He Pulled Off 'Impossible Dream' in the Tetons. Now, Possible Jail

A record-smashing dash up Grand Teton's tallest peak has landed Idaho runner Michelino Sunseri not just in the record books, but also in legal hot water. Sunseri, a North Face-sponsored athlete, was convicted of a misdemeanor this week after a federal judge found he'd strayed off the official path, cutting a switchback during his high-speed summit attempt in Grand Teton National Park last year, per SFGate.

• What's a switchback? Wander North Georgia describes it as "where a trail cuts sharply from one direction to another when going up the steepest grade on the trail." In other words, the path zigs and zags up the slope for an easier climb. Cutting a switchback means that, instead of following the slowly winding curves of the trail up or down the mountain, a hiker shortens the journey by heading straight up or down in a vertical line, moving across the wilderness from one part of the trail to the next. When visitors do that, it causes issues, like exacerbating existing erosion.
• Sunseri's snafu: The runner's feat—sprinting from the parking lot to the summit of Grand Teton and back in a time so fast it's been challenged—earned him side-eye from fellow athletes. It also drew the attention of park authorities, who charged him with violating federal rules designed to protect the park's environment and historical sites.

• Defense: Sunseri's team argued the park hadn't properly marked the shortcut as closed, and that his sponsored-athlete status made him a target. They pointed out that plenty of visitors detour from official trails without incident.
• Court findings: Judge Stephanie Hambrick wasn't swayed. "The comparison is unhelpful," she wrote in her ruling, as the ban is specifically on switchback-cutting, not general off-trail wandering.
• North Face: The sponsoring company, which quietly deleted a social media post lauding Sunseri's "impossible dream" after his record was disputed, didn't comment but remains his sponsor.
• Sunseri's take: He declined to talk after the verdict, but earlier this year noted that being hit with a misdemeanor "could theoretically destroy my entire professional career as a trail runner," per SFGate.
• Looking forward: Sunseri faces up to six months behind bars or a $5,000 fine. No sentencing date has been set. Sunseri's lawyers say they'll likely appeal.
• Another take: Writing for Outside, hiking columnist Grayson Haver Currin reveals what happened when he inadvertently cut a switchback while descending Colorado's Mount Elbert. "They were silent, but their scowls might as well have been screams," he writes of the trail crew that stared at him as he came down the slope—a "post-summit reverie ... broken by a nightmare scenario." More here.