In the world of mountaineering, where every second can mean the difference between victory and tragedy, one name has been rewriting the record books with breathtaking speed Benjamin Védrines, this French alpinist has become the embodiment of modern mountaineering fast, fearless, and utterly committed to pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in the world’s highest places.
The Boy from the Small Village
Benjamin’s story begins in Châtillon-en-Diois, a tiny village in France’s Drôme region, where he was born on June 25, 1992. Growing up next to the Vercors highlands reserve, surrounded by medium-sized mountains that peaked at around 2,200 meters, young Benjamin found his playground in nature itself.
His parents were both mountaineers, planting the seeds of what would become an extraordinary career.
“I grew up next to the Vercors highlands reserve,” Benjamin recalls. “It was important for me, at 14-15 years old, to be able to roam regularly, to have this form of freedom.”
He would jump on his road bike to explore his area, discovering villages he’d heard about from friends or his father, who worked as a country doctor.
The mountains weren’t just Benjamin’s backyard they were his escape. “I’ve always been a loner,” he admits. “I grew up with four boys and I’ve always needed that breath of fresh air that the mountains bring me.” While middle school and high school brought social pressures and stress, the mountains offered something different: disconnection and wonder.
Finding His Calling
At 14, everything changed when Benjamin discovered ski touring during weekend trips to his mother’s hometown of Briançon. Learning from his uncle, an instructor and guide, Benjamin initially didn’t enjoy skiing.
But ski touring was different it offered independence from lift lines and marked trails. “With a new-found independence from lift lines and marked pistes, Benjamin spent whole days exploring the mountains and mastering the art of steep skiing in the Écrins Massif.”
By 16, Benjamin was already achieving notable high mountain climbs and ski tours. His first major climb came in 2008 with the Escarra route on the North summit of Olan. “I climbed the ladder gradually and I was a pretty good student,” he reflects. “I didn’t have a sudden progression, where some people go into the mountains in a completely inappropriate way.”
The Guide’s Path
At 21, Benjamin made a important decision he abandoned university for the mountains and joined the Chamonix guide school. By 2016, he had graduated as a high mountain guide from ENSA (École Nationale de Ski et d’Alpinisme). Initially, he built a successful guiding practice around his home, content with this traditional path.
But something was missing. “I was happy; that was my main goal. Except that I neglected the personal side, my projects, climbing, training,” he explains. The frustration of not pursuing his own mountaineering dreams eventually led him to seek a different path one that would allow him to control his schedule while still making a living from his passion.
The Philosophy of Speed and Freedom
What sets Benjamin apart isn’t just his speed it’s his philosophy. For him, mountain sports aren’t about competition but about “freedom and self-expression.” He moves fast and light, often solo, without fixed ropes or bottled oxygen. His approach blends mountaineering with paragliding, seeking what he calls “the intimate connection with the mountains.”
“For me, it’s natural to be versatile in the mountains,” he explains. “When you live there year-round, one day you have snow, one day it’s dry, one day you have rocks, one day it’s raining. You’re constantly adapting to the conditions, so it’s good to practice several sports.”
This versatility has made him what he calls “a bit like a decathlete” of mountain sports climbing, skiing, paragliding, and speed mountaineering all rolled into one extraordinary athlete.
Record-Breaking Achievements
Benjamin’s name first made international headlines in July 2022 when he climbed Pakistan’s Broad Peak (8,051m) in just 7 hours and 28 minutes a mind-blowing ascent rate of 450 vertical meters per hour. But he didn’t stop there. He became the first person ever to paraglide from the summit of an 8,000-meter peak.
However, this victory nearly became tragedy. Nine days later, attempting K2, Benjamin lost consciousness near 8,400 meters due to hypoxia and had to be rescued. “We learned afterward that I did indeed suffer from severe hypoxia. I had a loss of consciousness, I don’t remember what I did or what happened. Total amnesia, basically.”
This experience taught him valuable lessons about the risks of high-speed, no-oxygen ascents. But it didn’t slow him down.
The K2
On July 28, 2024, Benjamin achieved what many thought impossible. After waiting 40 days in base camp for perfect weather, he set the world record for the fastest ascent of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain at 8,611 meters.
Climbing solo and without supplemental oxygen, he reached the summit from advanced base camp in just 10 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds slashing the previous record by more than half.
“The mental and physical difficulty left its mark on me,” he said after the climb. But for Benjamin, records are secondary to the connection with the mountains and the pursuit of innovative, elegant climbs.
Mont Blanc Masterpiece
Most recently, on May 25, 2025, Benjamin achieved perhaps his most remarkable feat yet. He set a new record for the round-trip ski ascent of Mont Blanc from Chamonix, completing the 35-kilometer route with over 3,800 meters of elevation gain in 4 hours, 54 minutes, and 41 seconds.
He beat Kilian Jornet’s legendary 2013 record which had stood unbeaten for 12 years by just three minutes.
The attempt nearly didn’t succeed. Despite falls, injuries to his eye and ankle, and a broken ski pole, Benjamin persevered. “My eye hurts, my ankle is broken. But I’m happy I’ve fulfilled a dream,” he posted on social media afterward.
Mental Game
What drives someone to push their body to such extremes? For Benjamin, it’s partly about being “an endorphin addict.” He needs “that endorphin drug to feel good in the evening, after having made an effort.”
But there’s something deeper
“The unknown is the very essence of what drives me,” he explains. “As a mountaineer, the unknown is the very essence of what drives me.”
Yet he’s meticulous in his preparation, studying images, maps, and information from previous climbs to limit risks while embracing the uncertainty that makes mountaineering so compelling.
Fear is managed through breathing and mental conditioning. “Breathing helps me a lot. I take the time to breathe from my stomach and take a step back. More and more, this comes about thanks to positivity.”
The Artist’s Eye
Benjamin isn’t just an athlete he’s an artist who sees the mountains as his canvas. “I attach enormous importance to the elegance and beauty of the line,” he says. For him, the most beautiful routes follow the mountain’s natural weaknesses its cracks and fragilities. “When this fragility or this crack is difficult, it’s even more beautiful, it ticks all the boxes.”
This aesthetic sense drives his route selection and his constant search for new challenges. He’s completed first ascents in the Alps and Himalayas, including difficult technical climbs and linkups that combine athleticism with artistic vision.
Living the Dream
Today, Benjamin has achieved what few mountaineers manage making a living from his passion. Sponsored by major brands like The North Face, he spends his time training, managing brand relationships, and creating new projects. While the economics aren’t always favorable expeditions often cost more than sponsorship provides he’s playing the long game.
“If you like, at my level, in terms of projects, I have so many that for the moment the brand is giving me carte blanche,” he says. The freedom to pursue his vision remains paramount.
At his 30’s, Benjamin shows no signs of slowing down. His future ambitions include descending Everest with a paraglider, discovering virgin peaks in Antarctica, and setting new climbing records on Denali. He dreams of opening new routes on 8,000-meter peaks not just variations on existing routes, but lines that make sense topographically and aesthetically.
“The best thing would be to open a route on an 8000,” he explains. “But I don’t want it to be a convoluted route, a sort of variation on a normal route. It has to make sense, it has to be very beautiful topographically.”
The Legacy
Benjamin Védrines represents the evolution of modern alpinism where speed, technique, and artistic vision combine to create something entirely new. He’s not just breaking records; he’s redefining what’s possible in the mountains while maintaining a deep respect for their power and beauty.
From that small village boy exploring on his bicycle to the record-holder on the world’s highest peaks, Benjamin’s journey proves that with enough passion, preparation, and courage, even the sky isn’t the limit. In his world, there are always higher peaks to climb, faster times to achieve, and more elegant lines to discover.
“I look at all mountains in a very curious way,” he says simply. And in that curiosity lies the essence of a true mountaineer always searching, always pushing, always reaching for something just beyond the horizon.
