Testing Ourselves

Is it possible to climb 8,000m summit in a fortnight? What type of acclimatisation is necessary and how does it affect the body? These were the questions the athletes Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg were asking themselves. In search of an answer they set off to reach the summit of Cho Oyu (8,220m) using a new acclimatisation method that could revolutionise climbing. In May, Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg travelled to the Himalayas to attempt the ascent of Cho Oyu, which they had chosen as a test of their acclimatisation. As Jornet says: “Although we did reach the summit, for us that wasn’t the important thing. What interested us was to see how we felt after an acclimatisation that was totally different from any we’d done before.” As well as the experiences of Jornet and Forsberg, the film also features Dr Enric Subirats, a specialist in mountaineering medicine, who looks at the expedition from a scientific perspective and what this sort of acclimatisation might mean for other athletes. However, Testing Ourselves is both a scientific and a human film. Jornet and Forsberg’s relationship forms a key part of the narrative as, for the first time, the couple talk about what it means to make an expedition together, what the risks are and what it means to them as a couple.