French mountain guides Mathéo Jacquemoud (35 years old) and Samuel Equy (29 years old) set a new speed record this Saturday for the round trip between Chamonix and the summit of Mont Blanc, at an altitude of 4,806 meters. The duo completed the route on foot and skis in 4 hours, 41 minutes and 24 seconds, improving by two minutes the mark held by Italian William Boffelli since the end of May 2025.
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For the record to be recognized as the Fastest Known Time (FKT, best known time in English) by the alpine community, tradition requires that the start and finish take place at the Chamonix church, from where they departed shortly before seven in the morning, and that the alpinists carry all their equipment (skis, crampons, and ropes) during almost four kilometers of uninterrupted vertical ascent.
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The success of the traverse not only depended on a millimeter-precise calculation of the terrain, but also on critical risk management in a hostile scenario. “The mountain is very dry up there and the snow is very hard. Serac falls have filled the path with ice balls; it’s full of traps,” warned Samuel Equy about the high altitudes to Franceinfo.
After alternating trail shoes, crampons, and skis, the division of roles set the pace. “On the ascent, Sam was always in front,” acknowledged Jacquemoud. The sergeant set the pace until reaching the summit in 3 hours and 41 minutes, with Equy following him a minute later.
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The margin of error to beat the record on the descent was zero, although they had a technical advantage at the base. Better snow cover from 1,800 meters allowed for a more extensive skiable surface than in 2025. Even so, the victory was agonizing. “It was stressful; throughout the descent, I watched the clock and saw that we were very close to William’s time. In the final run to Chamonix, we had to give it our all,” Equy confessed to AFP, making it clear that the record was not decided on the snow, but in a sprint on asphalt.
Compared to recent Mont Blanc records, dominated by individual effort, such as those of Jack Kuenzle or Boffelli himself, the French strategy demonstrated the viability of teamwork at the highest level. “If it hadn’t been with him, I don’t know if I would have tried. You are stronger when you know each other well,” Jacquemoud confessed to L’Equipe, who already held this same record for eleven years, at 5 hours and 6 minutes in 2013, and who just twenty days ago also broke the record for the Chamonix-Zermatt traverse in 13 hours 27 minutes.
Reconquering Mont Blanc was not a simple time trial challenge, but a matter of military honor for Equy, a sergeant in the French military ski team, who told Franceinfo that he was proud to “have brought this record back to France, to the army, and to the high mountain guides.”
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