Kilian Jornet (l.) and Ueli Steck (r.) on the Eiger

Ambitious or overwinded? The climbers’ scene is discussing the upcoming Everest project of the Spaniard Kilian Jornet. As reported before, the 28-year-old Catalan will set off to Tibet next Sunday to climb or rather run up the highest mountain on earth, within his project “Summits of my life”. The plan sounds crazy: if possible in a single push from Rongbuk Monastery to the 8850-meter-high summit; without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support; if the conditions on the mountain are right, on a seldom climbed route (Norton or Hornbein Couloir); and as if all that were not enough, in the monsoon. Of course, this evokes memories of Reinhold Messner’s legendary Everest solo in 1980. But Jornet will not be climbing alone. And he is a completely different type of climber than the South Tyrolean was at that time.

Hard training

North side of Mount Everest

Jornets strength is not his climbing technique but in particular his endurance and speed. As ski mountaineer, trail runner and skyrunner, Kilian has set many records – including on Aconcagua, with 6962 meters the highest mountain in South America. However, Everest is another 1888 meters higher, and the Spaniard has never before been on an altitude of more than 8,000 meters. He had trained hard for the project in the Himalayas, Jornet wrote on Facebook: “This year I’ve been doing a lot of alpinism and during the last months I’ve been trying to be in altitude, between the Alps and Colorado, in order to do a lot of mountaineering.”

Together via the Eiger North Face

Meeting in the Khumbu (2.v.r. Hélias Millerioux)

“I know Kilian a little,” Ueli Steck writes to me, after I have asked him to assess Jornet’s chance of success on Everest: “He is extremely fit and strong. And he is realistic. He knows what he is getting himself into.” The Swiss top climber and the Spanish skyrunner met in the Himalayas in fall 2015. Steck was then waiting – as it later turned out, in vain – for better conditions on the 7804-meter-high Nuptse East, where he planned to climb the extremely difficult route via the Southeast Pillar for the first time in Alpine style. At that time, Jornet was in the Khumbu too. Ueli and Kilian spent a little time running and climbing together. After returning from Nepal they met in Switzerland and climbed via the Eiger North Face, Steck ahead, followed by Jornet.

Late love for trail running

Ueli after the Eiger Ultra Trail

Unlike the Spaniard, Ueli has discovered for himself trail running rather late, but since he did, he is fired up for this mountain sport. During the acclimatization period in the Khumbu for his Shishapangma South Face expedition last spring, Ueli ran – along with his German climbing partner David Goettler – many kilometers at high altitude. In mid-July the 39-year-old for the first time joined a mountain run over a distance of more than 100 kilometers: Ueli finished the Eiger Ultra Trail (101 km, 6700 meters in altitude) in an impressive 26th place.

“If necessary, several attempts”

“Clearly, in such a project you need good conditions and also a bit of luck,” says Steck with a view to Jornet’s Everest project. “If you try such ambitious projects, the chance of failure is significantly higher than if you ascend on the normal route with bottled oxygen.” However, a success of the Spaniard on Everest is quite possible, writes Ueli: “Basically I believe Kilian can make it. He just has to try it now, and if it doesn’t work, once again next year. Kilian is realistic enough. I definitely know that.”

Kilian Jornet

It sounds as if someone overextends himself completely. On Sunday next week (7 August), the Spaniard Kilian Jornet wants to ​​set off to Tibet to climb Mount Everest. Not in the “usual” way but speedy, in a single push, without bottled oxygen and Sherpa support, on a seldom used route, during the monsoon season. And the 28-year-old has never before been above 8,000 meters. Plenty of reasons to be skeptical and suspect that it just could be a cleverly arranged PR stunt – were it not for Kilian Jornet and his partner on the mountain, Jordi Tosas.

Many speed records

Extremely fast

The Catalan is in a way the “Forrest Gump of the mountains”. He runs and runs and runs – and has been celebrating successes in a row, whether as ski mountaineer, trailrunner or skyrunner. Jornet has set many records. So at the end of 2014, it took him only eight hours and 45 minutes to run from Horcones at 2,900 meters via the normal route to the 6,962-meter-high summit of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America, and back down in about four hours. After twelve hours and 49 minutes Jornet reached the starting point again. He doesn’t only break records, he “powders” them. In 2013, the 1.71 meter tall Spaniard needed just four hours and 57 minutes to climb up and down Mont Blanc from Chamonix, and it took him two hours and 52 minutes for ascent and descent of the Matterhorn from the Italien side. In summer 2014, he needed eleven hours and 48 minutes to climb up Denali, with 6,194 meters the highest mountain in North America, and ski down from the summit.

Pre-acclimatization in the Alps

Now he wants to tackle the highest of all mountains within his project “Summits of my life”. “Everest will probably be one of the most demanding climbs I’ve ever faced,” says Kilian. “It will be a great learning experience, from how my body reacts to the high altitude to how to apply the Alpine approach to the mountain. I’ve been preparing for this challenge for months and I’m keen to get started.” Jornet and his team will stay a few days in the Alps at altitudes above 4,000 meters, before they start to Asia. “It can make you weaker if you spend several days acclimatizing yourself on the mountain,” says Kilian. “With this type of acclimatization we can begin the challenge with more energy and a better chance of success.”

Up to every trick

Jordi Tosas

Jornet is accompanied by the Spanish top climber Jordi Tosas. The 48-year-old describes himself as a “nomad, one of those that make a living in the mountains of our planet”. Jordi is up to every Himalayan and Karakoram trick. In 2004, he was a member of the Spanish team on K 2 that first succeeded to repeat the “Magic Line” via the Southsouthwest Ridge which had been first climbed in 1986 and is said to be one the most difficult routes on the second highest mountain on earth. Later Tosas inter alia opened new routes on the seven-thousanders Palung Ri (in 2006) and Jannu (in 2007) and via the North Face of the eight-thousander Cho Oyu (in 2011), each of them climbing solo. “The day when we attack the summit we think there won’t be anyone else on Everest,” says Jordi. “Thanks to the monsoon the fixed ropes will be covered with snow. And Everest will only allow you one chance.” The French cameramen and guides Sébastien Montaz-Rosset and Vivian Bruchez complete the team.

Light and fast

Tibetan north side of Everest

Kilian Jornet will set off at the highest permanently inhabited settlement on the north side of Everest, the Rongbuk Monastery. From there it is about 30 kilometers to the Advanced Base Camp below the North Col. Depending on the conditions on the mountain, Jornet and Tosas are planning to ascend through the Norton or Hornbein Couloir to the highest point on 8,850 meters. Both want to take as little as possible with them. “With light equipment we can advance quicker, although we know this increases the risk”, says Kilian. “We’re aware of this risk and we’re taking it because ultimately this is the way we like to approach the mountain.” Whatever will happen, it sounds extremely exciting.