For a moment, reading the premise of the challenge that Kilian Jornet and his friend Tom Erik Heimen had set for themselves, I thought back to some of the crazy races they used to have on Top Gear. Those things like, “Is a Porsche 911 faster to travel 1 km or a Beetle dropped from 1,000 meters in the air?” Who knows, certainly one of the two cars will end up disintegrated and it won’t be the Porsche.
Running or flying?
Kilian and Erik’s challenge was along these lines: who takes the least time to climb up and down the Norwegian peak of the Romsdalhorn? Put like that, it would seem like a normal challenge, wouldn’t it? Nothing special, especially when it is done by two athletes who are used to doing such things. The fact is that the means chosen were different: the ascent the same for both of them (although on two different routes), and the descent by foot for Kilian and by wingsuit for Erik.
The result was as unpredictable as it gets: Kilian was the fastest on the ascent (in fact, it took him only half an hour to gain the summit, at an altitude of 1,550 m), but on the descent Erik could count on an unbeatable speed: 220 km per hour.
The challenge was designed to balance the forces in the field: if they had made the ascent on the same wall (the north face), although taking longer, Erik would certainly have beaten Kilian in the descent phase. That is why they reached the summit from two different sides, partly because Erik had to choose the less steep route to climb having his suit and parachute on his shoulders (the north side is practically vertical and he would have risked too much).
Who won?
Do you really want to know before you see the video? Well, it’s obvious that the fastest won, and you already have the elements to find out: Kilian is one of the strongest ultrarunners in the world, so… Erik literally flew like a bullet, though. Who knows. You can find out by watching the video.
Small warning: if you suffer from vertigo, I don’t recommend it because in certain passages filmed by Kilian with the GoPro mounted on your head, it’s sickening. But he is Kilian, and we can have the illusion of being as fast as he is. Or at least see the effect it has.