Those who have moaned about how long it takes to get from the bottom to the top of the world's second biggest lift served vertical up to the Klein Matterhorn above Zermatt in Switzerland (and Cervinia in Italy's Aosta Valley just across the border), should feel fairly awe-inspired by the achievements of Spanish mountain runner Kalian Jornet who has just run and climbed up the Matterhorn proper, and got back down, in under three hours, smashing the old speed record.
Jornet's a new record for running up and down the Matterhorn, completing the route in 2 hours 52 minutes and two second broke the previous record by 22 minutes, set in 1995 by Italian runner Bruno Brunod.
Jornet set off from Cervinia on the Italian side of the Matterhorn at 3pm on 21st August to make the 17.48km journey, ascending 2,469m vertical metres.
The 4476m high Matterhorn is the third in the set of seven summits Jornet plans to beat the speed records on, as part of his Summits of My Life project.
Jornet did the ascent from the Italian side, via the Arista Lion route, which is divided into three main parts. The first section comprised mountain paths similar to those of any trail race and so here speed was Jornet's greatest ally. In the second section, there were more technical parts covered with snow, so special skills were needed. The final 1,000m stretch was graded level 3-4 in climbing difficulty. In this part, Jornet used fixed ropes and his climbing skills were essential.
Jornet encountered very favourable weather conditions: warm temperatures and sunshine even at the summit, which he reached 1h56'15'' hours after leaving Cervinia. After a brief stop there, Jornet began his main challenge, the highly technical descent.
"I've felt great during the climb. At the beginning I was very hot but step by step I started getting the rhythm and then I felt great," said Jornet, "When reaching the summit, it was a very special moment. The downhill has been good also, I'm happy I didn't have to take many risks. I fell a couple of times, but nothing serious. When I was reaching Cervinia, I was very surprised, I really thought it would be extremely difficult to be able to beat the record."
After this expedition, the Catalan athlete will be travelling to Russia to try to attempt the ascent and descent of Elbrus (5,642m), the highest mountain in Europe, so as to complete the 2013 challenges of his Summits of My Life project, in which he will try to set ascent and descent records for the most important mountains on the planet. The project lasts four years, and is planned to culminate in 2015 with the record attempt on the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.