Ed Viesturs

Edmund Viesturs (born June 22, 1959) is a high-altitude mountaineer and corporate speaker. He is the only American to have climbed all 14 of the world's eight-thousander mountain peaks, and the fifth person to do so without using supplemental oxygen. Along with Apa Sherpa, he has summitted peaks of over 8,000 meters on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times; only four other climbers, Phurba Tashi Sherpa Mendewa, Juanito Oiarzabal, Namgyal Sherpa, and Ang Dorje Sherpa, have more high-altitude ascents.

Viesturs took part in the filming of Everest shortly after the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which became the highest grossing documentary up to that time. 13 days after the disaster, his team summited Everest accompanied by a film crew. He also had a cameo in the year 2000 Hollywood blockbuster Vertical Limit.

Viesturs was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, of Latvian and German descent. He was raised in Rockford, Illinois, Viesturs moved to Seattle, Washington in 1977 to attend the University of Washington. It was here that he began his mountaineering career on the slopes of Mount Rainier. Viesturs graduated from the University of Washington in 1981 with a BS in zoology and worked as a guide for Rainier Mountaineering. He later obtained a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Washington State University.

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