Spanish Ultrarunner Kilian Jornet Just Climbed 72 Mountains In A Single Month

There are athletes and then there are freaks of nature. Kilian Jornet is the latter.

And I mean that in the most flattering way possible.

In 31 days, the 37-year-old Spanish ultrarunner climbed 72 mountains over 14,000 feet — known as "14ers" — across Colorado, California and Washington. He did the entire thing under his own power, not even using a car to get from mountain to mountain. In total, Jornet ran and biked 3,197 miles and climbed 403,638 feet. 

That's the vertical equivalent of 14 Mount Everests.

To put it in terms us mere mortals can understand: imagine waking up every day, biking the equivalent of a Tour de France stage, then running a marathon up a mountain. For a month. With maybe 4-5 hours of sleep. And throw some snowstorms in there, too. 

That was Kilian’s daily routine.

"When I started this project, it was just an idea on a map — something I thought could be great, but I didn’t know if it would be possible," Jornet said. "Now I see that it was, and beyond the numbers, it’s been a true adventure."

He called it the States of Elevation project. It started on Longs Peak in Colorado on Sept. 3 and ended on Mount Rainier in Washington on Oct. 4. Along the way, Jornet completed legendary ridge routes like LA Freeway and Norman’s 13 — a brutal 13-peak traverse across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. He even set a new Fastest Known Time (FKT) on Norman's.

"Norman’s 13 has been one of the highlights of my trip," he said, via iRunFar.com. "It’s been long, technical, and fun. And honestly, I haven’t thought much about the FKT… To see that, after 23 days, I can still move quickly. It feels good."

Over 80% of the project was done by bike, the rest on foot. He summited all but two of the 14ers in the Lower 48 states, skipping two that are located on private land.

"It’s years of silent work that makes up the body," Jornet said. "Putting the body to these extreme challenges … we can have a better knowledge of understanding who we are as humans."

I'm not entirely convinced you are human, Kilian. (Again, in the most flattering way possible.)

Kilian Jornet has already won the 100+ mile mountain race Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) four times, the Hardrock 100 five times and summited Everest twice in six days without supplemental oxygen. 

But this project, for Jornet, wasn’t about racing. It was about pushing limits and seeing just how far one person can go.

I'd say he accomplished that. And hopefully, right now, he's taking a well-deserved nap.

Love all things adventure and outdoors? Follow OutKick Outdoors on Instagram and TikTok!