72 peaks. 31 days. One monumental journey across the American West.
Kilian Jornet is arguably the greatest trail runner of all time. His stamina is seemingly limitless. And this past September, he undertook a journey that no one else in the world could even dream, let alone attempt.
Over a 31-day stretch that ended early this October, he summited 72 peaks above 14,000 feet in the Lower 48 States, beginning outside Boulder, Colo., and ending atop Mt. Rainier in Washington. As if that wasn’t daunting enough, he also connected each of those peaks by bike. Trek supported him, providing him with a custom-painted Checkpoint and Madone so that he would be prepared for long stretches of trail and pavement. You can relive his journey in the video embedded below:
You may never see a greater physical feat — the effort amounted to a marathon and Tour de France stage, every day for a month — but Jornet wasn’t chasing numbers. He wanted to plumb the depths of a landscape he has always admired. He came away with appreciation for the vastness and beauty of the American West that even he didn’t anticipate. For more, you can read Trek’s interview and in-depth story with the legend. Here’s an excerpt:
Unceasing hours cycling through an unchanging desert might drive some people mad. For Jornet, it only stoked awe for the immensity of the landscape encompassing him.
“You can say, ‘OK, it’s boring because you’re in the same landscape for three days.’ You pass a town every 100 miles. But somehow, that’s the beauty of it. It’s just that it’s so big,” Jornet says. “And then going to a wild place like the Sierra Nevada, I was out there for three days in the mountains, and in three days, you don’t see any road, or any human settlement.
“It’s the expansion of the wild areas, and of the landscapes. It’s amazing here.”
Jornet experienced some of the hardest conditions of his career during States of Elevation. Snowstorms in the Palisade Traverse in the Sierra Nevada. “The most wind in my life in the mountains” up Mt. Shasta, forcing him to crawl the final 1,000 feet of the climb, lest he be blown off the side.
We’re so proud to have been able to support such a monumental feat and figure. Bravo, Kilian!
