent a car to drive to Hawaii’s highpoint, so he decided to rent a mountain bike in Kona and ride nearly 80 miles to the end of the paved road at the Onizuka visitors center. From there he climbed the last 4,500 feet of elevation on foot, following the 8.4 mile gravel road to the summit. He did accept a car ride back down to his bicycle; where many people were spending the evening stargazing under exceptionally clear dark skies. The resident ranger presented Jones with a commemorative Mauna Kea patch for his amazing achievement. On Aug 2, Jones also set a new record in reaching the 48 continental highpoints in 29 days, 20 hours and 57 minutes. That record was set when he reached the summit of Borah Peak in ID at 5:26AM, climbing its infamous Chicken Out Ridge with a tiny flashlight in the dark. That broke the previous record of 30 days set by a team of 5 climbers back on July 31, 1991. Jones had not originally planned to spend his summer climbing mountains. He just wanted to climb Mt McKinley. But as he and his father, Dennis Jones, also of Lynnwood, WA, climbed McKinley, they talked about his father’s dream to climb all 50 highpoints in 50 days after he was 50 years old. When the elder Jones wasn’t able to spare that much time off work, Ben decided to do it on his own. He came back from AK, made a plan, and called all his friends looking for someone to help him drive the nearly 20,000 miles needed to reach his goal. Nobody was available. Finally he loaded his car, and took off down the road by himself. In less than a mile, his car engine blew up. Jones wondered if God was telling him not to go. Several days went by as Jones searched for parts to repair his car. In late June, he called Ryan Murray, his good friend from Lynnwood High School, and told him of his wild idea that had died when his engine failed. Murray was ecstatic about the idea, and immediately agreed to go with him, but he told Jones he wasn’t going to be available until July 10th. Jones knew he couldn’t wait that long, so he decided to start without Murray, and have him fly to catch up with him later. He bought another car, with over 300,000 miles on it, from his brother for $500.00 and hit the road. Ben drove by himself from Washington to Colorado. On July 3rd he climbed Mt. Elbert (14,433’) in CO in the morning, summiting at 9:01AM Mountain Time, then drove to New Mexico, and climbed Wheeler Peak (13,161’) in the afternoon. He was pretty sure he could break the 50-state record, but he knew he would really have to move quickly to break the 48- state record, which had been set by a very fast 5-man team. By the time Murray met up with him in the Minneapolis airport on July 10, Jones had reached the additional high points of OK, KS, NE, SD, ND, AR, MO, IL, WI, MI, and MN. In WI, his $500.00 car self-destructed. Not to be deterred, he bought another one from a local resident for $350.00 and continued on. Jones and Murray rapidly picked off all the northern tier highpoints between there and Mt Katadin, ME, then raced down the east coast. They took one day off to visit Washington DC and climbed to its highpoint (for bonus points) while they were there. By July 18 they were at the nation’s lowest highpoint in Lakewood Park, FL. It topped out at just 345 feet above sea level. Driskill Mountain in LA was reached on July 19. Together they climbed Guadalupe Peak (8,749’) in TX on July 20 at night under a full moon. Jones climbed Humphreys Peak (12,633’) in AZ on July 21, and then met up with his parents at a truck stop just west of Flagstaff. His parents had driven there from Seattle, stopping by Lone Pine, CA, in hopes of getting a precious few Mt Whitney climbing permits. Because Jones hadn’t gotten reserved permits when they were all issued last February, he had to hope for one of the few unclaimed permits, which, if available, are distributed by the USFS by lottery at 11:00am each morning and are good only for the 24 hour period starting at midnight that night. They were fortunate to receive 5 permits in the July 21 lottery. At the truck stop, Jones gave away his $350.00 to a lady who worked there and needed a car. He and Murray climbed in the Jones family minivan and rode through the night to CA. They climbed Mt Whitney (14,494’) in CA together on July 22nd, summiting in 5 hours 55 mins. That same evening they drove to Boundary Peak (13,140’) in NV, where Jones started climbing with his father at 11:30 pm, summiting with him early on Sat, July 23. Then they raced across NV & UT and into WY, before heading south into the Uinta Wilderness of northeastern UT. Jones and his father started the 28 mile climb of Kings Peak (13,528’) at 1:30am, reaching the summit at 8:30am. They were back at the car 13 hours after they started. On Monday, July 25, they rested until 5:15pm, then Jones, his father, and Murray started in on the 40 mile climb of Gannett Peak (13,804’) in WY. They climbed through the night via the Pinedale trailhead, reached Bonney Pass at first light, summited at 9:31am Tuesday morning, and were back at the trailhead 29 hours and 15 minutes after they started. Most of Wednesday, July 27, was spent in slow traffic going through Yellowstone NP on their way to MT. Jones left the trailhead to Granite Peak (12,799’) at 8:30 that evening, attempting to solo-climb one of the most rugged and remote mountains in the continental US. He climbed the 22 mile Avalanche Lake route, and reached the summit in the early morning hours of July 28. By the morning of July 30 he was at Camp Muir in WA, having driven home from MT, washed clothes, repacked his gear, picked up a different climbing partner, and driven to Mt. Rainier NP. Jones and his new partner, Bryce Flickenger, summited Mt. Rainier (14,410’) early Sunday morning, July 31. Upon returning to the Paradise trailhead, Flickenger returned home, and Jones’ father met up with Jones and drove him to Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood in OR. He solo-climbed Mt Hood through the night, summiting in the early Monday morning, August 1. Then they drove immediately towards Borah Peak in ID. They stopped at the Denny’s restaurant in The Dalles, OR for breakfast, as Jones was starving. Don Olson, the restaurant manager, was impressed with the record Jones was setting, and donated all the food Jones and his father could eat in one sitting. It was the best breakfast either could remember eating in some time. They reached the Borah Peak (11,239’) trailhead under very ominous skies, with thunderstorms and lighting all around them. Amazingly, these were the first clouds they had seen since the east coast, but they came at a bad time. Jones knew he would have to reach the summit before 9:01am the next morning to break the existing 30 day continental highpoint record, and the weather didn’t look promising. Just as the sun was setting, it broke out beneath the clouds on the western horizon and produced a remarkably vivid rainbow directly over Borah Peak. Several Highpointers at the trailhead that night commented on its brilliance. Jones hoped this was a sign of better weather in the offing, and set his alarm for 1:00am. Indeed, when he and his father hit the trail at 1:30am, the skies were completely clear and full of stars. They reached the summit together at 5:26 am, setting the 48-state record with over 3 hours to spare.