“I’m so happy to have made the summit again! Today I felt good although it was really windy so it was hard to move fast. I think summiting Everest twice in one week without oxygen opens up a new realm of possibilities in alpinism and I’m really happy to have done it,” Kilian said after returning to the mountain’s Advanced Base Camp. Jornet had already reached the summit on May 22, but stomach cramps had prevented him from completing his route as planned.
Jornet reached the summit via the North Face of Everest on May 27 at 9pm. He had left the Advanced Base Camp at 6.400m at 2am. He climbed to the summit on the ‘normal’ route passing the three high altitude camps used by climbers attempting the world’s highest mountain, a climb which takes on average four days.
The climb to the summit was slow but continuous. The wind was the main obstacle Jornet had to overcome, on an extremely windy Himalayan day. Weather conditions improved throughout the night in the latter part of the route and he returned to Advanced Base Camp 28 hours 30 minutes after leaving.
With this ascent Jornet repeats the feat of reaching the world’s highest point after having climbed to the summit only six days earlier. On the previous climb, he reached the summit in 26 hours, but he started that one lower down, at the Base Camp at the ancient Rongbuk monastery at 5.100m. The first climb had begun well but he was hampered by stomach problems from 7.500m, which slowed him down considerably and forced him to make repeated stops.
“I didn’t feel great and was moving very slowly. I had to stop every few metres with cramps and vomiting. But I felt ok with the altitude and decided to continue. When I got back down I thought I would like to try another attempt if I felt well enough,” he explained.
The two ascents are part of Kilian’s Summits of My Life project, which has taken Kilian to some of the most iconic mountains across the globe setting records for fastest known ascents. He began in the Mont Blanc range in 2012 and has since climbed in Europe (Mont Blanc & Matterhorn), in North America (Denali) and in South America (Aconcagua). He tried to ascend Everest already in 2016 but then poor weather conditions forced him to abandon his climb.
Jornet was accompanied on this Everest expedition by mountain guide and cameraman Sébastien Montaz-Rosset.