Mike Gallagher, 3-Time Olympian, Claims FKT for Presidential Traverse in 1968

[halfmoon]

There is a post on the FKT website from an anonymous user who claims that Mike Gallagher, 3-time Olympian in Nordic Skiing, set the
fastest known time for a Presidential Traverse in 1968 in a time of 4 hours and 46 minutes. The anonymous poster claims to have read
Mr. Gallagher's "journal notes" that verify that he, along with two others, ran the Traverse in 4:46. If true, this would shatter
the previously recognized time of our own Ryan Welts who ran the Traverse on July 2, 2011 in 4:56:14.

Personally, I have no reason to believe Mr. Gallagher did not do what has been claimed, I am sure he was certainly capable as an Olympian.
However, I do think some questions need to be understood such as what route did Mr. Gallagher run, we know Mr. Welts' route.

This is the second time a major White Mountains speed record has been claimed 30, now 40 years after the fact. The first being Alex
MacPhail's White Mountain Hut Traverse in 12 hours and 11 minutes. Alex did this following the much harder "old" Hut Traverse route
beginning at Madison Hut. Alex's 1963 record is widely regarded as the greatest athletic accomplishment in White Mountains history.

Two outstanding accomplishments dating back to the 1960's.

 

[drewski]

i used to train with mike in the early 70s..he had the record for the washington auto road race and him and the us nordic team also had the long trail record the same year...they were a mean bunch...