It was an easy decision to turn around – Kilian Jornet
Following a failed attempt on Everest this year, Kilian Jornet has now reflected on the decision to end the climb.
“Our expedition has come to an end.”
“After a first weeks with great acclimatization the second half of may had been very tricky for the conditions, with strong winds and two cyclones that brought lots of precipitation and unstable weather, we are back without a summit. With those conditions our original plan was not possible for us but we decided to give a go in the normal route in a short window before the season ended.
“David started from C2 and I left from basecamp. We climbed though the night and meet at South Col (8000m) and we both experienced the same sensation of not feeling well or strong. It was a bizarre moment when we regrouped at South Col and told each other we were not ok, both of us having had exactly the same experience and feeling equally not right. We could blame the hard wind ( it was strong in south col) but it was our bodies that said that that day the margins of safety were slim.
“It was easy to decide to turn around. It’s not reasonable to continue climbing Everest in the style we want if you don’t feel 100%. And even if disappointed we were not regretting to start descending back to basecamp.
“It’s been a long month in this amazing mountains, with the up and downs of expeditions, great “runs” up there and stressful moments looking the forecasts, but learning a lot and embracing every steep of the journey.
“Thanks to David to share this expedition, it was fun to play with you in the mountains.”
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