Imagine this: every day, you wake up in a motorhome in an unfamiliar part of the country in the early hours of the morning, and after cramming down as much oatmeal as can muster, you start on the day’s adventure – cycling the equivalent of a grueling Tour de France stage, and then, armed with crampons, an ice axe and a rope, running and climbing the equivalent of a marathon up one of the United States’ highest mountains.
After spending the day (and night) scrambling up ice encrusted slabs, dirt tracks, glaciated terrain and exposed rock, and battling exhaustion after being on the move for 18 hours, you allow yourself no more than five hours of sleep, because tomorrow, you’re doing it all over again. And again. And again.
This is what Spanish ultrarunner Kilian Jornet has been doing for a month after challenging himself to ascend and link up all of the USA’s Fourteeners – mountains at least 14,000 feet in height – in the lower 48 US states. The journey – which he dubbed “States of Elevation” – saw him connect 72 peaks across mountain ranges in Colorado, California, and Washington, traveling almost 3,198 miles and climbing 403,638 ft in 31 days, through blistering heat and frigid temperatures.
This included about 629 miles traveled on foot and 2,568 miles by bike. On average, the Spaniard traveled roughly 103 miles and 13,021 feet per day in his challenge.
This epic display of endurance, which Jornet completed all by human power – running, hiking, mountaineering or cycling the entire time, even for the journey between the peaks – was just the Spanish athlete’s latest foray into exploration.
Continue reading the complete article on the original source
