Kilian Finishes His ‘Alpine Connections’ Project

Kilian completes his project climbing all 82 4,000meter peaks in the Alps in just 19 days. The trail running world with their eyes set on Chamonix had been wondering if this was turning into a marketing stunt and he would descend Mont Blanc during the UTMB race and one-up the racers running around the mountain. But while he was in the area during that time he didn’t complete the project until after UTMB had ended*.

Dan Patitucci on Threads:

In my opinion, what Kilian Jornet has done on his Alps’ 4000er project is one of the greatest mountaineering and athletic achievements of all time. His skills, fitness, and logistical strategy are truly astounding. I wish other elite mountain runners would take on projects like this and not just racing.

And Cody Townsend in the replies:

Agreed. It’s a feat that is nearly incomprehensible in its magnitude. My only problem with it has been the media team following it doing a terrible job sharing the story…hope the longer form media does a much better job of highlighting how insane the entire thing truly is.

Not to take anything away from this accomplishment, but I have to agree with Cody here. I didn’t even know Kilian was going for ALL 82 peaks. To me it always sounded like he wanted to climb some of them. But, again, incredible adventure and achievement. And with Kilian finishing after UTMB concluded he also avoided any thoughts about this project being “just a marketing stunt” for NNormal.

*As a side note: NNormal did NOT have a booth at the UTMB vendor village after all (something I had been wondering about since Kilian added his voice to the UTMB boycott earlier in the year). NNormal had several events and activities during the week – like many other ‘non-sponsors’ and had a back alley pop up shop one of the days.