2 South Africans just ran the Great Himalaya Trail in the fastest known time

Photo Cred: Dean Leslie / Redbull Content Pool

Running a total of 1504 km in a total of 25 days 4 hours 24 minutes Ryan and Ryno set a new “Fastest Known Time” record.

Shortly after sunrise on the 25 March, Ryan Sandes and Ryno Griesel touched the boarder of Nepal and officially finished their Fastest Known Time “FKT” attempt of the Great Himalaya Trail – smashing Andrew Porter’s 2016 record of the same route by three days.

The current FKT was set by fellow South African Porter in 2016, who completed the challenge in 28days 13hrs 56min.

But on 1 March 2018, the two South African trail runners bravely set out to establish a new FKT.

The Great Himalaya Trail is not a single trail but rather a combination of various trails in either the upper (GHT High Route) or middle (GHT Cultural route) districts of Nepal stretching from the west to the east (or vice versa) end of the country.

Ryan and Ryno traversed the route combining the High GHT and Cultural GHT to challenge the current recognised FKT, whilst self-navigating the best possible route to link up the 12 required check-points as set by Andrew.

“I am extremely excited and humbled by the opportunity to share the Himalayas with Ryan in such a cool adventure,” says Ryno. “Researching a project of this scale, I was nervously aware that we simply couldn’t prepare for everything and that we would have to rely on the foundation of our friendship built from previous “epics” to find solutions on-the-go and carry each other through!”

The route that Ryan and Ryno planned to take based on the Andrew’s current FKT:

Start in the village of Hilsa on the Western Nepal/ Tibetan border and cross the following points (villages and passes).
Simikot at roughly 77km
Gamgadhi at roughly 150km
Jumla at roughly 193km
Juphal (280km) or Dunai at roughly 290km
Chharka Bhot at roughly 380km
Kagbeni at roughly 444km
Thorang La Pass at roughly 463km
Larkye La Pass at roughly 561km
Jiri at roughly 928km
Tumlingtar at roughly 1075km
Finishing on the Eastern Nepal/ Indian border at Pashupatinagar

When the team set out on their FKT attempt, they knew it would be tough, they knew it would be physically demanding, and they knew it would be an adventure. But what they didn’t know was just how epic and transformative that adventure would be. What may have begun as a race against time, evolved into an epic journey about experiencing a country on foot.

“This has been the biggest adventure of my life, but incredibly challenging at the same time, especially mentally to just keep going day in and day out for so long,” exclaimed Sandes at the final checkpoint.

“Traversing any of The Great Himalaya Trails has always been a dream of mine There were so many ups and downs along the route that we could never have anticipated but I’m so stoked we pushed on and made it through. Alongside my win at Western States 100 last year, this has to be one of my biggest sporting accomplishments to date!”

The pair were thrown another curveball when the route they had plotted prior to leaving for the attempt, in fact turned out to be almost 200km longer than they had previously anticipated.

“The maps on the computer tend to flatten out the track quite a bit as it obviously doesn’t drop a point every single meter, so the distance you work out on the computer is actually a lot shorter than what it is really measured at,” noted Griesel.

“What we experienced on the ground was far more brutal that what we had plotted out on the computer, but it was all part of the adventure.”

The attempt saw Sandes and Griesel traverse heavily snow-covered mountains and experience some incredibly extreme weather conditions that were unusual for this time of the year along the way. They suffered frost-bitten fingers, serious tummy bugs, breathing difficulties and a couple of near death experiences.

A constant on the route, however, was the incredibly welcoming spirit of the Nepalese people who truly embody the spirit of Namaste, and welcomed the both of them into their homes.

Quite regularly throughout the attempt, Sandes and Griesel knocked on the doors of unsuspecting locals and begged for shelter. Every time, the men were welcomed into homes with open arms and saved their lives.

“We were the first people to cross the Dolpa region since the start of winter, which made the going very difficult to navigate and very slow,” commented Griesel.

“I had to keep taking my gloves off to read the maps and managed to get terrible frost bite on my fingers, which has been painful. One of the villages on our map in that region, a spot where we had hoped to get accommodation, was completely deserted. I honestly believe that if we hadn’t come across a monk and monastery that night we would have frozen to death outside.”

Sandes echoed Griesel’s sentiment: “The Nepalese people were amazing! We knocked on their doors late at night, two filthy dirty South Africans, who speak very little Nepalese, and they not only welcomed us into their homes without hesitation, but they have also gave us their beds and gone to sleep at neighbours so that we have accommodation!” says Sandes.

“It has been humbling to meet these incredible people. I doubt anyone back home would have opened their homes to strangers as easily as the Nepalse citizens we met along the way have to us.”

In the final days, Ryan and Ryno pushed through the final 300km day and night, taking only short, 10-20 minute naps on the trail.

Sandes and Griesel return to South Africa on Tuesday, 27 March 2018.

“We would like to thank the trail running community for their incredible support in the lead up to and throughout our FKT record attempt,” said Sandes.

“It has been great to read all of the messages of encouragement and support. And to the Nepalese people, we can never say thank you enough for your incredible hospitality and friendliness, there is definitely no other place on earth like Nepal.”

“That split second that you achieve a goal you’ve set yourself, everything suddenly makes sense. Everything is worth what you got out of it,” Ryno said.

Ryno will get back to his day job, accounting, joking that the only thing extreme he’ll be doing in the near future is extreme accounting. Ryan will also enjoy a bit of rest and will spend the remainder of 2018 focused on racing, including the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc in Chamonix this August.