Alex “Chikorita” Roudayna, an ultramarathoner who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome, became the first woman to climb three volcanoes in less than 24 hours.
Roudayna, with a support crew from Red Bull documenting the feat, climbed Mount Pico de Orizaba (18,490 feet), Mount Iztaccihuatl (17,158 feet) and Mount Nevado de Toluca (15,354 feet) in 22 hours, 22 minutes, despite a 2½-hour traffic jam in Mexico City between the second and third climbs.
The challenge was made more difficult because of her Asperger’s. She doesn’t process the world as everyone else does, and it’s hard for her to understand the reasons behind everything.
“One thing I learned these days in the mountains is that I’m capable of doing things I never thought before, to feel comfortable with people around me,” the native of Mexico City said in the video shown below.
“People have to live it to understand it. I’m thankful for everyone behind this because I’ve seen each one of them give the best of themselves, truly giving their body and soul. Personally, they’ve changed my life.”
The Three Peaks challenge was finished in the early hours of Dec. 5, 2019, but the details, photos and video were just released Thursday by Red Bull.
The first climb up Pico de Orizaba started at 4 a.m. in darkness and 19-degree weather. Once complete, it was a five-hour drive to the next peak, Iztaccihuatl. When she started running up the trail, 10½ hours had elapsed.
“What’s the difference between trail and high-altitude running?” a producer said in the video. “Here, if you slip you are very vulnerable and far from help.”
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Upon descending, it was a five-hour, 137-mile drive to Nevado de Toluca.
“There is no way to get to Mount Nevado de Toluca without going through Mexico City’s traffic,” Roudayna said. “We could use this time on the mountain.”
At 10:45 p.m. and wearing a headlamp, Roudayna began the climb to the top, which upon reaching she broke down in tears. She then hurried down to the bottom to complete her feat just after 2 a.m.
“I would like this to be a moving force, right?” Roudayna said. “To get out there and get our butts kicked, to make something cool but also to make that energy vibrate and make someone get up and say: you know what? I wanna be more than I thought I was; to break my limitations. I believe that’s the point of all this.”
Roudayna, 30, practiced taekwondo and rowing as a child before becoming obsessed with running as an adult, which led to a training regime of eight to 10 hours a day in a sport that “stops her from thinking.” She won the 2016 and 2017 Spartan Ultramarathon Races in Mexico.
Photos courtesy of Marcos Ferro/Red Bull Content Pool. In order, they show Roudayna before the climbs; Roudayna climbing Pico de Orizaba at dawn and reaching the top then sliding down; Roudayna atop Iztaccihuatl; and Roudayna in the darkness climbing Nevado de Toluca.
