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

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Kilian Jornet ha llevado su cuerpo al límite, ha sufrido múltiples lesiones, se ha expuesto a grandes riesgos y ha conseguido récords que han maravillado al mundo.
Con aparente sencillez, ha logrado lo que parecía imposible. Pero nada es fruto del desde su infancia, ha entrenado cuerpo y mente, y se ha preparado a fondo tanto para el éxito como para el fracaso. Ha explorado los límites de la resistencia humana, y sus proezas, como la doble ascensión al Everest, resultan difíciles de superar.
En la cima de su brillante trayectoria hacia la élite deportiva, Kilian Jornet comparte la experiencia acumulada en su libro más honesto y vitalista. En Nada es imposible nos ofrece una valiosa lección que nos anima a hacer realidad nuestros sueños, a correr con pasión y libertad y, sobre todo, a disfrutar de la montaña.

229 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2018

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About the author

Kilian Jornet

22 books168 followers
Kílian Jornet Burgada is a Spanish ski mountaineer, long-distance runner, mountain biker and duathlete (mountain running and mountain biking). He is a three-time champion of the Skyrunner World Series from 2007–09 and the winner of the 2011 Western States Endurance Run.

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5 stars
341 (18%)
4 stars
717 (38%)
3 stars
636 (33%)
2 stars
146 (7%)
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35 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews
Profile Image for Jesse Sumrak.
50 reviews
September 9, 2020
Fun read from an amazingly accomplished Ultrarunner and mountaineer. However, Killians not the best storyteller, bless his soul, and most of the stories felt unfinished. Inspiring book that’ll make you want to get outside, climb a mountain, and question why you’re even doing it in the first place.
Profile Image for Vince Snow.
260 reviews21 followers
October 15, 2023
First off: Kilian Jornet is the greatest mountain endurance athlete in the world. His accomplishments are so varied and diverse they defy the imagination. I have immense respect for Kilian and regard him as the baseline for excellence in mountain endurance sports.

That said, this book made me dislike him. I found it grating and nihilistic. He spends much of the book talking about his dislike of the spotlight which has followed him for the past decade and a half since his rise in sport. Which is fine, I can respect that you are driven by competition and pushing the boundaries of endurance and fame is an unfortunate byproduct of that. I found his writing contemptuous of everyone. Of tourists he says “Dawn came, and I drove to Zermatt, where I saw a few tourists looking like zombies, wandering around on the verge of a drunken coma, trying to find the hotel where they’d booked a thousand-euro room for the night” He talks about luddite mountaineers who shun advances in the sport and the contradictions they live in their normal lives with modern conveniences, but then lumps himself in with this group whom he has disparaged. He talks about how pointless it is to climb mountains, but spends more time in the mountains than anyone I have ever heard of. He seems to be disillusioned with the mountains as some kind of grand struggle against nature or finding yourself, but but spends every waking moment of his life in the mountains anyway. He says there’s no point to doing it, but doesn’t present any kind of argument for some better way. And not that he has to, the book ostensibly is a memoir, but I found his philosophy contradictory and depressing. It wasn’t even something like “I recognize that the mountains exist and will continue to exist whether I go there or not, but when I am there I feel home”, I found his writing to be anti-society and anti-human.

Most of the stories he tells are of mountaineering, which is funny because I mostly know him as a trail runner/skimo racer/competitor. He does spend a token amount of time on Sierre Zinal and UTMB, but I found myself wanting more from each race recap. I enjoyed his descriptions of European veterans of mountain endurance sports that I was unaware of like Bruno Brunod and Stéphane Brosse and I liked his description of Ueli Stuck.

One of my favorite parts of the book was when he described the experience where he had to call for a rescue helicopter when him and Emelie were stuck on the side of Mont Blanc. I liked his introspection about putting himself and the woman he loved in danger because of his light and fast philosophy.

I hope someday a better treatment of his life is done by a biographer. I want to hear interviews with his family and competitors and sponsors. I want to hear about the time where he cut the corners at Speedgoat and was denied the prize money. I want to hear his take on people denying his Everest summits. I’d love to hear stories about his Bob Graham Round FKT or his Tahoe Rim Trail FKT or his Grand Teton FKT or how he met Emelie. I found the book to be a very shallow memoir about one of the most interesting and intriguing athletes of the century.
Profile Image for Ron S.
427 reviews33 followers
August 6, 2020
A book about contradictions, from the aloof endurance athlete. There is more of a coherent narrative here than the stream of consciousness approach of "Run or Die," but it's obvious he'd rather be out training, and I wonder how a ghost writer was able to keep up and pry even this much out of him.
Profile Image for Katja.
122 reviews9 followers
March 5, 2020
Erwartungsgemäß keine literarische Großleistung, aber es macht Spaß beim Lesen. Kilian Jornet eröffnet einen überraschend tiefen Einblick in sein Innenleben und offenbart, wie hart er mit sich selbst ins Gericht geht. Er gibt offen zu, dass er ein Getriebener ist, der nicht immer an der Grenze des Vernünftigen (oder zu Überlebenden) halt macht, insbesondere seine Everest-Schilderungen beschleunigen da schonmal den Puls. Richtig gut fand ich das Kapitel über eine hypothetische Olympiade der Zukunft mit Skibergsteigen als Indoor-Wettkampf auf einem Parcours. Da hab ich schallend gelacht und das Buch hatte plötzlich eine Leichtigkeit, die bei den anderen Themen (naturgemäß) eher nicht da war. Absolut empfehlenswert für jeden, der sich für Kilian, Ultralaufen oder auch Bergsteigen interessiert.
Profile Image for Martí Sala Perramon.
286 reviews9 followers
March 13, 2019
Faré la crítica en català perquè el llibre que jo realment he llegit és Res és impossible.
Valoro molt positivament la lectura d’aquest llibre. No sóc un seguidor apassionat ni fidel de la carrera d’en Kilian però si que m’agrada molt llegir llibres d’Esport i experiències vitals com és aquesta lectura.
Una de les idees amb les que m’he quedat és amb la gran capacitat que adquirim les persones a través de l’aprenentatge i la disciplina.
Com és d’important poder compartir moments claus i objectius amb la teva parella.
Profile Image for Carolina Romaní.
Author 2 books3 followers
September 10, 2023
Què faig jo llegint al Kilian Jornet? 


No tinc cap intenció de fer l'Ultra Trail del Mont Blanc, ni de practicar esquí de muntanya, ni tan sols vull córrer una mitja marató ara mateix. Tampoc soc seguidora d'aquests esports, però des de fa molts anys, em considero una admiradora del Kilian Jornet, perquè a nivell esportiu és extraordinari en tot allò que fa, i no importa si la resta de mortals podem arribar a comprendre en realitat les seves fites, o si no. Per això, m'agrada estar al corrent de tot el que fa. 


I si de tant en tant llegeixo els seus llibres, és perquè no només m'agrada la seva filosofia de vida i l'amor i el respecte que desprenen les seves paraules quan parla de "la muntanya" i la natura en general, sinó que sobretot és perquè el Jornet ens demostra com amb capacitat, persistència i sobretot, amb passió, podem aconseguir tot allò que vulguem a la vida.
Profile Image for Valerie.
304 reviews11 followers
October 1, 2020
A small insight into Kilian's mind

"Unless an avalanche, a rock, or old age comes for me first, I'll keep climbing mountains, in love with that naked feeling of lightness. I'll keep on moving until my body's resources are spent and it can't keep up with my mind anymore. I'm convinced that the best time is always now, and the best memory is always tomorrow."

I have followed Kilian's accomplishments over many years. After "Summits of my life", this is the second book of his that I've read. From the title and subtitle of the book I assumed that in the book he would mainly talk about his Everest expeditions, and that does seem to be one of the recurring topics. However, he once again touches on his whole life - growing up in the Catalan mountains, competing in sky and trail races from a very early age, and coming to fame despite being an introvert and wanting to remain anonymous. He touches on living in Chamonix and finally moving to Norway. He mentions some of the races he's competed in, some mountains he's climbed and some of the people he's met.

The book was first published in Spanish in 2018. It could be described as a mixture of scraps and thoughts about different races and mountains and people Kilian has met throughout his life. He does touch on his different Everest expeditions. The stories and thoughts seem a bit all over the place, and many stories felt unfinished. I did very much enjoy reading Kilian's stories and thoughts. Many seem like quotes one would like to write down and maybe put on the fridge to read daily. But overall the reading experience did not feel like a book, but more like reading some blog posts of his. I very much appreciated Kilian touching on climate change, a topic dear to his heart. He does acknowledge that for the mountains he loves so much, it would've been better if he had never flown there and seen them in person. Finally, I bought the hardcover version by HarperOne and must say I expected better quality. The hard cover is rather on the cheap side with poor quality of the pages, it seems like a paperback with a more stable cover. Overall, I still enjoyed reading this book and getting some insight into Kilian's life and his more recent achievements, but it's not a literary masterpiece by any means.
Profile Image for Lance.
1,648 reviews157 followers
March 12, 2021
Kilian Jornet is an athletic marvel. He climbs the tallest mountains; he runs races at various distances on these mountains as well as more level ground and he puts himself through punishing training sessions. He hadn't yet conquered the ultimate challenge for any climber: reaching the peak of Mount Everest. His journey to do so is told in his own words and manner in this book.

One aspect of the book that may turn off some readers is that there is not a good flow or sequence in the book – the stories of the Everest expeditions (there was more than one) are in order, but the other tales and reflections Jornet shares are random and seem to be written on whatever emotion he was feeling at the time he was sitting in front of his keyboard. While that does make it a little more challenging to read in as few settings as possible, I find them brutally honest. That is a good trait to have, as I find that type of writing hard to put down, especially in some of his darker times when he wonders if all his training and work is worth the effort.

But that training DOES produce results – if you don't know about the awards he has won, he does share some of them, but doesn't come across as arrogant. He shares some more tender moments, such as the three people whom he believes were the most important to help him become the climber that he has become (another dark moment comes here when he describes how one of them became another climbing victim). His partner Emilie is a climber as well and the story of when they were scaling Everest together and her fall is both terrifying and riveting.

While these stories can be considered downers, there are plenty of triumphs and great prose about climbing as well. A reader just has to take them in carefully and enjoy them as they come in the book. This will never be confused for a work of great writing, but it is an interesting look at the duel sports of mountaineering and running (much more of the former) that is worth the time to read.

https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Profile Image for Lee Hoang.
23 reviews
February 17, 2024
Sách kể việc Kilian, the GOAT của chạy địa hình, tập luyện và suy nghĩ việc tập luyện leo núi, chạy địa hình, trượt tuyết như thế nào. Sách có phần nói về những trải nghiệm của anh ở everest, và trải nghiệm/kỉ niệm/bài học quí giá của anh với một số người trèo núi, chạy địa hình, trượt tuyết đỉnh cao.
Cấu trúc sách: không hẳn theo thời gian, mà theo kiểu kí ức. May có chia theo từng đoạn nên nếu đọc lại mở ra đọc đoạn nào cũng được.
Nội dung: Cái mình tìm kiếm là cách nghĩ của anh về việc chạy, luyện tập, sự say mê thì có, mà vẫn thấy thiếu thiếu gì đó.
- Tại sao yêu thích việc chạy địa hình (thích cảm giác movement), trượt tuyết; đã từng thử thách bản thân (5 ngày không ăn mà chạy, không uống nước lâu mà chạy, v.v) để coi giới hạn bản thân là gì.
- Tự nhận mình thích núi đến nỗi risky nhiều thứ. Tự nhận mình egoist, narcissist.
- Không thích social life, không thích kết bạn, từ bé đã chỉ nghĩ đến việc tan học là chạy. Lúc teen đã ngày chạy 3,4 tiếng sáng, 1 tiếng chiều
- Ghi chép lại chi tiết việc mình tập luyện, cảm giác, ăn gì, bối cảnh ra sao.
- Suy nghĩ có nhiều contradiction (hệt như mình): yêu núi nhưng ko muốn có nhiều cuộc đua (tức nhiều người đến, phá hoại núi), việc đi chạy hay ở với gia đình….
- Chạy chậm, chạy nhanh không khó. Khó là ở chiến thắng”
Cảm giác thiếu:
- Thấy nhiều sự say mê quá, nên không thấy anh kể về thất bại nhiều, kiểu đúng là đua chính mình chứ không phải với người khác. (dậy thì thì còn thích đua đua thể hiện chứ lớn thì không cần)
- Việc vượt qua chấn thương của anh


18 reviews
October 26, 2021
Informative account of one of the world's most agressive endurance atheletes. He's certainly an overachiever, but with no discernible ego. He questions how he became extraordinary, and if it matters, but his motivation is altogether on a different level.

I met him briefly on a Colorado 14er. We had hiked up and were enjoying the summit. He was running the Hardrock 100 route well before the race to get to know the route, and pointed way off to a faraway pass as we chatted. When he started to cool down, off he went.
Profile Image for Matthieu Marshall.
88 reviews
October 18, 2020
Kilian Jornet muses about the world of trail running, mountaineering and ski-randonee. The book has a rear cover endorsement from Alex Honnold, and having watched Free Solo, I can see some similarities between the two introverted personalities who perhaps share a disdain for modern society and feel at home in the mountains.

Kilian makes some critical points in this book, and does not appear to offer many solutions.

There are some interesting anecdotes about his ascent of Everest, and other events in his career, although I would recommend his book "Run or Die" for a more optimistic and inspiring book about trail and mountain running. One poetic excerpt I particularly like though is

"I ended up filling that backpack to the brim with other treasures: the silences between the few words they spoke - you could fill an encyclopedia with them - and the idea that less is more, and doing something means nothing, but how you do it means everything."


and the book does end on a positive, inspiring note which is nice.
Profile Image for Natasha.
187 reviews19 followers
October 16, 2021
Grand. Nothing special although this might have been different if I had more of an interest in the subject.
Profile Image for Arunaabh Shah.
54 reviews25 followers
April 18, 2024
The content is there but incoherent. The book shuffles from one story to another. It makes sense in parts but it poorly edited and lacks flow.
67 reviews
January 6, 2025
Lydbok

Litt ujevn kanskje, men utrolige prestasjoner og beskrivelser.
En edel, vill en.
113 reviews2 followers
December 18, 2023
Completely gripping. Killian is almost as good a writer as he is a runner and that’s saying something.
Profile Image for Megan Mulhinch.
71 reviews
June 30, 2021
Interesting book. No doubt, Kilian is the best endurance athlete ever. Fun to read about his crazy experiments and philosophies!
Profile Image for Hailey Van Dyk.
176 reviews4 followers
September 9, 2020
Short and sweet. I think what I enjoyed most about this book was delving into the depths of Kilian’s soul, in contrast to his absolutely epic adventures.
Profile Image for Celia Rheault.
201 reviews4 followers
February 12, 2021
I listened to this book. It took too much energy to try and follow; there wasn’t much of a sequence or order it seemed and I didn’t even pick up on the fact he was SKI mountaineering until I was halfway in. I enjoyed it more towards the end but it was too little too late.
240 reviews2 followers
September 8, 2021
Questo libro mi è piaciuto decisamente meno degli altri due libri di Kilian Jornet. Il contenuto è un po' raffazzonato insieme e parla di troppe cose diverse. Sembrano quasi pezzi presi qua e là da roba eliminata per gli altri libri. In compenso la traduzione era migliore.
53 reviews
July 10, 2025
As someone aptly put, 'Kilian would obviously rather be out running than writing the book'. Lol! Kilian is the GOAT mountaineer and trail runner, and the pragmatism and matter-of-factness he brings to the screen are reflected in the book. Although the book felt a bit thin, his discipline and work ethic are astounding.
Profile Image for Yaroslav Brahinets.
118 reviews4 followers
February 16, 2023
Kílian’s trail-running path from his childhood skiing to the top of Everest, the highest peak on the Earth, 8848m. And this man did this run twice! One by one, five days apart!

Book covers a very inspiring big story about Everest and several mini-stories about friendship, travel and extreme sport. The author uses a solid number of adjectives to describe a whole spectre of his feelings, thoughts and situations during his “adventures”, sometimes with intimate details. While he is trying to bring human capabilities on edge all his time, it is a damn severe, harsh and exciting activity.

If you are looking for tips and tricks - this book is not for you; safely pass by. The book does not list practical sports lifehacks but shares some detail indirectly in his stories where our hero overcame his challenges. The end of the book is very focused on philosophical thinking, making the reading a bit less interesting for me. I like to get something helpful in such books that might help my sports hobbies.

It was funny to hear that despite his unbelievable achievements and winnings, Mr Jornet does not collect his trophies and friendly share them with fans, colleagues, or partners and uses them in his daily routine.
Profile Image for Dana Larose.
415 reviews15 followers
October 6, 2020
Memoir by Kilian Jornet, arguably the greatest modern endurance athlete. It's written in a conversational, almost stream-of-conscious way. The frame is him telling us about his expeditions in the Himalayas with him going on tangents that are more or less "That reminds me of..." and "First you should hear about..."

We learn a lot about Jornet's approach to training, racing, and success. He enjoys competition and winning but doesn't think it should be such a focus in races. His relationship with fame and social media is ambivalent. He doesn't think it's good for sport, or for the human soul and would mostly like to live a fairly ascetic life of just running in the mountains, but on the other hand is fully aware that his success, fame, social media presence, and sponsorships are what allow him to spend so much time training and on projects that catch his eye (like multiple excursions to Everest).

It's short and a fun read, though. I wouldn't say there is much advice here for runners, unless you adopt Kilian's approach to running and training of almost single-minded focus to exclusion of virtually all other aspects of life. (He's apparently enough of an introvert that this is his preference, and shouldn't be viewed as a sacrifice)
Profile Image for Robert.
275 reviews1 follower
July 21, 2019
Cercano, humano, humilde. Como siempre es Killian.

Para remarcar: no somos mas que personas insignificantes y fragiles, y es algo que hemos de tener muy presente. Sobre todo, cuando nos hemos acostumbrado al exito, confiamos demasiados en nosotros mismos y nos pensamos que somos indestructibles, que podemos ganarlo todo. Si competimos, puede que nos volvamos arrogantes, pero en la montaña puede acabar con el llanto de alguien por nosotros.
26 reviews3 followers
October 13, 2020
El mejor libro del autor, si sólo te puedes leer uno de los suyos sin lugar a dudas recomendaría éste. En esencia no cuenta nada que no haya contado en otros libros o documentales, pero lo hace de manera mucho más abierta y sincera.
Profile Image for Maša Rački.
41 reviews9 followers
October 15, 2025
Malo je takih ljudi, kot je Kilian Jornet. Da ima toliko strasti, moči in da zapravi večino svojega časa za hojo in tek v gorah. Da je tolikokrat že bil v tako zelo resnih in težkih situacijah, katerih si "navadni" človek niti ne more predstavljati. Čudoviti opisi doživetij, prekrasna knjiga. 😊
Profile Image for maria helena.
720 reviews108 followers
March 4, 2023
Although parts of this book was interesting, it was overall a disappointment. It felt disjointed and too much time was spent retelling details that didn't feel pertinent to the story. Lots of talk but little content.
Profile Image for Alberto Lavecchia.
33 reviews2 followers
December 15, 2019
Decisamente motivante!
In alcuni tratti però non ho capito realmente come si possa andare così oltre in montagna senza la paura
Displaying 1 - 30 of 169 reviews

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