Kilian Jornet has never been one to take the easy route.
This September, the 37-year-old mountain running legend is returning to the U.S. for what might be his most audacious project yet, a self-powered linkup of nearly every 14,000 ft peak in the Lower 48, on foot and by bike.
Dubbed States of Elevation, the effort will begin at Longs Peak in Colorado and end, if all goes to plan, on the summit of Mount Rainier in Washington.
In between, Jornet will attempt to summit the approximately 67 publicly accessible 14,000 ft mountains across Colorado, California, and Washington. (There are technically 72 in total, but some are on private land or considered subpeaks.)
If successful, the project would dwarf the scope of his recent Alpine Connections adventure, where he linked all 82 of the Alps’ 4,000 m peaks in 19 days, a feat that required 750 miles of travel and dethroned the late Ueli Steck’s benchmark by more than 40 days.
This time, the distances will be bigger, the terrain more varied, and the logistics far trickier.
And yet, for Jornet, this feels like a natural evolution.
“What I experienced in the Pyrenees and the Alps motivated me to keep exploring this dimension of long traverses with a strong physical, cognitive, and creative component,” he said in his announcement this week.
“With the excuse of linking the 14ers, it’s also about exploring the American West, the vastness of the terrain and the cultures that have lived and continue to live there, as well as a nature that is often wild and incredibly diverse.”
Jornet isn’t just collecting summits. He’s building a philosophy.
That philosophy hinges on a “human-powered” approach , no cars, no planes, no ski lifts. He’ll run and scramble each peak and bike between them, with a small support crew trailing in a vehicle.
He used the same style for his Pyrenees traverse in 2023 and Alpine project last year, and he credits the method for deepening his connection to the mountains and minimizing environmental impact.
“I’m not trying to go the fastest way,” he told Outside Run. “There’s some nice roads up there. Like you do some nice scrambling and some logical lines in the mountains.”
The route will start with Colorado’s LA Freeway, a technical skyline scramble linking Longs Peak to South Arapaho Peak. Then he’ll work his way through the state’s 58 14ers before heading west by bike toward California’s Sierra Nevada, and eventually north to Washington’s dormant volcanoes, including Rainier and possibly Liberty Cap.
While the project isn’t a race, the clock is still ticking. Fall in the Mountain West brings temperature swings, unpredictable snow, and increasing wildfire risk. It’s a far cry from the controlled chaos of a trail race.
But that’s the point.
Jornet, who finished third at Western States in June, just eight minutes behind the winner, has made it clear that his motivation now lies beyond competition.
That said, the fire hasn’t gone out completely.
Why else would he spend a long Norwegian winter training for the furnace-like heat of Western States? He hasn’t ruled out returning to race again in Palisades Tahoe. But these large-scale linkups now seem to be his true canvas.
This one will require more than just endurance. Between the bike sections, high-alpine traverses, and varying snow levels on peaks like Shasta and Rainier, Jornet could be out for weeks. Estimates for the total bike mileage alone range over 2,000 miles.
And that’s not accounting for the detours required by land closures, shifting weather, or wildfire smoke.
Still, Jornet seems undeterred. And if anyone’s earned the benefit of the doubt, it’s him.
He’s already won virtually every major ultra on the calendar, UTMB four times, Hardrock five, Zegama eleven, Western States in 2011, and holds speed records on Denali, Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn, and even Mount Everest (which he summited twice in one week without oxygen).
But maybe the most defining part of Jornet’s career now is not what he’s won, but how he’s changed the conversation. He’s shifted the narrative from winning races to making art in the mountains. States of Elevation might be the most daring expression of that idea yet.
And, if all goes according to plan, it’ll also double as a family road trip , his partner and three daughters are expected to join him on the journey.
For most people, linking dozens of high peaks across three states in late-season conditions would be a logistical nightmare. For Kilian Jornet, it’s Tuesday.
