Kilian Jornet set a new speed record of 11 hours, 40 minutes roundtrip on Denali's (McKinley's) West Buttress route in Alaska as part of his Summits of my life project.
Kilian's effort bests the previous record set by mountaineer Ed Warren in 2013 at 16:46 for the roundtrip by 5 hours, 6 minutes. Warren also held the now previous speed record of 12:29 for the ascent, which Kilian clearly also bested. We don't yet have confirmation of his ascent time, but we will update this post as we learn more.
Kilian used a combination of skis and crampons to climb the 20,320-foot mountain located in the heart of Alaska. The West Buttress speed-record route begins at base camp's air strip at 7,200 feet altitude, travels 16.6 miles to the summit one way/33.2 miles roundtrip, and gains over 13,000 feet across quintessential Alaska mountaineering terrain including a 55-degree headwall located at 15,400 feet.
The record information comes direct from Maureen McLaughlin, the Public Information Officer for the Talkeetna Ranger Station in Denali National Park.
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