Pol Tarrés is a man, myth, and legend who's used to having his achievements measured in titles, championships, podiums, and medals. He holds accolades such as the 2011 Trial Junior World Champion and took 5th at the 2022 Africa Eco Race. But he added a new success metric to the list back in 2020: feet.
Aboard a Yamaha Tenere 700 on March 14th, 2020, he set a twin-cylinder ADV motorcycle Guinness World Record by riding to an altitude of 20,202 feet on the slopes of the Andes' Cerro Mercedario. Since then, he's added two more altitude records to the list.
Two More Records
Tarrés straddled a Yamaha YZ450FX to 22,165 feet on March 6th, 2024, as he ascended the world's highest active volcano, the Ojos Del Salado, which is located in Chile. By doing so, Tarrés put his name in the Guinness Book of World Records once more, this time for setting an altitude record aboard a wheeled machine.
Instead of resting on his laurels, Tarrés descended the volcano and prepared to ride up it again the very next day. But this time, he'd be piloting a bike more than twice the weight of his YZ450FX as he went back to his trusty Yamaha Tenere 700 World Raid.
Less than 24 hours after cementing his name in the record books, on March 7th, Tarrés clicked his Tenere 700 World Raid into first to ascend the volcano once more. He didn't stop riding until he reached an altitude of 21,909 feet, breaking his own ADV altitude record from 2020 by 1,707 feet. The feat is incredible, but how Tarrés entered the record books this time is even more impressive.
When Tarrés broke the ADV motorcycle altitude record in 2020, he used an oxygen tank, which he kept in his backpack. Even with this, due to the low oxygen levels and monumental physical task, he burned around 20,000 calories per day riding toward the altitude record. But this time, he didn't use an oxygen tank—he was naturally aspirated. This man is our kind of crazy.
Watch Him Do It
When Tarrés set the first record in 2020, a film crew recorded the whole thing and turned it into a 19-minute-long documentary.
Thankfully, There was a film crew with him again this time, and we can look forward to another documentary sometime in the near future.
