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On Friday, October 13, 2023, Jason Bryant, a 51-year-old track coach from Elkin, North Carolina, set a blistering new record for the Linville Crusher, one of the most iconic and sought-after linkups in the Southeast. His time, 4:32:02, demolished the previous FKT—a respectable 6:09:17 set by Karsten Delap and Zach Mintz—by nearly an hour and a half.
The Linville Crusher is a full traverse of North Carolina’s quartzite-lined Linville Gorge. The route hits all six of the gorge’s major formations: Sitting Bear, Hawksbill, Table Rock, North Carolina Wall, Mummy Buttress, and Shortoff Mountain. It’s a walk through history; over the course of the traverse, climbers touch routes authored by Bob Mitchell, Bob Gillespie, Steve Longnecker, Tommy Howard, and other legends responsible for some of the state’s earliest and most classic climbs. It’s the biggest linkup in the region, and it’s often considered a test piece for local climbers training for big mountain terrain.
“The Linville Crusher is our Grand Traverse in a Day,” explains Delap, referencing the classic linkup in the Teton Range. The Crusher’s vertical may not be nearly as severe, he concedes, but with 16 miles of hiking and 19 pitches of technical climbing, it holds the same iconic status in the southeast as the Grand Traverse holds in the West.
Bryant says he first learned about the traverse shortly after he started climbing, which was only in 2020. He’d done some rappelling as a kid—mostly off of buildings on his family farm with farm ropes and a home-made harness—but didn’t start climbing in earnest until the pandemic. Before that, he spent decades racing internationally as a sponsored professional runner.
The Linville Crusher’s challenging trails and exploratory nature appealed to Bryant. As his climbing improved and the Crusher actually began to feel within reach, he focused on improving his trad and rope-soloing skills. Soon, he was climbing 50 to 100 outdoor pitches every month.
Bryant spent the next year working different sections of the route, tracking his progress, and making detailed spreadsheets of gear, beta, and timing splits. He decided to use a rope on just the two hardest climbs: the Original Route (5.9+) on Sitting Bear Spire and Star Trekkin’ (5.10b) on Hawksbill. He worked out the absolute minimum required gear he could get away with. Instead of rigging a traditional rappel off Hawksbill, he down-led Star Trekkin’ to the last bolt, then rigged a Texas rappel. He measured the minimum rope length he would need—not to get to the ground, but to get close enough that he could jump.
Bryant ultimately carried just four cams, a single nut, and a 12-meter rope. His pack weight was 12 pounds. That freed him up to really boogie.
“I was looking at his times. They’re insane,” Delap says. It’s no easy feat—the trails in Linville are steep, rocky, and slick. Running them is hard enough, let alone running them fast.
“Jason has this innate, unbelievable athletic ability to move through technical terrain,” Delap says. “Sure, I could train to run uphill by getting better at cardio, but his downhill running speeds are almost not fathomable.”
For example, it usually takes fast parties about 40 minutes to hike from the top of Bumble Bee Buttress (5.8) down the Mummy, the next formation on the Crusher traverse. It took Bryant just 9 minutes. His ascent of the North Ridge (5.5)—a 300-foot multipitch—took him just under 6 minutes.
“To get a time like that [on the Crusher], you really have to have this magical combination of the headspace to do these climbs, as well as the talent to move across the terrain,” explains local guide Wes Calkins. Thanks to Bryant’s mountain running experience, he was able to exactly hit that sweet spot.
Bryant’s estimated time for his October 13 attempt—his first-ever attempt at the full traverse—was 4:35:00. He beat it by three minutes.
“I wasn’t expecting to experience quite as much emotion when I finished as I did,” he says. “As I was coming into the finish, I was thinking about my running days. I always wanted to win a national championship title, but I got third place 11 times. Looking back, I’ve always felt really good about that accomplishment, but it eats at me, too. I’m 51 years old now. I know a younger me could have gone faster, but in that moment, I felt like I’d gotten the opportunity to push myself again.” In some ways, he says, this FKT felt like redemption.
Delap says he might go back for another personal record attempt—he and Mintz are hoping to get their time down to about 5:30—but he says Bryant’s record will likely remain untouchable for a while yet. That’s OK with him. Delap, who made the website for the Linville Crusher a few years ago to help get the word out, is just excited to see his iconic backyard linkup finally getting the attention it deserves. And if more young, running-minded climbers flood into town to try for the FKT? The more the merrier.
Still, few expect Bryant’s record to get knocked off its pedestal any time soon.
“Jason just has this unique combination of talent and thoroughness and dedication,” Calkins says. “I think this record is going to be here for a long time.”