AI waited for the sun to break through the front range of the Colorado, next to the growth of the Denver -Baulder, the Collins, the western wind, sending trembling down the spine. At a freezing temperature on a rocky ledge of 13,700 feet, I was looking for a delay on the side of the leader of the boulder. I could see city lights at a distance, but was more concerned about two headlights approaching fast, several hundred feet lower.
Between us lay a slab with rude granite, known as the cable route. This is the most direct way of the top of Longs -Pick, but less travels because it is evaluated in the rocky lifting of class 5 and often carries the Vergles river – Black Ice – running along it, which should be guided.
So I started the first morning of the last personal endurance project, Kilian Jornet, The state of elevationThe field in it Jornet will perform the highest 73 mountains in related USA – each peak is above 14,000 feet – all under human power, riding a bicycle between each. I was together to document the literal and figurative maximums and falls, like Jornet, from the point of view of Leiman, to run a marathon and go on the stage of the tour de France every day for a month.
It is widely considered the greatest mountain athlete of all time, Jornet grew up in Refgi-cap-de-re-, a mountain hut in the Pyrenees of North-East Spain. With his father, who worked as a mountain guide and mother as a school teacher, Jornet pushed his first peak to five years old. At 20, he was the youngest who ever won Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB), considering the world series of Ultrarunn.
During his two -year career, Jornet set the speed records on Aconcagua, Matterhorn, Denali, Kilimanjaro and Everest; He won the triple crown of the ultra-hut-western states, hardcrow and UTMB-and dominated in shorter races, with 10 victories in the Sierre Cinal and 11 in Zegama-Aizkorri. He is the champion of the world skiing, the author of the bestsellers, the founder of the Nnormal shoe company and the physiological obsessive, which often uses itself as a guinea pig to see how his body adapts under stress.
Despite the awards, Jornet remains quiet and modest. While his racing success supported his career and helped him gain almost 2 -meter Instagram subscribers, he is careful with Glory, sharing with me that many of his favorite days are solo adventures in the mountains. When he became older, he switched from racing to impudent efforts in endurance, like this one.
Longs Peak was the beginning of a trip that would take more than 3,000 miles from him in six states, the culmination of which was Mount Reinir in Washington. Meanwhile, my task – in addition to joining Jornet for peak here and there, was openly to write about the journey without excessively re -re -re -expand the hyperbole to support his otherworldly efforts, into a light trap. Almost every day, as Jornet did something, that she would qualify as the largest, fastest or most heavy, but accumulation to an excellent degree will raise his feats of their full value.
At 3:30 in the morning I began to go uphill, an hour before Jornet and Kyle Richardson, the current record holder on Longs, began their ascent. Now, from my acquaintance over the cables, I watched the two dance through the section known as Bowlerfield, and began a technical ascent. I was in no hurry in this part, carefully avoiding wet, icy and mossy handles, and suggested that they would do the same. To my surprise, their pace slowed down slightly when they scalded a vertical step, moving so carefree that I doubted that they noticed a huge thousand feet a couple of tens of feet to the left of them.
When they were approaching, I heard them casually chatting about past adventures, such as old friends on emissions. Technical alpine rock, ice and snow – this is where Jornet feels most at home, and where he radiates the most joy. He arrived at my perch with a grin of ear to ear, quickly gave me a fist, and we continued together.
At the top of Long, Jornet stopped that he had pulled out his phone and took several photos that he would later send his wife Emeli Forsberg, as well as a professional mountain, and their three little daughters. Despite the opinion that Jornet’s life is devoted to the persecution of opportunities, nothing means more for him than the family. Even after several days with more than 20 hours of continuous movement through the mountains, Jornet would try to call home.
For him, this moment was years. In 2023, he climbed all 177 pycs in the Pyrenees in only eight days. Next summer, he pushed all 82 peaks of 4000 m in the Alps in 19 days, using only human power to connect them. In search of such an adventure that would allow him to explore the new landscape, Jornet landed in the American West.
This was the perfect connection of his curiosity about the boundaries of the body and the desire to understand the threat to American wildlife, both through personal experience and conversations with local residents. If this were not enough, Jornet decided that, according to him, she would follow the “theesthetic line.” When he first shared this with me at the end of June, I was not sure what he had in mind. But I was going to find out.
After Jornet could turn out, escape, escape, and rise to the next peak, saving watches and significant energy. Instead, he decided to go through the 38-mile La Auto, a route outside the movement with 21,000 feet of climbing and the descent that took it until the end of the day. Initially, I found it strange, but when the days passed, I began to assess the value of aesthetics in the mountains – partly because it symbolizes Jornet himself.
Jornet is minimalist, which often walks without food or water. He is an environmental defender who believes in defense of wild places. He is as experienced in the technical area that it is as natural as walking. But, first of all, Jornnet is an artist. Projects, how The state of elevation How he leaves his mark: the promotion of others is explored by wild places, without leaving scars on the ground itself.
On the third day with Jornet, when we climbed to the top of Grace closer to the evening, when the tail of lightning exploded, I asked about his motives. He explained that this is not about speed, records, or even who knows about it. If he had not been a famous athlete, he would still make the route, probably with less support and fanfara. The goal was so obvious to him that it was almost difficult to explain.
For Jornet, the mountains are a necessity. He wanted to see the remote ranges of Colorado, feel the vastness of the country of the pool and entertainment and understand the vertical relief of cascading volcanoes, because it gives him life in these places. He was also afraid that some of these landscapes may not remain public or protected for a long time. But the most important part was that he left was not allowed.
A few days later, Jornet controlled the moose Traverse, a 50-mile technical fight near Aspen, Colorado, which saw only a few finishers. The next day, he completed the 14th Colorado, the most infamous fourteenth connection in Colorado, with between them only 30 minutes. Like Savant with a clean canvas, Jornet spent the most beautiful line through these mountains. It was art for him.
On my last day in Colorado, I climbed the back of the Mount Massive and met Jornet closer to the top. The sun settled, and the sky turned into a foggy blue when the last rays disappeared. We stopped a few hundred feet below the top, observing like a family of four mountain goats that do not care about our presence.
Jornet, freely freely in five languages, looked at me and said: “There is a lot of wildlife.” Last week, we saw a moose, a black bear, moose, goats and coyots – a sign of a diverse ecosystem and an extensive wild nature, which no longer exists in the Alps or Pyrenees. This was a reminder that we have grateful for the wild places that we have because they are far from guaranteed.
A week later, I met Jornet in South California, after he passed the pedals 900 miles five days from Colorado. The next morning, he began 13 Norman, a 100-mile route with 39,000 feet of climbing, connecting all fourteen in Sierre. I joined him for a quarter of the route, divided into three sections, watching him lowered the fastest known time for a wonderful 18 hours.
For most people, this would be an unusual pace at one of the most remote ranges of America. For Jornet, these were two compiled, introspective days in the desert. On our climbing Glen in the Kings -Kanyon National Park, he stopped, looked down the valley and said: “This is beautiful” before continuing. It may sound trite, but the feeling was anything.
Jornet spent considerable time in the most remarkable mountain ranges in the world – Andes, Himalayas, Alps and Alaska – but remains in sincere fear on every corner. Until the end of this day, I appreciated what was before me, instead of allowing my mind to roam. Our life is often so busy and complex that we lose sight of important things right in front of us.
On my last day in California, I met Jornnet at the top of Tanterbolt after he completed the technical Ridgeline called “Palisada Traverse”, covered with snow and icy ice. Despite the fact that within two hours during the previous two days, Jornet was surprisingly clear. When he stopped to eat a sandwich, I asked what he was thinking about the route. “I would have done it again,” he answered simply.
I’m not sure that Jornet had in mind the Palisads, Sierra or the whole route, but I’m sure that when he returns, this will be an even more aesthetic line.
