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news
German sets new world altitude cycling record - climbing more than 20,000 feet (+ gallery)
A German cyclist has set a new world record for the highest altitude reached on a bicycle, using a fat bike to climb to 6,233 metres – that’s 20,450 feet in old money – on South America’s second highest mountain.
Guido Kunze, an ultra athlete from Mühlhausen in central Germany, rode from Bahí a Inglesa on Chile’s Pacific Coast to the north west ridge of the Ojos del Salado, at 6.893 metres the world’s highest active volcano.
By the time he finished his ride on the evening of October 16, he had climbed 150 metres higher than the existing record holder, fellow German Andre Hauschke, who set his benchmark in April 2010.
On his ride, which took a little over 37 hours, Kunze covered 342.8km with a total height gain of 6,899 meters.
Speaking by satellite phone, he said: "It was really tough, not only the altitude but also the brutal winds.
“Now I am overjoyed. The detailed and meticulous preparation has been well worth it.
“Nobody in our team suffered from altitude sickness and there were no injuries or damage to the equipment.”
Sponsors of the record attempt included Garmin as well as the Swedish camping stove manufacturer, Primus to ensure Kunze, his support team and a TV crew kept fed with hot food.
Primus has previously supplied some of the world’s greatest explorers such as Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen and Sir Edmund Hillary.
Kunze said: “The stoves worked perfectly, no matter whether on sea level or at high altitude, regardless of heat or icy cold. The Eta pots helped us to save fuel and cooking was really fast.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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12 comments
A few years ago there was a group ride from the Dead Sea (-400m) to Everest base camp (5400m) but that was still 400 meters less vertical than this...very impressive. Although in fairness, some off the cyclists did hop of their bikes and then summit Everest
Interesting internal front gearing system on that bike too?
Wonder if it is a Pinion?
Incredible feat.
Yes, Germans are good at this. A few years ago two Germans broke the Guinness World Record for biking at the highest altitude that two friends and I had held since 2000.
In August 2000, three of us climbed up the slopes of Xinjiang's Muztag Ata to 7008m with the bikes on our back, and then rode the bike for a silly 10 meters in the deep snow.
So the preposition "on" is very important here; it is not the highest reached "with" a bike, but definitely non-stop "on" a bike.
Will have to check out Guido's ride in detail, might be interesting to try it one day.
Siegfried (recently moved to Santiago de Chile)
Strava? Nobody is taking that segment off him ha
Pwaaar...
Only German could pull off such feats. Heil Kunze!
Story doesn't mention it, there were two hounds consumed during the expedition also.
and that was going down
I rode across the altiplano not that far from there at about 5,000m and it was about the hardest thing i ever did
I've been up at 4000 metres in the Andes and that felt pretty high to me as any exertion had to be done carefully. Riding at 6800 metres is something else again.
I bet it was fun coming down again!
I've wanted to go from the ocean on Hawai'i (big island) to the Mauna Kea summit. That's only 13,796' but in only 43 miles. It's almost all paved, except for a section of a few kms near the top. I can't imagine riding above 20,000'!
Do the rules dictate the type of tyres of tyre swaps allowed?
He had a crew so I'm wondering why they didn't cheat on the road sections with different tyre setups.
The guy's a beast, never mind doing it on a fat bike. Congrats