Gripped Magazine
Iris Pessey Sets New Women’s Speed Record on Mont Blanc
On June 18, French climber Iris Pessey set a new Fastest Known Time (FKT) on Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe at 4,810 metres. Starting from the church in Chamonix, she ran approximately 16 kilometres to the summit, gaining around 3,800 metres of elevation before completing a paragliding descent back to the valley as part of her “Mont Blanc Express” project.
Pessey reached the summit in 5 hours and 2 minutes, improving the previous women’s benchmark set by Hillary Gerardi in 2023 by 10 minutes. Including the paragliding descent, she completed the full route in 5 hours and 34 minutes. The send is notable not only for the new ascent record but also because it combined a summit push from Chamonix with an aerial descent, a first-of-its-kind performance by a woman on Mont Blanc.
Despite the record, Pessey emphasized that the project was driven by the experience rather than the stopwatch. “The whole goal of this is not chasing the performance, but rather having a good day with friends,” she said. “A kind of funny day where you start running from the village to reach the Mont Blanc and glide down.”
The project was carried out alongside mountain guide Matthieu Meynadier and snowboarder Marion Haerty. Reflecting on the record, Pessey said: “At the finish, I wasn’t thinking about the record time. I mostly felt relief and gratitude towards all the people who helped me build this project.” A short documentary produced by Glace Noir Films is scheduled for release in the coming weeks.
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