Jason Bryant completed the Linville Crusher, one of the most iconic and sought-after linkups in the Southeast, in 4:32:02. The Crusher consists of 16 miles of hiking and 19 pitches of technical climbing.----------------------------------------------------------
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.
https://www.climbing.com/news/new-record-on-classic-north-carolina-linkup-linville-crusher/https://www.karstendelap.com/blog/linville-crusher
