19 days to climb 82 peaks over 4000 m, the dizzying performance of Kilian Jornet – Libération

A crazy race. The Catalan Kilian Jornet, ultra-trail star and confirmed mountaineer, completed on the night of Saturday 31 August to Sunday 1 September, at the Barre des Ecrins (4102 metres, Hautes-Alpes), a breathtaking series of 82 peaks over 4000 metres listed in the Swiss, Italian and French Alps. Methodically and at full speed, he climbed these mountains, sometimes of great technical difficulty, often by ridge lines that are rarely travelled or even unseen, and completed all the connections at a running pace or by bike without using the slightest mechanical or aerial support, it only took Jornet 19 days in total to complete his challenge. Less than three weeks… The previous record, set in 2008 by an Italian rope team, was 60 days!

This extraordinary time marks the success of the challenge called “Alpine Connections” that the 37-year-old Catalan, sometimes nicknamed “the ultra-terrestrial” because of his physical abilities, has been preparing discreetly for years, since his record crossing of the Pyrenees in June 2010, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean in just over 8 days (850 km and more than 42,000 m of positive elevation gain). Having left on August 13 from Saint-Moritz, in the east of Switzerland and at the foot of Piz Bernina, his first 4000 m, Jornet has completed sixteen stages that he had all prepared with great care. He only allowed himself one day of rest along the way and barely more than 5 hours of sleep per night on average, to swallow up more than 75,000 meters of positive elevation gain and 1200 kilometers of distance. The figures struggle to convey the scale of the performance, which has been described as “magic”, of “insane” or of “phenomenal” by the best current European mountaineers.

“He didn’t want it to end at all!”

While some accompanied him on portions of his race, as much as they could, Jornet reached the summit of the majority of the 82 “4000s” alone. The Frenchman Benjamin Védrines, speed record breaker on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses as on the normal route of K2 (Pakistan, 8611 m, second highest peak in the world after Everest) this summer, accompanied him on Saturday August 31 at the end of his last stage. Jornet had started his day with 172 kilometers of solo cycling from Val d’Isère, via the Iseran, Mont-Cenis and Montgenèvre passes – nearly 4000 meters of positive elevation gain, or the equivalent of a big mountain stage of the Tour de France – before continuing directly on the ascent of his last two “4000s”: “And it was far from being his biggest day,” smiles Védrines, who also speaks of a Jornet “hallucinating” : “He wasn’t physically scarred at all, he assured me that he could have continued. In fact, he didn’t want it to stop at all!” For Védrines, the Catalan’s performance “will remain difficult to repeat and improve. It breaks down psychological barriers and opens up the field of possibilities. It is a huge contribution to our building, sport mountaineering..»

Jorney’s journey across the Mont Blanc massif in particular, from August 26 to 28, where he completed 27 “4000s” in three sessions of 22 to 29 hours of effort, almost reaching 5,000 meters of altitude difference on technical terrain on the last day, left his peers open-mouthed and admiring. “We didn’t even know it was possibleunderlines Védrines. You have to imagine what this represents in terms of continuity of risk-taking, commitment, discomfort, minimalism… It took Kilian’s audacity, imagination, skills and enormous alpine experience to take on such a challenge. It’s years and years of work, of preparation and lived in the mountains. This is great mountaineering in all its beauty.”

On Sunday, at the end of his crossing, Kilian Jornet delivered his final message to his 1.6 million Instagram followers: “It was, without a doubt, the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life, mentally, physically and technically, but also perhaps the most beautiful. It is difficult for me to analyze all my emotions right now, but it is a journey that I will never forget,” concluding his message with a mischievous “It’s time to get some rest now!” Benjamin Védrines confirms: “He lived there, on these mountains which are his living ground more than his playground, and with immense respect for them, an initiatory moment. He plunged into the unknown and came out new. This is true for our entire community, with which he shared his adventure and which he inspires.”