Former Pikes Peak Marathon champion summits Mount Everest twice in one week
BARCELONA, Spain – Their bodies and brains ravaged by the oxygen-scarce heights of the Himalayas, even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest.
Not Kilian Jornet.
Somehow, he still had some legs left.
“My plan was to go up one time,” Jornet said in a recent interview in Barcelona, a couple of hours south of his native Pyrenees. “When I was going down, I was like, ‘Hmm, we could have some days before we leave.’ I wanted to try to go back up again.”
So the man who has helped nurture high-altitude running from obscurity into the forefront of extreme mountain sports set out for a second solo ascent in a six-day span of the tallest peak in the world.
Not that Jornet, who won the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2012, had anything left to prove. Despite being slowed by a stomach bug that caused him to vomit and cramp while climbing, Jornet made his first ascent up Everest’s north face from the base camp near the Rongbuk monastery at 16,750 feet in Tibet, crowning the 29,029-foot summit around midnight of May 21 in 26 hours after one continued push. That was the fastest known time for the route without the use of supplemental oxygen, according to the International Skyrunning Federation, which governs high-altitude racing.
By May 27, Jornet had recovered quickly enough to make a second ascent from an advanced base camp, at 21,000 feet. He passed by three camp sites where climbers usually need to rest and reached the summit in 17 hours, just 15 minutes slower than the record set by Hans Kammerlander in 1996.
That climb usually takes mountaineers a lot longer. Something like four full days.
The 29-year-old Spaniard ascended Everest without the help of other climbers, fixed ropes, or supplemental oxygen to counter the brain-withering effects of the “death zone” above 26,000 feet.
Only about 200 climbers have ever made it up Everest without the use of supplemental oxygen since Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler did it for the first time in 1978. Before those pioneers proved otherwise, it was thought to be a guaranteed death. Only about 20 have ever done it twice, like Jornet. The large majority of those who hike up Everest still take extra oxygen.
Long before Everest, Jornet had established himself as one of the premier athletes in the world of extreme mountain sports.
He has broken speed records for ascents of Kilimanjaro, Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Aconcagua and Denali, among other mountains. He has won the Skyrunning world championship six times, and his victories include a long list of the high-altitude races, ultra-marathons, and ski mountaineering titles. Just to pick two of his almost absurd highlights: he completed the 500-mile trans-Pyrenees mountain trail in eight days, when regular hikers need at least six weeks; and he ran the 165-mile Tahoe Rim trail in 28 hours, while claiming to sleep for only one hour.
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain prepares his climb of Mount Everest in 2017. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain points towards Mount Everest in 2017. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain climbs Mount Everest in 2016. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain poses for a photograph after an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain poses for a photograph after an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain attends an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain attends an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain poses for a photograph after an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain prepares his climb of Mount Everest in 2017. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain points towards Mount Everest in 2017. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
In this image released by Lymbus, Kilian Jornet from Spain climbs Mount Everest in 2016. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (Lymbus via AP)
One of the favorites and record-holder in the Pikes Peak event, Kilian Jornet of Spain poses after a June 12, 2017, interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona.
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain poses for a photograph after an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain attends an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain attends an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
In this photo taken Monday, June 12, 2017, Kilian Jornet from Spain poses for a photograph after an interview with The Associated Press in Barcelona, Spain. Even the hardiest few who scale the treacherous slopes of Mount Everest cut short celebrations for some well-deserved rest. Not Kilian Jornet. He somehow still had enough legs left to scale the mountain again a few days later. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)