the essential
Thanks to a hell of a mind and legs of fire, Valentin Moliner finally surpassed the altitude of the most prestigious summit in the world.
It’s in a way “his longest day”: on June 23, Valentin Moliner decided to take on the Everesting Challenge, a sporting challenge during which participants must climb (and descend) the ascent of their choice to reach the equivalent of the height difference of Everest. An extraordinary sporting feat.
“Last summer, I climbed the 5 Ts (Tourmalet, Tentes, Troumouse, Tech and Tramassel) with friends, 6500 m of elevation gain all the same, and I didn’t finish on my knees. I told myself that it was possible to take on an even bigger sporting and personal challenge, without putting on a bib. To prepare myself, I tried to train more specifically, with longer mountain outings where I did climbs and descents, even if I don’t consider myself a pure climber.”
Having fallen into the sporting pot since his early childhood thanks to his father, Denis, the 24-year-old young man who has been running intensively since the age of five and has taken part in numerous cycling competitions, chose the Col d’Aspin to achieve his feat.
On D-Day, “I started at 6:40 a.m. and finished at more than 10 p.m., with a few stops to change and refuel, a total of 14 hours of cycling and 271 km during which I lost 4 kg,” he says.
Three more Aspin passes than expected
Even though the rain and a certain coolness for the season were invited, Valentin Moliner held on, thanks to his comrades from Tarbes Pyrénées Athlétisme, to friends and his father Denis, who accompanied him punctually, during this participatory adventure, with high emotional intensity… and ascent. “To reach the altitude difference of Everest, I had to complete 23 climbs of the Aspin pass (the equivalent of 8849 m).
Finally, as I felt good, the taste of surpassing myself and the euphoria pushed me to do three more, to exceed the symbolic bar of 10,000 m of altitude difference. I even made my last ascent, when it was pitch black.” Thanks to a hell of a mind and legs of fire, Valentin Moliner finally exceeded the altitude of the most prestigious summit in the world.
Replaying the epic stage of the 1910 Tour de France
The young man who recently graduated from the National School of Engineers of Tarbes (Enit) who “wants to stay in Tarbes, for the quality of life and to continue practicing mountain sports”, does not necessarily have another sporting challenge in mind.
Except perhaps that of following the wheel of the convicts of the Tour de France, by completing the Dantesque and legendary stage of 1910 between Bagnères-de-Luchon and Bayonne, with the ascent of six Pyrenean passes including the Tourmalet.
“Beyond pure sporting performance, I want to reconnect with the self-improvement and spirit of adventure of the pioneers of the Tour de France” confides Valentin Moliner. At 24, all sporting exploits are permitted to him.
