A Single Switchback: Michelino Sunseri Found Guilty in Grand Teton FKT Switchback-Cutting Trial

Simply over a yr in the past, on September 2, 2024, Michelino Sunseri, now a 33-year-old skilled path runner, tagged the summit of Wyoming’s Grand Teton and returned to the trailhead in 2 hours, 50 minutes, and eight seconds, sooner than the long-standing quickest identified time (FKT) held by Andy Anderson since 2012.

However whereas the clock mentioned Sunseri was sooner, an argument kicked in nearly instantly, touchdown him in federal court docket. Now, precisely a yr after the incident, on September 2, 2025, he was discovered responsible of leaving a longtime path and utilizing a shortcut.

The controversy began on his descent from the Grand Teton, the place Sunseri used a closed shortcut generally known as the “previous climbers’ path,” slicing a significant switchback on the established path. The shortcut, although traditionally utilized by mountaineers, was explicitly marked as closed for revegetation. Sunseri stepped previous signage meant to guard delicate terrain that may later grow to be a vital flashpoint within the trial.

A couple of days later, the Nationwide Park Service (NPS), the federal government company that administers the U.S.’s nationwide parks, together with Grand Teton Nationwide Park, the place this passed off, issued him a compulsory quotation beneath 36 CFR 2.1(b), which prohibits shortcutting on federal trails. The cost was a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by as much as six months in jail and a $5,000 high-quality.

What would possibly look like a minor infraction escalated right into a full-blown federal trial, sparking heated debates within the path operating world, authorized circles, and seemingly throughout the federal authorities itself as effectively. At stake wasn’t only a disputed FKT anymore, however broader questions on environmental ethics in outside sports activities, prosecutorial overreach, and whether or not utilizing a historic climbers’ path ought to actually be handled as a federal crime.

Now, within the wake of this trial’s verdict, this text explores the case that might have implications far past a single switchback.

The Grand Teton FKT Route and the Shortcut

The Grand Teton FKT route is roughly 13 miles spherical journey and has almost 7,000 toes of vertical achieve because it travels to and from the tallest level of the Teton Vary, which hugs the border of Wyoming and Idaho. The route includes miles of maintained singletrack path lacing via forests, meadows, and scree fields earlier than yielding to scrambling and alpine climbing earlier than reaching the 13,775-foot summit. Its profile and status have lengthy made it a sought-after FKT, together with by high-profile athletes like Kilian Jornet, who held the file earlier than Anderson.

For his file try, Sunseri adopted the usual path to the summit. However on the descent, he veered onto an unmaintained path identified regionally because the previous climbers’ path. At its higher entrance, the shortcut is marked with an indication that reads “shortcutting causes erosion.” At its base, one other signal reads “closed for regrowth.” The detour cuts off roughly half a mile of path, although Sunseri had educated on the longer, official route within the lead-up to his try.

Andy Anderson after setting the Grand Teton FKT in 2012. Photograph: Rebecca Anderson

In line with Max Mogren, a neighborhood citizen activist and social media persona based mostly in Jackson Gap, Wyoming, the place the trial passed off, many earlier FKT holders used the identical shortcut. “So far as I do know, Michelino is the one one that has confronted critical penalties for utilizing that path.”

Whereas park officers maintained the path is clearly closed and off-limits, they later acknowledged in court docket that it had been a typical route in prior many years and had not undergone a public signage replace or closure announcement lately.

Afterward, in a Strava publish, Sunseri acknowledged that he had knowingly taken the closed shortcut and wrote, “I’d 100% make the very same selection” if he have been to do it once more.

The map from Sunseri’s Strava, displaying the route he took to chop the switchback in query. Picture is a screenshot from Strava.

On September 3, 2024, someday after the try, regulation enforcement rangers at Grand Teton Nationwide Park started an inside evaluation. On September 11, Sunseri contacted the park to supply clarification and volunteered to assist with signage or path restoration. As a substitute, he was invited to a proper assembly. Throughout a cellphone name on September 24 with Jenny Lake District Ranger Chris Bellino, he was knowledgeable that he can be issued a compulsory quotation, a authorized discover requiring a court docket look, and that fees can be filed.

By September 18, the official FKT record-keeping web site, FKT.com, had rejected Sunseri’s try. In a press release to iRunFar, web site editor Allison Mercer mentioned, “Primarily based on our dialog with the NPS and in accordance with our personal tips, now we have determined to reject Sunseri’s submission. We don’t condone something that’s in opposition to the regulation.”

An extract from Sunseri’s Strava publish the place he talks concerning the resolution to chop the switchback. Picture is a screenshot from Strava.

The Trial

Sunseri was charged with violating 36 CFR 2.1(b), a federal regulation prohibiting shortcutting on designated trails, and tried in U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Wyoming. The trial started on Could 20, 2025, and continued into the next day. Following the trial, U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Stephanie Hambrick deliberated for over three months, delivering a responsible verdict on September 2. The decision famous the decide’s sentence will come at a later date.

Michelino Sunseri outdoors the courthouse at his trial for slicing a switchback throughout his 2024 Grand Teton FKT try. Photograph: Brad Boner

What was not in dispute was that Sunseri took the shortcut, or that legally, doing so violated part of the Code of Federal Rules governing nationwide parks, which states, “Leaving a path or walkway to shortcut between parts of the identical path or walkway … is prohibited.”

This regulation falls beneath Title 36 (Parks, Forests, and Public Property), Half 2 (Useful resource Safety, Public Use and Recreation), and is meant to stop environmental degradation, similar to erosion and habitat injury attributable to off-trail journey in delicate areas.

Moreover, the Grand Teton Nationwide Park Superintendent’s Compendium — compendia are paperwork distinctive to all nationwide parks that apply the Code of Federal Rules into park-specific guidelines — reinforces this regulation by prohibiting journey via any areas signed as closed for restoration or revegetation. The shortcut utilized by Sunseri was marked with such signage, making his use of the route a transparent violation of each federal laws and park-specific guidelines.

Thus, the controversy has centered extra on whether or not the fees and potential punishment match the offense. His protection crew, led by Jackson-based legal professional Edward Bushnell and joined by Harvard Regulation graduate Alex Rienzie, who had initially been documenting Sunseri’s FKT try as a filmmaker, has argued that the case exemplifies overcriminalization. They contend that Assistant U.S. Lawyer Ariel Calmes, the legal professional prosecuting the case, pursued disproportionately extreme fees for a minor violation. That critique has been echoed by a number of authorized observers and aligns with considerations raised in a Could 9 Government Order from the White Home, which referred to as for federal companies to keep away from pointless legal penalties for regulatory infractions.

As talked about, Sunseri had proactively contacted the Park on September 11, 2024, providing to assist shut the path or help with signage. These presents have been declined, and as a substitute, in early 2025, prosecutors provided a deferred prosecution deal, however with extreme phrases, together with 1,000 hours of neighborhood service, reeducation lessons, and a five-year ban from Grand Teton Nationwide Park.

Behind the fees is the truth that Sunseri’s public standing and social media influenced the choice to press fees, as testified in court docket by Bellino and Grand Teton Nationwide Park Climbing Ranger Michelle Altizer, acknowledging that the NPS felt compelled to behave as a result of potential for others to observe Sunseri’s instance. “We wanted to ship a message,” mentioned Bellino from the stand.

Put up-trial, paperwork obtained by the protection crew through a Freedom of Data Act request made public, seemingly present inside division throughout the federal authorities on the diploma to which this incident must be prosecuted. On Could 19, the day earlier than the trial started, Frank Lands, NPS operations deputy director stationed in Washington, D.C., despatched an e-mail to the case’s attorneys, Grand Teton Nationwide Park officers, and others stating, “We imagine that the beforehand provided punishment, a five-year ban and high-quality, is an overcriminalization based mostly on the gravity of the offense. Due to this fact, we withdraw our help.” Nevertheless, the case had lengthy been within the arms of the USA District Lawyer’s Workplace, which operates in a distinct department of presidency and has the authorized authority to pursue instances it deems in breach of federal regulation, selected to go forward with the trial.

Native mountain runner Kelly Halpin (proper) and Michelino Sunseri (again to the photographer) converse outdoors the courthouse in Jackson, Wyoming. Halpin was subpoenaed by the prosecution and testified in court docket. Photograph: Brad Boner

The case has drawn nationwide consideration. Authorized consultants, together with these from the Cato Institute, a authorized assume tank, and the Home Judiciary Committee, the standing U.S. Home of Representatives committee charged with overseeing federal courts, flagged it for example of overcriminalization of minor regulatory infractions. Stanford College regulation professor David Sklansky, who focuses on policing, prosecution, and legal regulation, contextualized the case by saying, “This isn’t unprecedented, nevertheless it does replicate a selection to make use of legal prosecution as a instrument of public messaging.”

In line with Sklansky, NPS officers are prone to weigh a number of components when deciding to file federal fees, together with any injury completed or bills incurred throughout the violation, how flagrant the violation was, and the way a lot discover the defendant had of the foundations. Stated Sklansky, “One other issue that federal authorities could take note of in some instances, together with, probably, this one, is how effectively publicized the violation was.”

In line with Mogren and others on the trial, park presence verged on extreme, with 16 federal staff current in individual and three extra through Zoom. “It will take one ranger with a shovel half a day to enhance signage, however as a substitute, 19 federal staff confirmed as much as prosecute a runner,” mentioned Mogren.

Will Rice, an Assistant Professor of Out of doors Recreation and Wildland Administration on the College of Montana, has been following the case and indicated that the quotation didn’t appear that far outdoors of the extraordinary.

For example, in 2024, film star Pierce Brosnan was fined $500 and ordered to donate $1,000 to a Yellowstone space nonprofit for stepping off a path in a fragile thermal space. Like in Sunseri’s case, Brosnan’s celeb profile appeared to raise the incident past routine enforcement, signaling a broader warning to the general public. Equally, in 2019, members of the Canadian influencer group “Excessive on Life” have been charged with federal misdemeanors after they posted movies of themselves strolling off boardwalks in Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring space, biking in federally designated wilderness in Loss of life Valley Nationwide Park, and filming business content material and not using a allow in a number of nationwide parks. A number of members pled responsible and have been fined, because the NPS made clear it was utilizing the case to discourage influencers from creating content material in ways in which broken protected landscapes.

“I do recall situations the place guests have been cited lately in Yellowstone Nationwide Park for leaving boardwalks in thermal areas. Moreover, it may be essential to notice that final yr, a high-profile occasion of a customer mountain climbing off-trail resulted in a grizzly assault in Grand Teton Nationwide Park,” mentioned Rice. “Usually, we consider Go away No Hint within the occasion of mountain climbing off-trail in fashionable locations as being merely about not trampling vegetation and inflicting erosion, however it will possibly additionally result in damaging impacts on wildlife, as analysis reveals that wildlife usually keep away from buffers round closely used trails.”

Sunseri’s protection crew’s technique has revolved closely across the argument that the NPS did not warn path customers and implement path closures sufficiently, and that it singled Sunseri out amongst earlier file holders who had taken the shortcut, together with Jornet’s 2012 file, which has since been flagged by FKT.com. Not too long ago, the location divided up previous data set utilizing the “historic” and “trendy” routes, these which minimize switchbacks and those who stayed on designated trails, respectively, noting that it gained’t settle for data set utilizing shortcuts.

The Grand Teton as considered from one of many most important roads in Grand Teton Nationwide Park, Wyoming. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks

Notably, Sunseri didn’t take the stand for his protection on the trial, and his crew has additionally raised due course of arguments, arguing in court docket that the signage was ambiguous and that the closure lacked formal discover beneath regulation, mentioning that the path was not marked with legal language, solely an indication saying “Shortcutting causes erosion.”

“This story highlights the significance of signage in our nationwide parks,” mentioned Rice. “Analysis reveals that signage may be very efficient at conserving guests on path, however on this explicit occasion, it seems that the runner noticed the signage and easily ignored it,” mentioned Rice. “On this explicit second, all of us must learn and obey indicators and observe rangers’ path greater than ever, as our parks expertise lowered staffing ranges and growing visitation.”

He notes that path runners usually strategy the panorama with a distinct mindset than hikers, searching for effectivity over expertise, which might heighten conflicts on already confused programs. He emphasised the necessity for runners to “do their absolute best to go away no hint by sticking to the path and never slicing corners.” However, Rice additionally identified a notable inconsistency in how park trails are categorised and managed.

“The preferred path, albeit in keeping with the depend of AllTrails opinions, in all of Grand Teton Nationwide Park will not be a ‘designated path’ in any respect, however the Delta Lake Path, which is a social path extending from the very route in query right here.” He added that the distinction between that path’s recognition and the controversy surrounding Sunseri’s shortcut is “fascinating to say the least.”

Athletes Taking the Stand and Talking Out

In the course of the trial, Bryce Thatcher and Galen Woelk, protection witnesses, testified that the path had lengthy been utilized by mountaineers and climbers and nonetheless appeared on GPS apps like Strava, CalTopo, and Gaia.

Mountain athlete Kelly Halpin was subpoenaed to the stand by the prosecution, the place she testified that she had inspired Sunseri to not take the shortcut for his try due to the high-profile nature of the FKT. From the stand, Halpin mentioned, “Skilled athletes set the requirements for all those that observe.” Whereas Halpin had beforehand taken the previous climbers’ path, as her connection to the height and public profile grew, she stopped taking the shortcut and publicly advocated for others to keep away from it, too.

“By no means in my life did I believe I used to be going to be in a federal trial speaking about Strava segments. This entire factor has been blown method out of proportion,” mentioned Halpin in a press release to iRunFar. “I imagine in ethics, stewardship, and sportsmanship. I additionally imagine that somebody ought to have the ability to make a mistake after which have the ability to right it.”

Kelly Halpin believes athletes have a accountability to be stewards of public lands. Images courtesy of Kelly Halpin.

Thatcher, a longtime mountaineer and former information with many years of expertise within the park, testified that there has lengthy been ambiguity surrounding the so-called previous climbers’ path — the route Sunseri used on his descent. Thatcher, who set a previous Grand Teton FKT himself in 1983, mentioned the path was extensively accepted amongst native climbers and guides on the time.

“Again then, that path was utilized by all people — the guides, the rangers, everybody,” Thatcher mentioned. “There was an indication that mentioned, ‘Shortcutting causes erosion,’ however taking the shortcut was nearly a ceremony of passage. For those who have been in form, type of within the know, a neighborhood, there each week, you took that path. Now, when you have been carrying a giant pack filled with climbing gear, you’d take the longer path that goes by the lakes and switchbacks up. But when we have been going mild and quick, we took that path, up and down. The Exum Mountain Guides [the iconic longstanding local guide service] and the climbing rangers took it too.”

Some athletes, together with Ryan Burke, a Jackson-based mountain athlete with a number of main data to his identify, together with the unsupported FKT for the Wind River Excessive Route, have argued that Sunseri’s shortcut undermined the integrity of the FKT and has jeopardized the connection between runners, rangers, and different path customers.

“In my thoughts, this incident has all the time been rather more of an moral concern than a authorized one. Even when he wins his present authorized battle, that doesn’t make his habits on the mountain any extra acceptable.”

Burke additionally worries that the broader authorized battle and debate over overcriminalization have overshadowed the core moral concern: slicing the switchback. He emphasizes the significance of calling out the misstep to make sure different athletes don’t observe in Sunseri’s footsteps.

“Any athlete who makes an attempt after him can be compelled to threat an enormous high-quality with a purpose to keep aggressive,” wrote Burke in an essay shared with iRunFar. “Most individuals, together with myself, can simply forgive somebody who stumbles, nevertheless it’s arduous for folks to maneuver on when no accountability has been taken.”

The trial and the controversy it has ignited have been polarizing, and each Burke and Halpin famous that they obtained vital harassment after talking out.

What This Case Means for the Future

On the time of this text’s publishing, Sunseri’s protection crew has not made a press release in response to the ruling. Nevertheless, throughout the trial, they have been clear they’d enchantment a responsible verdict — and take the case so far as essential to problem what they see as a harmful authorized precedent.

“This isn’t only a case,” mentioned Franc Sunseri, Michelino’s brother, in a press release to iRunFar in Could 2025. “It’s a reckoning. The USA versus Sunseri is the USA versus fact, versus braveness, versus the trailblazers who refuse to kneel.”

The questions raised by the case replicate a bigger cultural inflection level, one the place elite athleticism, public land administration, and social media-fueled visibility more and more collide. As path operating evolves from a distinct segment subculture into a world sport with skilled contracts and widespread digital documentation, how will its norms align with the conservation values embedded within the locations the place it occurs?

The case poses sharp questions on enforcement discretion and the load of public visibility in prosecutorial decision-making. If two runners make the identical infraction, however just one has a sponsorship deal and a viral Strava publish, ought to the results differ? And the way can athletes navigating these public areas be certain that their pursuit of excellence doesn’t come on the expense of the very landscapes they and their sport rely upon?

Rice already sees this stress taking part in out throughout the American West.

“This story highlights a rising concern in public lands the place trails designed for mountain climbing are seeing explosions in path operating use,” Rice mentioned. “In my yard of Missoula, Montana, path operating is now the most well-liked exercise within the Rattlesnake Wilderness, dramatically outnumbering mountain climbing, backpacking, and inventory use. The motivations are sometimes fairly completely different. A path runner could prioritize effectivity, whereas a hiker would possibly embrace the meander. In a time of shrinking path budgets, each teams want to go away no hint, keep away from slicing corners, and be courteous stewards of shared house.”

Runners make their method up Mount Sentinel in 2022 for the Up for Air occasion in Missoula, Montana. Path runners now outnumber hikers within the space. Photograph: Anastasia Wilde

Already, it appears this trial could also be affecting path runner habits in Grand Teton velocity efforts. This August, mountain athletes Jazmine Lowther and Jane Maus each set girls’s FKTs on the Grand Teton, and used the official path in doing so.

For Thatcher, the case displays how a lot the game has modified since his personal record-setting efforts within the Nineteen Eighties.

“Michelino, I believe he had pure intentions, simply doing it for the enjoyment,” mentioned Thatcher. “However the sport as an entire has advanced. Now, there are sponsors, cash, and livelihoods concerned. And naturally, that brings extra scrutiny.”

Whereas Thatcher believes the case has been blown out of proportion, he hopes it will possibly function a teachable second for each athletes and land managers. “There must be clear signage,” he mentioned. “And I hope folks perceive that once you go for one thing this high-profile, you should do your analysis. That’s a part of being a accountable athlete.”

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