First American to Climb All 8000m Peaks
May 12th, 2005
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Ed Viestur's 16-year long quest to summit all 14 of the world's 8,000+ meter peaks came to an end this morning when he summitted Annapurna. He became the first American climber to do so, and only the twelfth climber in the world. Moreover, Veisturs summited all of the peaks without supplementary oxygen, a feat only five other climbers can claim.
Viesturs summited his first 8,000 meter peak, Kangchenjunga in the Himalaya, in 1989. He has summited Everest six times (three without O2), but this was his third attempt at Annapurna, according to Explorersweb.com. It too was almost thwarted by extremely high winds that kept climbers stranded at High Camp for three days.
Annapurna is an especially poignant way for Viesturs to end his quest. As a kid, the book Annapurna inspired him to become a climber. It has pushed him far and high.
Veikka Gustafsson, who recently climbed Cho Oyu with Viesturs, as well as Italians Mario Merelli, Mario Panzeri and Danielle Bernasconi also summited Annapurna.
You can visit Ed's MountainZone site at: Ed Viesturs.
And view his photo gallery at: Viesturs Gallery
