On Saturday, April 25, French mountaineers Matheo Jacquemoud and Samuel Equy set a new ski mountaineering Fastest Known Time (FKT) on Mont Blanc. Their astonishing round-trip took just 4 hours, 41 minutes, 24 seconds. During that time, they covered over 28km and gained 3,700m of elevation.
Matheo Jacquemoud (left) and Samuel Equy. Photo: Victor Barcus
Starting from the church in Chamonix, the duo ascended via the Jonction, Grands Mulets, and Vallot to the 4,806m Mont Blanc summit before returning via the North Face. They beat the previous record, set by William Boffelli in 2025, by 2 minutes.
Equy set a strong pace on the ascent (summit in 3h 41′), with Jacquemoud arriving just seconds later (3h 42′) before a blistering descent (1h 00’ 40”) to finish together as a team in Chamonix.
Mont Blanc. Photo: Matheo Jacquemoud/ Samuel Equy
A complicated route
“The Jonction was really complicated this year — very crevassed, with a big fracture line cutting the zone in two,” recalled Jacquemoud. “We had to accept losing a bit of time to move through it cleanly…Sam was in front the whole way up; he was really impressive. At one point, I even wondered if I was going to manage to stay on schedule. But I knew I was very well acclimatized and that I would surely catch back up toward the summit.”
Matheo Jacquemoud, 35, is a French mountain guide from Lus-la-Croix-Haute. He is a multiple ski mountaineering champion, a two-time winner of the Pierra Menta, and holder of numerous speed records, including a previous Mont Blanc round-trip record in 2013. He remains one of the most accomplished ski mountaineers of his generation.
Samuel Equy, 29, comes from the Belledonne massif near Grenoble. A member of the French national ski mountaineering team and aspirant mountain guide, he has won world titles in team events and recently won the 2026 Patrouille des Glaciers.
In 2013, Kilian Jornet set the round-trip FKT on foot (vs skiing) of 4 hours 57 minutes 34 seconds — a record that still stands today.
