"It's about being alive" - Kilian embarks on his 'personal' journey
Kilian Jornet
So, there it is. The Summits of My Life project would make many a mortal dizzy in its vastness, but for Kilian Jornet it’s what he must do next, it’s a fire that has been burning inside him since he was a lad. You get the feeling that the Catalan would succeed in pretty much whatever he turned his hand to, so should we be surprised at this?
No. This is Jornet’s next step in his journey through the mountains of the planet. As he explained during a live webcast this evening, he is a mountain man, first and foremost, not merely a runner.
He explained that SOML is not continuation of Kilian’s Quest, it’s very different, according to Kilian, this is his project, it’s more personal. He also explained that the project is aimed at finding his physical limits and spiritually – it’s about feeling alive.
Summits of my Life is a 4-year project, in which we intend to run the length of the world’s greatest mountain ranges, trying to climb and descend some of the most spectacular mountains in the world as quickly as possible.
By no means does this project mean that I am leaving Trail Running or mountain skiing behind. On the contrary, given my passion for mountains, I want to pioneer the most alpinist part of my being and I believe I am now ready to attempt this.
The project will start off this summer with two itineraries at the birthplace of Alpinism, where the very first climbers began to dream of reaching summits. Both will be in the Mont Blanc mountain range. The first will be on skis from Champex to Contamines, reaching some of the most important summits and doing some of the most spectacular descents. Stephane and Mateo will ski alongside me.
The second will be from Courmayeur to Chamonix reaching the summit of Mont Blanc, ascending the Italian southern face and descending the northern face.
In 2013 I’m going to attempt to break ascent and descent records of the most important summits in Europe, beginning with the highest, Mount Elbrus, in Russia.
The next one, Mount Cervino, is possibly the most difficult to break, with an impressive time of 3h14m achieved by Bruno Brunod. At a technical level and in terms of risk taking, this mountain will definitely be the toughest. The last attempt in 2013 will be to do Chamonix-Mont Blanc-Chamonix, for which P.A.Goblet’s record has held since 1990.
In 2014 we are going to cross the Atlantic to reach the two highest American summits: Mount Aconagua in South America with its nearly 7,000m altitude and famous winds and Mount McKinley or Denali in Alaska, a summit with especially tough weather conditions.
The target for 2015 will be to climb up and down Mount Everest as fast as possible
Link to a cool SOML trailer here.
To coin his phrase, ‘when you stop dreaming, you stop living’!
