Above the Clouds

“Kilian Jornet is the most dominating endurance athlete of his generation.”—NEW YORK TIMES

“Inspiring and humbling”— ALEX HONNOLD

The most accomplished mountain runner of all time contemplates his record-breaking climbs of Mount Everest in this profound memoir—an intellectual and spiritual journey that moves from the earth’s highest peak to the soul’s deepest reaches.

Kilian Jornet has broken nearly every mountaineering record in the world and twice been named National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. In 2018 he summitted Mount Everest twice in one week—without the help of bottled oxygen or ropes.

As he recounts a life spent studying and ascending the greatest peaks on earth, Jornet ruminates on what he has found in nature—simplicity, freedom, and spiritual joy—and offers a poetic yet clearheaded assessment of his relationship to the mountain . . . at times his opponent, at others, his greatest inspiration.

In these pages, Jornet explores the contradictions that define him as both an elite athlete and a man in love with the wild.

• Endurance Sports Philosophy: Go beyond the race numbers to discover the mindset that drives the world’s greatest mountain athlete, a man who runs fast to live a slow life.
• Mount Everest, Redefined: A gripping, first-hand account of summiting the world’s highest peak twice in one week—without bottled oxygen or fixed ropes.
• A Spiritual Journey: Jornet’s search for simplicity, freedom, and joy, and his profound relationship with the mountain as both an opponent and an inspiration.
• A Life of Contradictions: An honest exploration of needing both solitude to be himself and social interaction to make a living, and loving both the adrenaline of the race and the calm of the world above 8,000 meters.