During the last years we’ve lived together challenges, documentaries, charity projects, new adventures....today, I’m glad to share what will for sure be the hardest summit to climb with the birth of Kilian Jornet Foundation. 

Since I was a child I have been educated about the importance of protecting the environment. I have been climbing mountains and crossing glaciers my whole life, and I could realize the devastating effects of climate change. We all have a role in reversing this tendency and ensure that the next generations are able not only to play in the mountains but to live on a healthy planet. 

I love mountains, deeply, and I believe that since a young age I had a great consciousness about the importance of its preservation. Despite my environmental conscience, I’m one of the greatest environment destroyers. My lifestyle for the past decade as a professional athlete has been closely linked to traveling frantically around the globe and with that contributing in a large scale to global warming.

Advocating is important, I think one of the great challenges is to convince the bigger part of the population about the reality of the climate emergency we’re facing and for that all the visibility of the climate discussion has a big value. But we’ve come to a time where advocating isn’t enough.

Mountains are essential for life on earth. They provide us with water stored in their glaciers, rivers and lakes. They provide us with resources as aliments and renewable energies. A third of the world forests are in mountain regions as well as more than half of biodiversity hotspots. Mountains also have a specific role in preventing global warming. And also, egotistically speaking,  they are the most amazing terrain to have fun practicing numerous activities like running, skiing, climbing… you name it!

Lately, and specially becoming a father has made me think more about what are the real consequences of the lack of environmental action. What does it mean for the planet when I travel to a race, to climb a mountain. Or how my lifestyle can change how the mountains will be when my daughter is grown up? And I felt scared. It is scary to think how global warming can shape the planet in the next decades or how pollution can change the world’s biodiversity and the way we eat or find water to drink. This fear made me realize that I need to change the way I live to be more coherent with the values and love for mountains I have, and to take this conversation with you.

That’s why I want to go one step further with the creation of Kilian Jornet Foundation. The foundation will help projects, organizations and individuals that are dedicated to preserving the planet.

Do we climb together?