Kilian Jornet leaves Palau audience breathless

  • The mountaineer presented his new movie, Deixa'm viure, which will be shown on TV3 Tuesday evening

VilaWeb
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VilaWeb
VilaWeb
Josep Casulleras Nualart
20.05.2014 - 11:31

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During the last quarter of an hour of the screening of “Deixa’m Viure” (Let me live), Kilian Jornet’s second movie in the Summits of My Life series, everyone in the Palau de la Música Catalana for the premiere was holding their breath. Someone gasped. They were witnessing the culmination of the figure of Kilian Jornet, the achievement of sporting, alpine, almost impossible excellence as he climbed and descended the mythical Matterhorn mountain in less than three hours. All of which was captured in more dizzying images than can be imagined, thanks to the team, directed by Sebastien Monaz, who lives and understands the mountain like Jornet.

The grand epic on the screen contrasted with the small frame of the runner himself, who had just arrived from Chamonix, where in the morning he had gone running on the mountain, leaving just enough time to get to Geneva, where he caught a plane for Barcelona and arrived at the Palau de la Música in a t-shirt and long pants that covered running shorts underneath. It seemed that the Palau full of people was more intimidating to him than running on the sharp ridge of the Matterhorn.

Jornet introduced his film that will be shown this evening at 9:55pm on Catalan Public TV3. Here is a small taste:

Déjame Vivir Official Trailer – Summits of My Life from Summits of My Life on Vimeo.

In the introduction, coordinated by Xavi Coral, Jornet was accompanied by rock singer Gerard Quintana, who dedicated a song to him, the entrepreneur Pau Garcia-Milà, and also by a man who is particularly important to the young runner: the Italian Bruno Brunod, a legend of mountain racing, especially since 1995 when he broke the record for climbing and descending the Matterhorn in just under three hours. Kilian Jornet explained that he had just begun racing when Brunod broke the record. He had a poster of his idol on a wall in his room and the memory is engraved in his mind.

Now it is Brunod’s daughter who has a poster of Kilian Jornet, who has become an idol not just of young runners and lovers of mountain sports (like the ones who filled the Palau de la Música) but also to so many other people, who admire his work, his effort, his energy, and the personal sacrifice that brings him to achieve seemingly unreachable goals. And the humility with which he does so. “This man is the most humble person I know,” said Pau Garcia-Milà. And there was silence. Kilian didn’t know what to say, shyness personified on stage. Finally, like always, a smile.

“What do we understand by ‘failure’?”
This second film of Jornet’s new project does a good job of explaining the humility with which the runner faces his most ambitious challenges. Ambitious, but not crazy, despite appearances to the contrary. The truth is that Jornet is very conscious of his abilities, the risks that he takes on, and the best conditions for facing them.

“You’re afraid of failure,” asked Xavi Coral.
“First we have to define failure,” responded Jornet. “What is a failure? We live in a society which is based on achieving objectives, on yes’s and no’s. Did you balance that budget, yes or no? Did you get to that peak, yes or no? And nothing else matters. But what about the knowledge you’ve gained? And your internal growth? And the people that you’ve met?” The film “Deixa’m viure” shows us all that: Kilian Jornet’s path, experience, and knowledge gained, from Mont Blanc and Mount Elbrus to taking in a monstrous goal: breaking the Matterhorn record.

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