Spanish endurance athlete Kilian Jornet听is famous for a lot of things: winning the hardest trail and ski-mountaineering races in the world, making daring (and speedy) alpine ascents, and holding the fastest known time on mountains across the globe.听
But possibly Jornet鈥檚 biggest鈥攁nd most fiercely disputed鈥攁ccomplishment is his back-to-back summit of Everest in 2017. That May, he went to the top of the world鈥檚 highest mountain twice鈥攚ithout supplemental oxygen or fixed ropes, and within a single week. At first, his team Jornet had set a new fastest known time听on the mountain. That turned out to not be true鈥擩ornet later said he never claimed a fastest known time , and that his media team had made the error when they rushed out a press release. But even without breaking the record, Jornet鈥檚 accomplishment of summiting Everest back-to-back鈥攄espite getting lost on the mountain鈥檚 north face on the way down from his second summit鈥攁nd then winning several ultra-running competitions听that summer, stunned fans worldwide.听
The plot thickened when a climber in Oregon circulated听a 19-page document that questioned whether Jornet actually summited Everest either time that May. The climber zeroed in on the uncertainty surrounding Jornet鈥檚 documentation, specifically the GPS data and images of the summit. Jornet responded to the allegations thoroughly in an interview with 国产吃瓜黑料鈥攖he GPS data is complicated, but explicable, he said. As for the inconclusive photos, 鈥淚t was hard to film,鈥 Jornet said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the last thing I was thinking about.鈥
This fall, Jornet is going back to Everest, though this time, he鈥檚 keeping his plans close to his chest.听When reached for comment, his spokesperson said that, 鈥淯nfortunately, Kilian hasn鈥檛 planned to talk to the press at this moment. If he completes any relevant activity, he will communicate about it once he鈥檚 finished.鈥
What we do know听is that before attempting Everest, Jornet intends to lead a three-member team to the top of Lhotse, Everest鈥檚 neighboring peak and the fourth highest mountain in the world. Jornet鈥檚 permit to summit Everest is one of two permits granted for the autumn season, as was by The Himalayan Times.
If Jornet does听set a record, there鈥檒l hopefully be better proof this time.听