Spanish trail legend Kilian Jornet reached 82 peaks over 4,000 meters in just… 19 days. An exceptional performance witnessed by chance by two Belgian mountaineers, true privileged witnesses, in the heart of the Swiss Alps.
We nickname him “the greatest trailer of all time“. Leaving Switzerland on August 14, Kilian Jornet met Maël and his father Freddy the next day, two Belgian mountaineers in full ascent of Mount Mönch. Moved by this exceptional meeting, Maël Lecoq, amateur mountaineer, declared: “I had no words, my eyes hurt. I didn’t think I would meet him that day for a 4,000. It was too good to be true.”
He wished us a good hike
A moment suspended at 4000 meters altitude. The occasion was too good to immortalize this once-in-a-lifetime moment. “He stopped for a minute or so and was kind enough to talk with us. He wished us a good hike. We took 3 or 4 photos and he took off like an arrow“, explains Freddy Lecoq, amateur mountaineer.
In just 19 days, Kilian Jornet has just completed a series of 82 Alpine peaks over 4,000 meters. “I can’t believe it, it’s so beautiful. Look at the Grandes Jorasses where we were yesterday, the Dent du Géant, and Mont Blanc where I will go tomorrow.“
He took risks in the high mountains and is even three times faster than the previous record of 62 days set in 2008. “What I remember most are the moments in the mountains: the sunrises and sunsets, the moments spent with friends on the ridges… Now, it’s time to rest a little, because all I I experienced emotionally was very intense“, said the sportsman.
A metabolism without limits
After 1,207 kilometers traveled on foot and by bike between the massifs, 75,000 meters of elevation gain and 2 to 5 hours of sleep per day, his metabolism seems limitless. “He hasn’t lost any weight, or at least only a kilo. It’s still very little for such an effort. But that’s Kilian Jornet’s logic: he constantly pushes his limits. At one and a half years old, he was already able to walk 4 hours in the mountains. He was 3 years old when he reached his first 3,000 meters“, explains Olivier Beaufays, journalist for Zatopek Magazine.
At 36, Kilian Jornet could now tackle Everest and climb ever higher peaks. Persevere, defy gravity, touch the inaccessible, without ever falling.
Kilian Jornet Alpinisme
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