north-north-west wrote:Well, no.
He aimed at unsupported and unresupplied. To some extent it depends on exactly what he meant by those terms but, as he likes to put his name in the record books, it's fair to debate what does or does not qualify. And I agree with jdeks - OK, he only picked up two items (that we know of) but they were pieces of equipment he lost and has replaced from external sources. That is a resupply.
And before anyone says we're being really picky about this - hey, at least we aren't pointing out that, technically, water is a consumable and as he has been collecting water all the way through instead of carrying it, "unresupplied" was out the window the first time he dipped a bottle into a creek.
"Unsupported" is trickier to define in this context. The only thing I quibble about is the ongoing route advice from jmac (as well as nipping into a shop to buy something). Possible adjustments to the route due to time, weather, terrain and conditions should have been well canvassed and laid out prior to departure. None of this would have been unexpected to anyone who had a look at his planned route and schedule, so he should have been prepared for it.
I don't have an issue with GPS navigation, with weather data and forecasts from an app, with using hardened tracks and MVOs. (After all, part of the PCT follows a public road, and much of the Dial Range section is on old vehicle tracks.)
But kudos where they're due - he's done a phenomenal job to get as far as he has given the challenges he's faced, and I hope he does make it to the south coast.
Yep, better worded than my own statement.
The unsupported criteria, as I think LouPhi has already alluded to, is pretty hard to define and even then, rather arbitrary. Without defining it before the step-off, everyone could quibble about it until the end of days without reaching a consensus.
The unsupplied criteria I think is a bit more determinate. Whilst maybe theres some room for debate about the collection of raw consumables (hey, if water is a supply, then is oxygen too?), I think it's pretty reasonable to say that collecting a manufactured, man-made tool mid-trip is a 'supply'. To say that it isn't opens a precendent that could undermine the 'unresupplied ' title as a whole.
I don't see how pointing this out this somehow detracts or disrespects his undertaking though. All of his journey still stands there in its own right for what it is, regardless of what criteria it did or didn't meet.
More to the point, I think the best way to respect not only his achievement, but also the achievement of future trekkers, is to be accurate and honest. Louphi is on track to be the first guy to trek solo, with no food resupply from the north coast to the southwest, in winter. He deserves that record. And if the next person who tries this manages to do so without needing new kit halfway, then they too deserve credit for being the first to do it fully unresupplied, then they deserve that credit just as much.