Kilian Jornet has now finished all 56 accessible peaks in Colorado above 14,000 feet.
Two further 14,000-foot peaks, Culebra and Bross, are on private land and not open to the public, so Jornet did not attempt those. But the Spanish ultrarunner and mountaineer completed the others in an incredibly fast 16 days, covering 1,942 kilometers and 78,004m of elevation gain — almost nine Everests.
“I feel great to have finished Colorado,” he said in a video posted Tuesday. He admitted the start was tough with jet lag and altitude, plus bad weather most days. But he found his rhythm, knocking off several peaks a day while cycling between them on his gravel bike — no mechanized transport.
Colorado recap. Photo: Kilian Jornet
His ambitious States of Elevation challenge is to climb all 70 available 14,000-foot peaks in the contiguous United States within about one month. Chalking off the 56 in Colorado since beginning on September 3, he now has 12 in California and 2 in Washington remaining.
In the end, Jornet will cover about 965km of hiking and climbing, plus 3,862km of biking.
Kilian Jornet in full flight. Photo: Nick Danielson
The State of Elevation Project. Photo: Kilian Jornet
Hardest sections
His journey took in some hard routes, including the Elks Traverse, an 80 km stretch over seven rough peaks in three days. He also tackled Nolan’s 14, a 161km route across 14 Sawatch Range peaks, dodging wildfires and storms.
In the Sangre de Cristo mountains, he climbed snowy ridges alone. One day, he summited five 14,000’ers in 14 hours, biking 30km between them. Even his “easy” days were intense, like 160km of cycling to Pikes Peak, followed by a fast climb.
Topping out on Mount Sneffels with Dakota Jones, left. Photo: Kilian Jornet
Local runners like Sage Canaday and Simi Hamilton have joined him for sections. iRunFar’s Bryon Powell ran with him on Handies Peak and saw him smiling after 11 hours and four summits. “He’s the same calm Kilian,” Powell said, “doing huge days like it’s no big deal.”
As Jornet recently posted on Instagram, he was on the move every day for about 16.5 hours, covering a marathon on foot, another 75-80km by bike, and 4,875m of vertical, for 16 days straight. Apart from the 78,004m of climbing, he has covered a horizontal route as long as Denver to San Francisco, but over mountainous terrain.
The Colorado peaks climbed and connected by Kilian Jornet. Photo: Kilian Jornet
Next stop, Mount Whitney
”It feels great to have finished Colorado,” Jornet said. “The mountains are stunning, and the wilderness is truly special. During the first two weeks, the weather was really tough, which added an extra layer of challenge.”
Now, he is biking to California to climb its 12 14,000-foot peaks, starting with Mount Whitney, the highest in the Lower 48 at 14,505 feet (4,421m). After that, he’ll head to Washington for Mount Rainier and Liberty Cap, aiming to finish by early October. His Instagram shows him pedaling across open land, with updates posted a day late for safety.
Now onto California. Photo: Kilian Jornet
