In early September, Kilian Jornet embarked on his new monumental challenge: States of Elevation. Objective: to connect and climb all the “fourteeners” (peaks over 14,000 feet, or 4,267 m high) of the United States, outside Alaska, on foot or by bike. After fifteen years of domination on the ultra-trail, and technical projects like Summits of My Life or Alpine Connections, the Catalan tackles the Rocky Mountains and the American immensity. With already two huge parts of Colorado done.
Kilian Jornet’s first summit was Anton Krupicka’s fetish’s : the Long Peak (4,346 m), mythical peak of Colorado. On the 3rd of September, Jornet started by the LA Freeway linking Longs Peak to South Arapaho Peak, connecting 24 peaks over 58 km and 7,500 m of elevation in 21:30.
Alongside Kyle Richardson for the initial climb, he continued alone of the longest run in the Rockies. A huge challenge that is only the very beginning of his States of Elevation project. The terrain? Tracks, trails, but also delicate ridges, and never below 3600 meters above sea level!
Without a break, he then rode a gravel bike to cover an additional 79 km, with nearly 1,900 m of elevation, to the Echo Lake campground. He was this time accompanied by Lael Wilcox, icon of ultra-cycling. Summary of this first day: 137 km traveled, linking ridge race, alpine peaks and night-time bike connection—a coup d’éclat that sets the tone for the project.
After these 16 hours of effort on September, the 3rd, Kilian slept very little before another tiring day on the peaks of Colorado, from Blue Sky to Gray Clouds. 53 kilometers and nearly 4000 meters of elevation constituted the second huge stage, on September, the 4th. He gave himself six hours of sleep before continuing the adventure. The 5th of September started with two hours of gravel, before continuing on foot for new fourteeners.
©Andy Cochrane / States of Elevation
States of Elevation is not just about numbers: it’s a symbolic journey through the mythical mountains of the American West. Le Longs Peak (Colorado, 4,346m) is the gateway to the Rockies, technical summit and starting point of the adventure. Then comes Mount Elbert (Colorado, 4,401 m), the roof of the Colorado and the Rockies, an essential milestone in any American alpine challenge.
After, the path of Kilian Jornet passes through the Pikes Peak (Colorado, 4,302 m), a historic mountain, associated with the mythical car race and the eponymous marathon. Then, the Mount Whitney (California, 4,421 m), a must-see because it is the highest peak in the United States outside of Alaska, giant of the Sierra Nevada. Then will come Mount Shasta (California, 4,322 m), an isolated and mystical volcano, a formidable and symbolic stage. And finally, Mount Rainier (Washington, 4,392 m), the grand finale, massive volcano capped with glaciers, true apotheosis of adventure.
These summits are as much cultural and sporting landmarks as physical challenges. Jornet approaches them as a narrative thread that connects endurance, history and landscapes.
The Rockies are a huge mountain massif, even for Kilian Jornet
The adventure continues as follows: first Colorado: the heart of the challenge, with more than 50 “fourteeners”. Then Utah and Nevada: linking stages, semi-desert terrains and transitions to the Sierra Nevada. Then California: the ascent of the Whitney and the Shasta, before going up towards the north.
And finally the state of Washington (not to be confused with the federal capital on the east coast): grandiose conclusion with the Mount Rainier, demanding and symbolic alpine peak. Each day must alternate between a cycling stage of the Tour de France type and a marathon distance in the mountains, always at high altitude. The Rockies are a huge chain, even for an extraordinary athlete such as Kilian Jornet.
First days in the Rockies. ©Nick Danielson
New world
For fifteen years, Kilian Jornet marked the history of trail running with his successes (UTMB, Western States 100, Hardrock 100). But his evolution has led him towards more personal adventures, and of course, more alpine ones, with his records on the emblematic summits (Summits of My Life), some of which have been beaten since by Karl Egloff, the Swiss-Ecuadorian.
In 2023, Kilian Jornet crossed the Pyrenees by the peaks: 177 peaks in 8 days. In 2024, the sequence of the 82 4000 meters high peaks of the Alps in 19 days represents an unparalleled and incomparable feat that marks the history of mountaineering: Kilian Jornet became the ultra-mountaineer, who brings together extraordinary endurance capabilities with a technicality that makes him travel quite hard outes without rope and/or alone.
He writes his own modern odyssey
With States of Elevation, he projects this philosophy on the American terrain, where the vastness and diversity of the reliefs redefine the limits of ultra-endurance, with a less dose of technicality than in the Alps, even if some peaks are a bit technical.
But the challenge is, without a doubt, also economic. Launched in 2022, the brand NNormal—co-founded with Camper — aims to be durable, minimalist and repairable. Already distributed in more than 1,000 stores, it primarily targets the North American market, vital for its expansion. The story of States of Elevation is a powerful image vector: it combines performance, the sincerity of the sporting gesture and the values carried by NNormal… and its founder, Kilian Jornet.
With States of Elevation, Kilian Jornet is not only pushing his own limits once again. He writes his own modern odyssey, where endurance meets narration, where each summit embodies a chapter, and where the vastness of the American West becomes the theater of a monologue of Kilian, who more than ever, can choose to achieve his dreams, even if they are deemed impossible by the rest of the world.