The Elks Traverse FKT route has a unique history. With the first successful completion of the linkup done by Neal Beidleman shortly after his return from guiding on the infamous 1996 Everest Disaster led by Scott Fischer and accounted by Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air.

The film dives into Neal’s experience returning from Everest and completing the traverse a short six weeks after the disaster. Ultimately, Neal remarked that a love for moving in the high mountains is what inspired him to guide for Fischer to begin with, so escaping the multitude of weighty media appeared most feasible under a trying mountainous escapade.

With various attempts from others, Rickey Gates’ put up a time of 27.5 hours on the route in 2015 that has stood until last year.

The film finishes by showcasing Michael Wirth’s effort to establish a new FKT on the route of 22.5 hours. Furthermore, we parallel Michael’s love for mountainous movement with that of Neal’s and center this on The Earth Mother Prayer which Michael was read before beginning the traverse.

The record has been broken by two absolute crushers! Simi Hamilton holds the current record at 16 hours 46 minutes. and Chris Hopkins broke my record last summer in the 22 hour zone.

It's a route that combines a unique skill set of trail running, scrambling, and tactile boulder hopskotching. What the community likes to call mountain running. What a fun and beautiful sport it is.