Kilian Jornet Burgada is the current holder of the Mont Blanc speed record on foot. He was born in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain, on 27 October 1987. On 11 July 2013 he set the new record of 4 hours 57 minutes 34 seconds for the fastest ascent & descent on foot from Chamonix.
At the age of 5 he already had climbed Aneto (3,404m), the highest mountain in the Pyrenees, Posets (3,371m), the second highest peak. And at the age of 10 he climbed the whole range of the Pyrenees.
From the age of 13 he began training seriously, from that moment he started his career.
The Route
Kilian Jornet chose the historic route through the Grand Mulet. There are three main routes to the summit of Mont-Blanc. The other two routes are the Three-Mont-Blanc, done by taking the Aiguille du Midi cable car up, and the Gouter route, done by taking the Tramway du Mt Blanc from Saint Gervais, up to Nid d'Aigle.
Kilian's route: Chamonix-Mont-Blanc Tunnel-Jonction- Grands Mulets- Grand Plateau-Vallot-Mont Blanc.
The distance covered was 28,40km, the speed was 5,7km/h, the highest point reched was 4819m and the lowest point was 1040m.
The equipment needed was running shoes, bikers helmet and hydration on his back (lots of water!).
The Weather
Kilian knew that the weather conditions were good. Kilian's previous attempt to break the speed record was abandoned because of the weather. He chose an early start because the altitude is still frozen.
Previous Holder of the Mont Blanc Speed Record on Foot
The previous Mont-Blanc speed record was set by the Swiss Pierre-André Gobet on 21 July 1990. It took 23 years to smash a record of such a popular mountain.
"Summits of my life" Project
This record is part of Kilian's project "Summits of my life". The project is a personal challenge to break some records, such as the Mont Blanc speed record on foot, and to climb summits quickly with very little gear between 2012 and 2015. The next challenges of his project are the Mont Elbrus (5,642m), Russia, in September, the Aconcagua (6,959m), Argentina, the Mount McKinley (6,186m), United States, and the last one is the Mount Everest (8,848m) in 2015.
Mathéo Jacquemond
Mathéo Jacquemond, a french ski mountaineer, is the current holder of the Mont Blanc Speed Record on Skis with an ascent and descent time of 5 hours 15 minutes. Mathéo is Kilian's friend and tried with him to smash the Mont Blanc Speed Record on Foot on 11 July 2013 but due to a fall into a creveasse before reaching the Junction couldn't run the last kilometres.
