Kai Lenny

Invited by his sponsor Tag Heuer, Kai Lenny went surfing in Zermatt in July, and we have the stunning photos to prove it. The famous Hawaiian surfer also took the opportunity to climb the Breithorn. He spoke to us about his fascination for the Valais Alps.

“I’m like a fish out of water here.” Even though he is struggling for air at an altitude he is in no way accustomed to, Kai Lenny – whose first name means ‘ocean’ in Hawaiian – has not lost his sense of humour. The famous surfer utters the words as he crawls his way up to the modest summit of the Breithorn (4,164m), in the company of wingsuit base jumper Geraldine Fasnacht (see inset). Invited by the sponsor they share, watchmaker Tag Heuer, the two athletes are in Zermatt for a promo tour entitled “Kai Lenny Rides Switzerland”. It is a first for the surf king. “I didn’t know anything about Switzerland. I’d only stayed for a few days before, near Zurich with my family when I was 15.”

The mountains of Zermatt are making a very big impression on the 24-year-old. Lenny, who never bats an eyelid when tackling enormous 20-metre waves on the Big Waves Tour armed with only his surf board, can barely believe his eyes. As you might expect, it is the Matterhorn that catches his eye most of all. “That pyramid’s steeper than a wave,” he says on seeing it in the flesh for the first time. “I’ve seen a model of it in Disneyland, but this is a totally different story,” adds the athlete as he tucks into a Valais platter in typically relaxed American style.

“These mountain landscapes are so much more intense in real life than any video,” he says, putting it right out there. “No matter how good they are, they’ll never capture their power.” A helicopter ride over the area takes his breath away, leaves him with goose bumps. Steeped in the culture of his native Hawaii, Lenny says he can feel the imposing mountains around him release their mana, a word used in Hawaiian culture to signify spiritual energy. “Feeling that force is just as important for me as the sporting challenge in itself. Whether you believe in God or you don’t, you can’t avoid being spiritual when you’re faced with it. It’s a power that we simply cannot comprehend. It’s way bigger than us and makes us insignificant, not that that’s a problem.” So, what are the Valais Alps then? “Pohaku,” he replies, naming the primitive rock from which the world is shaped. As he goes on to explain, there are places that simply brim with mana, which spreads out around the world to people who can harness its force. One such place is the summit of the Hale’a’kala Volcano, on the island of Maui, where Kai lives. As his father, who is also his manager, adds, these majestic Alpine peaks are another.

Kai tries his hand at some hydrofoil windsurfing and hydrofoil kitesurfing on the Riffelsee lake, at the foot of the Matterhorn. Though the water is a little cold for him, he loves the ride, describing it as “outstanding”. Here, just as in his beloved oceans, the great outdoors elicits a humble response from the surfer, which is touching given all the success he has had in his career.

And what about the risks? Casting a philosophical glance at the Mont-Rose and the 4,000m peaks clustered around it, Kai says he is prepared for the worst, not that he ever thinks it will come to that when he falls from his board. Every risk is carefully weighed up thanks to a subtle blend of experience and intuition. And should something go wrong, he has every angle covered, or nearly every angle. He has also trained hard, so hard in fact that he can hold his breath underwater for a whole four minutes and 45 seconds. Wrapping things up, the surfer says: “I do a bit of snowboarding every now and again, but right now I prefer spending time on my ‘liquid mountains’.”