Bruno Brunod marked the era of the discipline from the end of the 90s to the beginning of 2000. He was, in fact, the first world champion in a category, skyrunning, which includes several mountain running disciplines: vertical kilometer, skymarathon, ultraskymaraton and skyrace. Races at high altitude, which include extreme routes, with positive uphill differences in height of over two thousand meters in total. Itineraries inaccessible to those who do not have adequate training, but which Bruno, a former cyclist who switched to running, finishes without breath. Born and bred in Valle d'Aosta from Chatillon, a small town in the Aosta Valley, Bruno is 58 years old and has dedicated a part of his life to running. Clean face, light eyes, slightly graying hair. What makes Bruno eternal is his palmares of feats and victories and you can still see him training on the steep slopes of the mountain he knows like the back of his hand: the Zerbion. Among the races he has finished there are not only the sky but also the Tor des Geants and the 4K.
Bruno, how many times have you been on the podium in your career as an athlete of the sky?
A dozen times.
The Matterhorn record stood 18 years from 1993 to 2013, when a young Spaniard named Kilian Jornet took it away from you. In your opinion, how long will Kilian's record time last.
In my opinion it can last like mine, from 15 to 20 years, then surely someone will come to beat it.
For Kilian you were and are a master, do you think Kilian would have made the Matterhorn record anyway without your advice?
Surely he would have done it anyway. Kilian is a great athlete with an exceptional physique and a great knowledge of the mountain.
Do you talk to Kilian from time to time?
No, now he rarely came, he often came to the Valley before.
What do you remember in particular about the two records achieved in 1996 and 1998: ascent and descent from Monte Rosa And the ascent of Kilimanjaro?
Of the climb to Kilimanjaro, the amazed faces of the local guides when I told them the times I expected on the climb, and the party after the race. Of Monterosa, the snowfall in the night and therefore the greatest effort to get to the Margherita, but rewarded by the beer festival afterwards with the gressonari.
In your recent sporting palmares you participated in the Tor des Geants and the 4K you finished, what were the biggest difficulties you encountered in both Ultra Trail races?
In the Tor des Geants I was in my first long races and so I didn't manage my body well. In 4K I started to understand and manage myself better and I had a lot of fun, they are long and very beautiful races that at this age I prefer.
How should a skyrunning athlete train compared to a trail running athlete?
A skyrunning athlete should be trained more in technical, altitude and altitude, while trail running athlete should be trained more on length and endurance, mental management is very important.
You started with cycling and you were also Chiappucci's teammate, between the two disciplines, cycling and skyrace, which do you think is the most difficult to prepare for a young person who approaches these sports of pure physical and mental fatigue?
In my opinion, the bike has reached a very high level and therefore to break through in cycling is very hard, I did it at 19 and I know what it means (that I also struggled a lot to settle in). In skyrunning there is not yet the level of cycling, even if both are fun.
Who is Bruno Brunod's heir among your children?
I don't like to talk about heirs (I would give too much weight), I only advise them to be themselves, all my children like to walk in the mountains and they are happy, this is the important thing.
Have you ever thought about becoming a skyrunning coach?
Yes I would like to but for now I am still a bricklayer, maybe when I retire if I am not all wrong, I would like to explain to young people not to make the same mistakes as me, teach them that both in trail running and in skyrunning they must not be exasperated, have pressure for results at any cost.
In 2005 you attempted the ascent of Everest, reaching an altitude of 8200 meters before abandoning. What has remained of those days and how do you remember them?
For me simply the mountain that day was stronger, I didn't take it as a failure on the contrary, you have to know how to accept your limits, sometimes it is right to know how to give up so as not to risk your own life and that of others.
Have you ever participated in the VK2000 of Mont Blanc?
Yes, I participated once, maybe in 2015, the first edition, I liked it very much.
Are you trying again this year to climb Punta Helbronner?
I don't think so, I certainly like the organization, it seems impossible to me now to achieve the time made of 1h 40'. I will accompany my son Mathieu Brunod for the Trail of the 54K Battalion (the brand new T54K scheduled for August 1st).
Bruno, in Valle D'Aosta mountain running is called with the term Martze in Pià, in the patois, do you think they will continue to organize these races in the village despite the growing increase in trail races?
I come from Martze to Pià and I hope that they will continue to organize, that they will return to being more followed than in recent years. For the youngest in the Valley they are the basis for growing, having fun and running.