Above the Clouds: How I Carved My Own Path to the Top of the World

"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. 

Kilian Jornet is the dominant mountain runner of all time and among the world’s greatest athletes. In search of inspiration outside formal competition, Kílian embarked on a self-styled adventure project dubbed Summits of My Life—establishing the fastest known recorded times (“FKT”) to ascend and descend the world’s most challenging peaks, including the Matterhorn, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, Denali and even the planet’s tallest summit. Six days after he summitted Everest, he repeated the performance—an accomplishment for which he was named Adventurer of the Year by National Geographic. He lives in Norway.