Kilian Jornet Escapes Everest After Avalanche
The record-holding mountain runner was soloing the West Ridge when he was carried down a couloir by an avalanche
Mount Everest has been busy this season with climbers reaching the summit, climbers being rescued and tragically climbers dying. Now one of the world’s most famous names in the game has survived an avalanche.
Kilian Jornet just attempted the West Ridge of Everest, which was first climbed by Tom Hornbein and Willie Unsoeld. Hornbein recently died at the age of 92, read about his adventurous life here. Jornet is one of the world’s fastest solo mountaineers with a handful of impressive records to his name.
He described the West Ridge as being in sub-optimal conditions with a kilometre of difficult snow conditions. After tricky travel, he waited for several hours on the ridge until extreme winds died down. He then moved into the famous Hornbein Couloir, which was also used by a Canadian team in 1986.
Jornet climbed up the couloir for a few hundred metres until he broke a wind slab and was carried down the slope around 50 metres in an avalanche. He decided to head back to base camp. He said after, “I’m a big believer in the how is way bigger and more important than the what. In that sense, the climb was just perfect.”
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