The original version of this story was published on ExplorersWeb.
In the last few days, Kilian Jornet has focused on completing two of Colorado’s most iconic mountain traverses: the Elks Traverse and Nolan’s 14.
The data shared about the speed, the altitude gain, the endless journeys, and — possibly the most shocking statistic for the average human — the crazy lack of sleep, are even more mind-blowing than those achieved during his 2024 traverse of all the Alps’ 4,000m peaks.
It’s all part of the legendary runner’s latest project, testing the limits of human endurance. Called the States of Elevation project, Jornet aims to run and climb his way up every mountain over 14,000 feet in the Lower 48 states, and linking them all together with cycling.
Elks Traverse
The Elks Traverse is already one of the highlights of Jornet’s States of Elevation project.
Located southwest of Aspen, the Elk Mountains are technically demanding and exposed to unpredictable weather and unstable rock. According to Jornet’s press team, only a handful of people have completed the roughly 50-mile route that links the seven 14,000-foot peaks of the range: Capitol Peak, Snowmass, Maroon Peak, North Maroon Peak, Pyramid Peak, Conundrum Peak, and Castle Peak.
The good news for Jornet is that by the time he started the Elks Traverse, he had overcome the slight lack of acclimatization and the jet lag he showed during the first days of the challenge.
On the first day of this stage, he linked three peaks in a nonstop, 21-hour day. In the following 2 days, he completed the traverse and even had time to tag two of the peaks belonging to the Nolan’s 14: Mount Massive and Mount Elbert. Jornet finished the Elks Traverse at 2 a.m., September 9. He rested for 3 hours and set off again to complete the 12 remaining peaks of his speedy Nolan’s 14 run.
From Elks to Nolan’s 14
It was not exactly a relaxed trip. Kilian and his companion for that stage, Lewis Wu, had to change course due to wildfires in the area of La Plata Peak, and then dealt with a storm on Ellingwood Ridge. Like Wu, some of the best trail runners and cyclists in the U.S. are lining up to join Jornet at some point.
“Kilian then pushed on solo into the night and reached the van at 1:30 am on September 10,” Jornet’s press team reported. “He looked happy despite the long push in constantly changing weather, ate well, and took a 30-minute nap before leaving toward Mt. Princeton for the final part of Nolan’s.”
On his way down from Mt. Princeton, runner Sage Canaday joined him for the three final peaks, which they finished at 6 a.m., September 11.
“Taking into account a 30-minute power nap in between, cycling Independence Pass, then completing Nolan’s took Kilian around 47 hours of continuous movement,” his team noted. “Combined with the Elks Traverse, the push of the last few days was completed in around 69 hours on a total of four hours of sleep.”
Pikes Peak
On the morning of September 11, Jornet “allowed himself a three-hour nap, a shower, and a big breakfast to recharge, before leaving around 12 p.m. to start his 160km bike ride to Pikes Peak through Colorado rain and storm.”
His team noted that he was more tired than usual, so he treated himself to a relatively unusual beverage for him: coffee.
After the ride, he took a 30-minute nap to recover, and at 8:30 p.m., he set off toward Pikes Peak. After 3 hours, 45 minutes, 36 seconds, having covered 22.7km and 1,341m of climbing, Jornet summited the 33rd fourteener of his States of Elevation project. He and his partner were back at the trailhead around midnight.
At the time of that final update, Jornet had climbed 33 Colorado 14ers out of the 58 in the state.
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