He’s done it. We reported last week on Spanish mountaineer and multiple Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) champion Killian Jornet’s latest challenge: a trek across the European Alps via a route that takes in all 82 of its 4,000m+ peaks, and doing it by human-powered means alone – that's hiking, skiing, and cycling. He named this epic trek “Alpine Connections”.
Now he’s not only finished, but finished in an astonishing time – a mere 19 days. And that was even with managing to fit in a rest day!
Jornet started out on August 15 at Piz Bernina in Switzerland and finished on September 2 at the Barre des Écrins in France. Across the course of his endeavour, he was active for 268 hours, covered 750 miles (1,207km), and gained 247,192ft (75,344m) in elevation.
A video of the challenge’s highlights has already hit YouTube. You can watch it below.
“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,” said 36-year-old Jornet in an Instagram post. “It’s difficult to process all my emotions just now, but this is a journey that I will never forget.”
Jornet absolutely smashes the previous record, which was 62 days set by Swiss alpinist Ueli Steck in 2015 – he could have done all again twice, and still had a few days to spare to catch up on some sleep (although, let’s face it, even the superhuman Jornet might be flagging by the third time around).
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