A new record in Aconcagua? Kilian Jornet, 27 years old famous mountain runner, has already climbed Aconcagua 3 days ago. Aconcagua is the tallest non-Himalayan mountain in the world at 6.960 meters / 22,837 feet. Jornet’s goal is to beat the current, though disputed, record of 15 hours, 5 minutes by Portuguese athlete, Carlos Sá.
The 6th challenge of the project "Summits of my life": the Aconcagua!
Aconcagua’s route is not considered technical and does not require crampons and ropes like other mountaineering projects, but the altitude makes the run difficult. Having Emelie Forsberg, as a companion, the two brave runners left on the morning of 13th December to spend a quick night at 5500m at Nido camp. The weather was stable and the wind was strong enough to make the Jornet's ascent more difficult... All these days, Jornet spent his time training on the mountain to acclimatize, and now he's waiting for a good weather window to begin his minimal-gear climb, as he said "we just need the wind to drop a bit!"
In the mountains is another world, the altitude makes everything so much harder...
The Spanish long-distance runner, started ski mountaineering in 1999 and competed for the first time at the La Molina race of the Spanish Cup in 2000. Killian was the World Champion in the Buff SkyRunner World Series in 2007, 2008 and 2009 becoming the youngest athlete to win this honor. Up to now, the young athlete continues surprising us with his massive records.
Yesterday, Kilian and his team are back at the Base Camp of the Aconcagua to rest, waiting for the best day to try the final record break attempt. Nothing can stop them!
Chamonix.net wishes them good luck!
Go Kilian! Go Emelie! Go Team!
