Mireia Miro: The alpine adventurer who skis up mountains

That’s the distance Mireia Miro estimates she covers every season in a bid to stay fit for the lung-busting sport of ski mountaineering.

“In a normal winter, when we start skiing in November and we finish in April, sometimes May, I can do around 200,000 meters of elevation gain,” Miro told CNN’s Human to Hero series.

The dedication to fitness has helped the Spanish dynamo reach the summit of her sport winning a clutch of titles in recent years. But not even trophies can match the winning feeling of being at one with the nature.

“I love being in the mountains — it makes me feel part of the world, part of the Earth,” she says.

“I don’t know how to explain it … it’s a little bit difficult … but when I’m in the mountains, especially ski mountaineering, in winter alone, I have a peaceful feeling and I feel part of the things that surround me,” she adds.

“Last year, I started BASE jumping. It’s very different from ski mountaineering or skyrunning but I love it … It also makes me feel part of things that are around me and part of nature,” she says.

“With BASE jumping you realize that you are nothing and you have to take chances and you have to live your life every day and give all your energy to live it in the best way possible.”

Miro has recently made a return to the slopes and is currently competing at the Ski Mountaineering World Championships in Verbier, Switzerland.

After feeling the thrill of jumping off tall buildings last summer, heading back to the slopes could have felt like a bit of a comedown. But the Catalan native is adamant that scaling snowy peaks will always rock her world.

“I love ski mountaineering because it gives me the feeling of freedom. Ski mountaineering is part of me, I think that I need it.”

CNN