Kilian Jornet details Alpine Challenge
Last month, Kilian Jornet completed an incredible feat, conquering all 84 of the 4,000-meter peaks in the Alps over just 19 days. In true adventurer spirit, he relied solely on his own power—biking, hiking, climbing, and running between mountains without using any motorized transport. He pushed the limits of human endurance, barely pausing to sleep. The real marvel isn’t just that he completed the challenge, but that he made it through.
Now, the Spanish athlete has gathered his thoughts and memories into a diary chronicling the Alpine Connections project. The title comes from the WhatsApp group of friends who supported and joined him on different parts of the journey.
“The 4,000m peaks were just the framework; the real journey happened inside.” Jornet revealed. “It was a quest to discover who I am, my motivations, fears, and limits.”
Alpine Connections was Jornet’s reinterpretation of a previous challenge—his remarkable traverse of all 177 peaks over 3,000 meters in the Pyrenees, which he completed in just eight days. The Pyrenees span the border between France and Spain, but this time, Jornet took his endurance to the Alps.
For his Alpine routes, Jornet meticulously planned each segment to connect as many peaks as possible in a single, continuous push. As a former resident of Chamonix, he was already well-acquainted with the Mont Blanc massif and the Valais region. However, this challenge also brought him into lesser-known terrain, allowing him to explore peaks and ranges like Bernina, Weissmies, Grand Combin, and the Bernese Alps.
For Jornet, reducing this adventure to mere “records” would undermine the spirit behind it. He drew inspiration from the pioneering alpinists of long traverses, such as Patrick Berhault and Ueli Steck. He goes on to explain the strategy he employed and the motivation behind these ultra-long expeditions.
“The idea [was] that once I reached a mountain range, I would stay up there linking summits and not descend, moving continuously or resting in refuges or bivouacs until all the peaks were linked before moving on to another range. That was broken in Valais, where a snowstorm happened and I went to check the conditions and did the Nadelgrat and went back down to Saas-Fee before continuing the next day. I then did a four-day push to Zinal.”
For Jornet, “connections” refers not only to the continuous linking of peaks and ranges but also to the network of incredibly fit friends who joined him at various stages of the journey. The long list of companions shows that Jornet is never short of adventure partners. Their presence was crucial, providing him with both company during the demanding link-ups and valuable input while planning his routes.
Jornet also reflected on the physiological aspects of the performance too. He didn’t lose weight, which was a surprise. Overall, he was satisfied, although he did admit to some mistakes.
“Sometimes I pushed too far, accepted some risks that I consciously find unreasonable,” he said. Otherwise, he “flowed”:
“On some ridges, I didn’t feel the strain. I felt a deep connection with the mountain. Effort didn’t exist anymore, time stopped, my body was one with the environment. Those are the moments I live for.”
Such moments compensated for the mental strain of never stopping, regardless of the conditions or weather. “The effort was physical, technical, but above all mental, in managing stress and emotions,” he said.
He did enjoy himself, however:
“I witnessed breathtaking sunsets, full-moon nights, and crimson sunrises. I touched magnificent rocks that made me dance with them to progress. I experienced long, magnificent hours of solitude and shared laughter and ridges with friends. In the end, it’s these moments that will remain.”
There is so much to this Diary and it is well worth a read here.