The unique model of this story was printed on iRunFar.
Kilian Jornet has gained each huge ultramarathon there may be. Now the prolific runner has his sights set on a brand new objective: Connecting the entire decrease United States’ 14,000-foot peaks by foot and bike.
Jornet, 37, is best-known for profitable the UTMB 4 occasions, the Hardrock 100 5 occasions, Western States 100 in 2011, and the Zegama Marathon 11 occasions. Lately, he’s additionally turned to formidable alpine targets exterior of racing. Along with his latest mission, which he’s calling States of Elevation, he’ll hyperlink all 72 of the 14,000-foot peaks throughout the decrease U.S.
The Aim
On Instagram, Jornet introduced that he plans to begin at Longs Peak in Colorado in early September and finish at Mount Rainier in Washington. Whereas not but confirmed, it’s honest to invest that Jornet will try to summit all 72 of those 14ers as a part of the mission as properly. There are 58 in Colorado, 12 in California, and two in Washington.
The mission is an enormous departure from endurance runners’ typical pursuit of Quickest Identified Instances (FKTs). Jornet holds a number of FKTs for routes throughout Europe and the U.S. Mountain West.
In a press launch, he defined, “What I skilled within the Pyrenees and the Alps motivated me to maintain exploring this dimension of lengthy traverses with a powerful bodily, cognitive, and artistic element. It’s undoubtedly a continuation in that sense.
“With the excuse of linking the 14ers, it’s additionally about exploring the American West — the vastness of the terrain and the cultures which have lived and proceed to stay there, in addition to a nature that’s usually wild and extremely various, starting from alpine areas to dense forests and deserts.”
Jornet’s human-powered method to most of these journeys is designed to forge a deeper reference to the realm, its tradition, and its wilderness. Jornet has lengthy been a proponent of sustainability within the sport of operating, and his basis focuses on preserving mountain environments.
Jornet’s Alpine Adventures
This isn’t Jornet’s first human-powered alpine itinerary. Final summer time, he linked all 82 of the 4,000m peaks within the Alps by foot and by bike, a 1,207km (750-mile) journey he known as Alpine Connections. He mentioned it “was, with none doubt, essentially the most difficult factor I’ve ever carried out in my life, mentally, bodily, and technically, but in addition possibly essentially the most stunning.”
He additionally accomplished an 8-day traverse of the Pyrenees in 2023, climbing 177 peaks over 3,000 m, the place he mentioned that within the planning, it was “the great thing about the route being an important.”
Jornet can be well-known for his Summits of My Life mission, the place he climbed the very best peak on every continent, together with summiting Mount Everest twice within the span of per week.
