Ivan Vallejo

Iván Vallejo Ricaurte (born December 19, 1959) is a mountaineer from Ecuador. On May 1, 2008, he finished his "Desafio 14" – a personal quest for reaching the summit of all 14 mountains above 8,000 m (eight-thousanders), without the use of supplemental oxygen.

Iván Vallejo Ricaurte was born in Ambato, Ecuador in 1959 and is the father of Andy and Kamilla. He graduated as a chemical engineer and taught mathematics to university students from 1988 to 2000. At that stage, he decided to become a full-time mountain climber.

Iván began climbing mountains in Ecuador such as Illiniza Norte, Rumiñawi, Tungurahua and Carihuairazo and soon enough, his hobby became a passion. On Oct 23, 1978, he reached the summit of Chimborazo (6,310 m), his country’s highest peak. In 1988 he started climbing in the Cordillera Blanca (Perú) and in Bolivia, having summitted mountains such as Artesonraju, Alpamayo, Huascarán and Illampu.

In 1995 he climbed the highest peak in the Alps (Mont Blanc) and his first Himalayan mountain (Island Peak, 6,187 m). The following year, he returned to Nepal and reached the summit of Ama Dablam (6,856 m) and in 1997, he stood on top of his first eight-thousander – Manaslu (8,163 m). In 1998, he climbed Broad Peak (8,048 m) and in 1999, he summitted Mount Everest for the first time, thus becoming the first Ecuadorian to reach the top of the world's highest mountain. On May 22, 2006 Vallejo and João Garcia from Portugal, got to the mountaintop of Kangchenjunga.

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