Bad Weather Thwarts Kilian Jornet’s Attempt To Set Speed Record On Mount Everest
On September 15, 2016 it was announced that Kilian Jornet, the Spanish ski mountaineer and long distance runner, will postpone his attempt to set the speed record on Mount Everest via its North Face.
After spending three weeks acclimating at 6500 meters in good weather, poor weather conditions with heavy snow set in and bad avalanche conditions, forcing him to abandon his climb. A quote on KilianJornet.cat states, “During the first few weeks we were acclimatising well and the conditions were good. However, when we were getting ready to prepare the attempt the weather began to change. There were some heavy snow storms and a large accumulation of snow. As a result, although we were in good physical shape, there was a high risk of avalanches and in the absence of good safety conditions it was impossible to climb.”
At this point, Kilian plans to return to Everest at a future date to complete his climb of the world’s highest peak and to continue the Summits Of My Life Project.
The Summits Of My Life project is a personal project to set the ascent and descent records on the world’s most iconic mountains. So far he is doing very well:
- Mont Blanc Traverse (Courmayeur to Chamonix) – 4810m – September 2012 – 8 hours 42 minutes
- Mont Blanc from Chamonix – 4810m – July 2013 – 4 hours 57 minutes
- Matterhorn from Breuil-Cervinia – 4478m – August 2013 – 2 hours 52 minutes
- Denali – 6186m – June 2014 – 11 hours 48 minutes
- Aconcagua from Horcones – 6962m – December 2014 – 12 hours 49 minutes
- Elbrus – 5642m – Attempted in 2013, but turned back due to bad weather
- Everest – 8848m – Attempted in 2016, but postponed due to bad weather
Here is a short video about Kilian and his latest attempt on Everest:
It’s always tough to turn around in the mountains, but safety first. The dream lives on.
