Mountain runner Kilian Jornet climbs all 82 4,000-meter Alpine peaks in 19 days, smashing previous record
By Jamie Barton, CNN
(CNN) — Spanish mountain runner Kilian Jornet has successfully climbed all 82 of the Alps’ 4000-meter peaks in record time, taking just 19 days to complete the remarkable feat.
He did so entirely under his own power, using a combination of mountaineering, climbing, trail running and cycling. Dividing his route into 16 stages, Jornet would travel for as much as 20 hours on some days, before resting for four or five hours and beginning again.
The 36-year-old racked up an extraordinary 750 miles (1,207 kilometers) across more than 267 hours of activity, gaining 75,344 meters of elevation across the 19 days.
“This was, without any doubt, the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life, mentally, physically, and technically, but also maybe the most beautiful,” he wrote on social media. “It’s difficult to process all my emotions just now, but this is a journey that I will never forget.”
The previous record, according to fastestknowntime.com, was set back in 2015 by Ueli Steck of Switzerland. It took Steck 62 days to accomplish the feat, meaning Jornet has now linked the peaks in less than a third of that time.
It is not the only record Jornet holds, having previously accomplished the fastest ascent and descent of the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc, Reuters reported.
The Spaniard began his 19-day route in the Swiss Engandine valley, climbing Piz Bernina (4,048m), the easternmost 4000m peak in the Alps. From there he traversed the Bernese Oberland and moved on to the challenging Valais region.
Along his route, Jornet typically took just one liter of water with him, choosing to buy bottled water from hostels along the way. At the end of each day, according to El País, he would be met by two vans, where he would eat “for an hour-and-a-half straight.”
In one particularly remarkable day, Jornet climbed 16 new 4000m peaks along the Mont Blanc massif, including Mont Blanc itself (4,808m) and the Grandes Jorasses (4,208m).
The “Alpine Connections project” was completed with the last two summits, Dôme (4,015m) and Barre des Écrins (4,102m), the latter of which involved running along a glacier.
Arriving at the base just before midnight on September 1, Jornet and his team celebrated with pizza before journeying home.
“It’s time to rest for a bit now!” concluded Jornet in his statement.
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