Kilian Jornet Burgado: Biography of a Superman

Kilian Jornet has become a true legend of mountaineering in recent years. In fact, it seems impossible to us to talk about this great sport or to talk about The greatest mountaineering stars in history and not to mention his name and career. His ambition, sporting prowess and history of overcoming obstacles have made him the best mountain runner in the world and also a symbol of admiration.

“I define myself as a mountain lover. I like competition, but for me sport is a way of discovering landscapes, both internal and external,” says Kilian when asked a little about himself.

From a very young age, Kilian has felt a kind of magnetism towards the mountains and everything that it entails: the climb, the summit, the technique, the freedom and the descent running, light and fast as only he knows how to do. A humble man who has known how to overcome all the challenges in his fight against nature and in his struggle to find the meaning of life, which at the end of the day he has found right there, on his way to the top.

Not only is he a nature lover, but he also feels a great commitment to it, which is reflected in the launch of a foundation to protect the mountains. The athlete assures that he will not travel more than what would mean emitting three tons of CO2 per year. According to Jornet, his life in the last 10 years has been a total disaster on an environmental level.

This is how the story of this Catalan superman begins, who doesn't differentiate between rock, snow or gravel, and who has overcome so many challenges that he seems out of this world!

THE STORY OF A NATURAL EXPLORER

Imagine a little boy of just three years old running barefoot through the snow as if he had learned in a vision that this was where his destiny would lie.

If we look deeper into the history of this summit conqueror, we learn that Kilian was never a “normal” child, even though his own mother initially thought that his exploratory nature was indeed normal. But what child climbs his first “three thousand” at the age of three?

“I lived my childhood as a time of discovery, exploration and learning a lot,” says the mountaineer, mountain runner and professional skier. He also says that his parents gave him all the tools and support to achieve his goals from a very early age.

And it is quite possible that the influence of his parents Eduard Jornet (mountain guide and keeper of the Cap de Rec refuge in the Pyrenees of Lleida) and Núria Burgada (mountain sports teacher) had something to do with this whole equation. It is certainly undeniable that his adventurous nature comes from birth.

And he didn't wait long to show his passion for nature, climbing and mountains. Already at the age of 5 he reached the summit of Pico Aneto (the summit of the Pyrenees, Tuca d'Aneto) and a year later he achieved his first 'four thousand' after climbing the Breithorn in the Italian and Swiss Alps. It was imminent that this climbing prodigy would stand out impressively from then on and for the rest of his life.

At 13, Kilian reached a high point in his life. Climbing had already become a part of him, and his ambition to reach further and higher grew daily.

“Those were years when I felt like a stranger,” says the mountaineer, who stopped at this point in his youth when he did not find himself in any context other than climbing; he just found a place of comfort in the mountains.

And even Kilian himself realized what was happening to him:

“I felt like the things I wanted to do, the things I thought about, nobody understood. I felt alone in my teens, a stage in which people want the opposite: they want to have friends and socialize.”

Fortunately, this period coincided with his visits to the Centre for Mountain Skiing Training in Catalonia with the mountaineer Jordi Cañals (who participated in the first Catalan expedition to Everest in 1985), who was his first coach and sports manager. It was there that he managed to channel all this energy and talent, and focus it on sport, climbing and mountain skiing.

And even though the minimum age allowed to participate in the practice was 14 years, it was undeniable that a 13-year-old Killian Jornet so fortified, brave and expert was an excellent candidate to enter the Center, so they allowed him to enter despite his age.

This was an excellent opportunity for young Kilian to direct his desire to climb and focus it on a sporting discipline instead of using his talent as a method of isolation. And so he succeeded, making friends with the same interests as him, and turning this passion into a lifestyle and a professional career.

It was certainly a time when he was not lacking in motivation or interest, because his excitement and energy were in everything. Over the years he matured a lot and strengthened his physical form to the standards of great summits such as the highest mountain in the world: Everest.

HIS MOST CHALLENGING SUMMIT (SQUARED)

The truth is that the mountaineer has been preparing for this moment all his life. Killian himself says that his preparation for Everest began precisely when he was three years old, when he started going out into the mountains to climb and train, because it came naturally to him, because it came from his soul.

The story tells itself and here's what happened: Kilian climbed Everest, the highest and most dangerous mountain in the world, twice in less than a week, without ropes, without oxygen, without Sherpas, without doubts.

He summited Everest for the first time during the early hours of 21-22 May 2017 in 26 hours, ascending the North Face from Base Camp.

On May 27 of that same year, 5 days later, he again reached the summit of Everest in a second attempt to surpass himself. Kilian Jornet climbed the world's largest mountain (for the second time in a week) in 17 hours.

A display of simply admirable impetus. He is a person who has never been complacent in his life, and he was not going to start doing so when faced with the most important challenge he has set himself so far.

Jornet recently celebrated three years since achieving his double ascent of Everest with #MayToEverest and a virtual Zoom session with 10 of his followers. What better way to celebrate than with his fans!

Kilian Jornet's achievements and records

Kilian officially began his cross-country skiing career in 1999 and participated in the Spanish Cup in the La Molina race in 2000.

In 2003 he became the youngest member of the Spanish national ski mountaineering team, achieving success after success internationally.

In 2007 he entered the world of running, demonstrating his impressive agility and speed skills in this discipline, always with a unique, personal, and light style.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 he won three world titles, taking home the gold medal at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, and breaking the record in 2008 with 21 hours over a 166km course with an elevation gain of 9,400m.

He also won the World Ski Championships in the Vertical Race category, taking home the gold medal in 2009 and 2010.

In total, Kilian Jornet won 14 medals at the World Ski Mountaineering Championships between 2008 – 2017, in addition to 8 medals at the European Ski Mountaineering Championships between 2009 – 2018.

He won 4 medals at the Skyrunning World Championships between 2010 – 2018 and was champion of the Skyrunning World Series consecutively in 2007, 2008, 2009, and also in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In addition, he won 3 medals at the European Skyrunning Championships between 2008 – 2013.

And his successes don't stop there! Kilian was the champion of the Ultra Running World Series in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and he was the champion of the Vertical Kilometer World Series in 2014.

He is undoubtedly a person who loves competition, who loves playing sports and who lived it as a lifestyle and as a professional career.

In addition, Kilian has accumulated numerous admirable records throughout his career, characterized by carrying the minimum amount of equipment and supplies that he carries with him on his journeys.

• 2009: Record for the Tahoe Rim Trail in California and Nevada, with 38 hours and 32 minutes. The race is 265 kilometers long and has an elevation gain of 8,000 meters.
• 2010: Record for the Transpirinenca, from Fuenterrabía to Llansá, in 8 days. The race is 700 kilometres long.
• 2013: Record speed for the ascent and descent of the Matterhorn from the village of Breuil-Cervinia via the Lion ridge in 2 hours 52 minutes and 2 seconds. He also achieved the record for the Chamonix-Mont Blanc ascent and descent in 4 hours 57 minutes.
• 2017: Everest Base Camp Record in 17 hours.
• 2018: Record for the Bob Graham Round, a route of almost 106 km and 8,200 m of positive elevation gain, in 12 hours 52 minutes.

A STORY OF OVERCOMING

For Killian, 2006 was one of his best years, when he was in top physical condition. Although he was a Junior, he had won the Agustí Roc and was world champion in ski mountaineering. However, just before starting the season racing in Puigcerdá, he suffered an accident in which he broke his knee, fracturing his patella.

Doctors told him that he could lead a normal life, but that it would not be easy to get back into shape to live the extreme lifestyle he was used to. But Killian did not let the fact depress him, and instead worked hard every day to exercise and strengthen his knee, and not let this affect his career and his passion.

It was certainly a time of therapy and rest for Killian, but also a perfect opportunity to study and read. During this time, Killian kept looking at texts about human physiognomy and sports techniques, awakening a more mature interest in sports discipline and a state of awareness about who he was, and what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

“I wrote a list of all the races I would like to participate in… races that I wanted to win one day, it was like a list of teenage dreams”

And as you know, one by one he conquered and won each and every one of the proposals that had been made on that list.

“I thought I would tick that list off when I reached 40, 50 years old… And when I did it in my early twenties, it was a moment of sadness rather than joy, because you find yourself in a void and you say, wow, there is nothing else.”

At this point in his life, sadness did invade Killian's life, to the point of feeling media pressure and discouragement competing, internalizing his fame, and everything that it entailed.

"I don't want to compete again," thought the Catalan mountaineer, "It's something that does me more harm than good."

At that moment, Killian really questioned the consequences of being famous: “It’s hard to see myself as an idol, or a myth to someone just because I run fast. I could be evil or an abuser, a Nazi, a murderer, anything, and people wouldn’t know because they don’t know anything about me. I feel dirty in some way, dirty because of people’s admiration. I feel dirty because of fanaticism, and so I feel like I have to cleanse myself, and the way I find to do that is to do something that brings me closer to death.”

Kilian then faced very strong feelings that invaded his senses: a suffocation and considerable pressure, because he did not see the point of the admiration of others, and he did not understand how strangers could applaud his greatness and his talent without even knowing him.

At this point in his life, the mountaineer had to deal with his passion for sport and competition, as well as his dislike of being exposed in the media.

Killian had a tough time, but in the end his return to the mountains made him remember that this was what gave him life: exploring the mountains, running in them, “playing” in them.

“Summits of my Life "It was the project that brought me out of that moment of sadness. Of having fulfilled all the dreams I had as a child..." said the mountaineer.

He also had to overcome the death of his idol and friend Stephane Brosse in an accident while they were climbing Mont Blanc together. After that, he wrote: "The mountain takes away many things from us, but it also gives us everything we need to breathe."

He found meaning in the mountains in the respect he has for them. Although he faced discouragement, he overcame himself and followed the passion that led him to break all the triumphs and records for which he is admired today. Finally, Killian met who would be his life partner, Emelie Forsberg, with whom he found emotional stability in those moments of disdain and continued with his sports career even more motivated to go further and reach higher, each time faster.

SUMMITS OF MY LIFE

Kilian grew up among mountains and ambitious people who inspired him to pursue a challenging sports career and overcome his path to Everest. Summits of My Life, In a series of films, Jornet reveals a little more about his inner fears, his passions and his contradictions throughout his life.

In this personal project, closely linked to the purism and minimalism of mountains, the mountaineer shows 5 years of travel around the world, and his experience in the most important and challenging climbs around the planet.

The start and production of this project in the style of “cinema verité"It was a turning point in the mountaineer's career and life.

WHAT IS YOUR TRAINING?

This mountaineering legend has made it clear on several occasions that his achievements require great effort and commitment, which he must put in every hour of his day.There are weeks when he has run 233 kilometres, which would be equal to an average of 33 kilometres per day. However, he does not only train by running, but within his training we see a variety of exercises from cycling, skiing or climbing. He is a true sports enthusiast, as there are days when after a hard day in the mountains he spends the afternoon running on the treadmill at home. For him there are no excuses and if the weather conditions do not allow him to exercise daily, he has no problem doing it at home.

Kilian was born to conquer mountains, and that is what he has dedicated his entire life to. Human, he has had to overcome difficult moments, but at no time is his technique, his ambition, or his adventurous spirit in doubt. Without a doubt, he is an admirable character who will go down in history for his big heart and his desire to achieve his dreams, whatever the cost.