Kilian Jornet is returning from Mt. Everest without having been able to make a final attempt at the summit. Poor weather conditions during the final stage of the expedition forced him to abandon his climb of the world’s highest mountain via it's North Face. Though it was a difficult decision for Kilian and his team, he is as passionate as ever to continue to seek adventure through his Summits of My Life project.
“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,” Kilian explained.
In spite of not being able to complete the challenge, Jornet was happy with the experience. “There’s a sense of frustration because we’re well acclimatised and we feel good but it would have exposed us to too much risk. Nevertheless, we’re happy because it’s been a very positive experience in which we’ve learnt a lot. Being alone on Everest is incredible as there was no one else there. Now we’ll go home to recover and plan the future. I think that if we come back there are some things we would change but it’s been a great experience and a good lesson for next time.”
So, having spent three weeks at base camp on the North Face of Everest (6,000m) acclimatising and preparing for the challenge of climbing the world’s highest mountain, Jornet and the Summits of My Life team postponed the the Everest challenge until a later date.
With this challenge, Kilian Jornet intended to complete the Summits of My Life project in which since 2012 he has broken records for the ascent and descent of mountains around the world.
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Main Everest image: © Daniel Prudek/Shutterstock.com