Extreme hiking in Romsdalen

Watch Kilian Jornet attempt seven Norwegian summits in one day

Catalonian Kilian Jornet is the world’s best mountain runner, setting world records for both ascending and descending mountains like Mont Blanc, Matterhorn and Denali.

This January, he moved to the Norwegian town of Åndalsnes in the Romsdal fjord with his girlfriend, Swedish mountain runner Emelie Forsberg. Here, they live in a house by the water and grow their own food in the garden.

Ski to the sea. @tinaemelie on the classical bowl of Kyrkjetaket in Romsdal.

Et bilde publisert av Kilian Jornet (@kilianjornet) torsdag 29. Des.. 2016 PST

“We were missing a lot of the wilderness. To be exploring and to feel wild, to feel alone”, he says in the short documentary Kilian, just released by equipment manufacturer Salomon.

“Moving here, the thing I most enjoy is probably this calm, this time of reflection when you go out.”

Jornet calls the mountains that surround his new home “a huge playground”, and last May he decided to attempt the seven summits of Jurantind, Kvanndalstind, Vengetind, Romsdalshorn, Trolltind, Kongen and Dronninga in one day, using only his feet and skis.

The calm after a good training morning. We were in Kirkjetaket, the mountain we can see over the fjord at the begining of the video. Then is Grisetkolten (the mountain without snow) a classic base jump summit. And at the end of the video we can see Droninga Kongen and Finnan summits. Great places for ski and scrambling. #romsdal #timetorelax

En video publisert av Kilian Jornet (@kilianjornet) onsdag 28. Des.. 2016 PST

In the documentary, he sets out together with Austrian mountain athlete Philipp Brugger, packing only four bars of chocolate and half a litre of water for what in his approximation should be a 77 kilometre long mountain marathon, lasting 20 hours or so.

my wish for the new year: snow to do this again and not training on the slopes ;) with @kilianjornet on the way to Gjuratinden in Romsdal last May. #timetoplay

Et bilde publisert av Philipp Brugger (@philippbrugger) fredag 30. Des.. 2016 PST

In the end, he is forced to abort his attempt. Not due to fatigue, but because the effect the warm weather has on the snowy terrain makes him feel that going forward will be to unsafe.

“It’s important, I think, when the conditions are not perfect, to say ‘the mountains will always stay here, but not me’.”

And in the end, his patience did pay off – a month later Jornet did manage to reach all seven summits in the course of one day.