Eric Gilbertson (climber)

Last updated
Eric Gilbertson
K2 Eric Gilbertson on summit.png
Gilbertson on the summit of K2 in 2022
Personal information
NationalityAmerican
Born1986 (age 3738)
Berea, Kentucky
Website Official website
Climbing career
Known for
  • Climbing 143 Country Highpoints as of September 2024
  • First along with twin brother Matthew to climb the highest points of all North American countries
  • Fifth finisher of the Canadian highpoints
  • Third American to receive Snow Leopard award
  • First along with Andreas Frydensberg to climb the highest points in each of the "-Stan" countries
  • Surveys in the Washington State area
  • First ascents in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Greenland, and Central Asia
First ascents
  • Alpomish

Eric Gilbertson (born 1986) [1] is an American mountaineer, explorer, peakbagger, and engineer.

Contents

Gilbertson and his twin brother Matthew are country highpointers, aiming to reach the summit of the highest mountain in every country in the world. [2]

Life

Gilbertson was born in Berea, Kentucky. [1] Often, his family took trips to the Smoky Mountains and the White Mountains for peakbagging challenges, which inspired the country highpoints project. [3]

He and his twin brother Matthew attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), from which they graduated in 2014 with PhDs in mechanical engineering. Gilbertson currently teaches mechanical engineering at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington. [1] [4]

Climbing career

ThisWhat did? made Gilbertson the fifth person in history to complete this list, along with American Jack Bennett in 1998, American Tom Bennett in 2010, Canadian Len Vanderstar in 2017, and Canadian Darrell Ainscough in 2018. [5]

In 2017 on Mt. Nirvana, the highest peak of the Northwest Territories, Gilbertson, along with climbers Dave Custer and Susan Ruff, established a new route on the West Face, with a YDS 5.9 crux. Gilbertson had previously climbed the peak unsupported with Len Vanderstar in 2016, [6] and made an attempt on the West Face in 2015 with Custer & Ruff. [7] [8]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gilbertson pursued the Rocky Mountain Grand Slam; that is, the Colorado 14'ers, Wyoming 13'ers, and Montana 12'ers. He completed the list in 60 days, 9 hours, and 20 minutes. [9] [10]

Country highpoints

Gilbertson considers the 193 UN Members, the two UN observers, and Antarctica to be the countries in this project for a total of 196 political entities to highpoint. However, there are only 191 individual mountains given five sets of countries share a highpoint. [11] [12] [13]

In North America, the Gilbertsons became the first two people to climb the highest point in each of the 23 North American members, finishing in June 2015 on Pico Turquino, Cuba. [1] [14]

During the summer, Gilbertson focused on more demanding country highpoints. In Central Asia, he climbed the highest point in each of the "-Stan" countries, finishing in 2023. He and his climbing partner Andreas Frydensberg became the first people to achieve this feat, also making the first ascent of Alpomish in Uzbekistan which they determined to be higher than the previously accepted highpoint, Khazret Sultan. Along the way, they also completed the Snow Leopards list, which made Gilbertson the third American to receive a Snow Leopard award. [13] [15] [16]

Gilbertson made an attempt on Mount Everest, the highest peak in China & Nepal, in 2023 without supplemental oxygen, making it to 8,500 metres (27,887 feet) before symptoms of high altitude cerebral edema set in. He safely descended, and then made an ascent of Kanchenjunga, the highest peak in India and third highest peak in the world, with supplemental oxygen. [17] [18]

Key

  Country highpoint climbed
  Highest legal point reached
  Mainland highpoint reached
  Highpoint attempted
  Highpoint no longer considered highest or incorrect highpoint summited

Notes

    Surveys

    He has surveyed many local mountains in Washington, including Mount Rainier and the Washington Bulgers list. He determined that Columbia Crest, previously accepted as Mt. Rainier's highest summit, had melted down by approximately 21 feet (6.4 m) since 1999, which made a point on the mountain's southwest rim the highest elevation on the volcano. [19] [20]

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Eight-thousander</span> Mountain peaks of over 8,000 m

    The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in the altitude range known as the death zone.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Gasherbrum II</span> Eight-thousander and 13th-highest mountain on Earth, located in Pakistan and China

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Saint Elias</span> Mountain in Alaska and the Yukon Territory on the United States–Canada border

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbeau Peak</span> Mountain in Nunavut, Canada

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    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Gasherbrum IV</span> Mountain in Pakistan

    Gasherbrum IV, surveyed as K3, is the 17th highest mountain on Earth and the 6th highest in Pakistan, as well as the highest independent mountain under eight thousand meters in Pakistan.

    Highpointing is the activity of ascending to the point with the highest elevation within a given area. Examples include climbing the highest point of each U.S. state, reaching the highest point of each county within a specific state, and ascending the highest mountain on each continent.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Hunter (Alaska)</span> Mountain in Alaska

    Mount Hunter or Begguya is a mountain in Denali National Park in Alaska. It is approximately eight miles (13 km) south of Denali, the highest peak in North America. "Begguya" means child in the Dena'ina language. Mount Hunter is the third-highest major peak in the Alaska Range.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Luna Peak (Washington)</span> Mountain in Washington, United States

    Luna Peak is the second highest mountain in the Picket Range, an extremely rugged subrange of the North Cascades in the American state of Washington. It is located within North Cascades National Park. It is notable for its large local relief and isolated position on a far-flung eastern ridge of the Pickets. For example, it rises over 6,560 ft (2,000 m) in 1.8 mi (2.9 km) above McMillan Creek to the south.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Salcantay</span> Mountain in Peru

    Salcantay, Salkantay or Sallqantay is the highest peak in the Vilcabamba mountain range, part of the Peruvian Andes. It is located in the Cusco Region, about 60 km (40 mi) west-northwest of the city of Cusco. It is the 38th-highest peak in the Andes and the twelfth-highest in Peru. However, as a range highpoint in deeply incised terrain, it is the second most topographically prominent peak in the country, after Huascarán.

    Khazret Sultan is a mountain formerly considered to be the highest point of Uzbekistan, with an elevation of 4,643 metres (15,233 ft).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Muchu Chhish</span> Mountain in the Karakoram

    Muchu Chhish is a mountain in the Batura Muztagh sub-range of the Karakoram in Hunza Valley, in northern areas of Pakistan. Located in a very remote and inaccessible region, only a handful of attempts have been made to reach the summit. Muchu Chhish was one of the tallest unclimbed mountains on Earth, until its successful summit in 2024. The peak has a modest prominence however, rising only 263 m (863 ft) above the nearest col or pass. The Batura Glacier, one of the longest outside the polar regions, flanks Muchu Chhish to the north.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Seattle</span> Mountain in Alaska

    Mount Seattle is a 10,350-foot (3,150 m) peak in the Saint Elias Mountains of Alaska in the United States. It was named for the city of Seattle, home of the "camp hands" of a 19th-century National Geographic Society–United States Geological Survey scientific expedition to the Hubbard Glacier and Mount Saint Elias. It is called the "most prominent Alaskan coastal peak" and blocks sight of larger inland peaks, even Mount Logan nearly twice its height.

    Alpomish Peak is the highest point in Uzbekistan, with an elevation of 4,668 metres. The mountain is located on the border of Uzbekistan's Surkhondaryo Region and Tajikistan's Sughd Region, in the Gissar Range.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Yalung Kang</span> Minor summit of Kangchenjunga in Nepal

    Yalung Kang is a 8,505 m high minor summit of the Kangchenjunga massif found in the Himalayan range.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Kangchenjunga South</span> Subsidiary peak of Kanchenjunga

    Kanchenjunga South Peak is a 8,476 m high subsidiary peak of Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.

    References

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    2. "Climbing Every Country's High Point with Eric and Matthew Gilbertson". francistapon.com. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    3. "About". Country Highpoints. 2015-12-12. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    4. University, Seattle. "Eric Gilbertson, PhD". Seattle University. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    5. "Canada Province/Territory High Points - Peakbagger.com". www.peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    6. "Follow The Climbs - Northwest Territories". Summits Of Canada. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    7. "AAC Publications - Thunder Mountain (Mt. Nirvana), Unsupported Ascent, and Peak 46". publications.americanalpineclub.org. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    8. "Northwest Territories". Country Highpoints. 2016-07-07. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    9. "Eric Gilbertson - Rocky Mountains Slam (CO, WY, MT) - 2020-08-15 | Fastest Known Time". fastestknowntime.com. 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    10. Milne, Keeley (2023-08-09). "Oregon's Jason Hardrath obliterates Rocky Mountain Grand Slam FKT". Canadian Running Magazine. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    11. "Country Highpoints". Country Highpoints. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    12. "Zwillinge wollen höchste Punkte in allen Ländern der Welt erreichen". Süddeutsche.de (in German). 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    13. 1 2 "The Line: Global Ambition — American Alpine Club". American Alpine Club. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    14. McLemore, Andrew (2022-08-12). "Twins Try to Climb Highest Mountain in All 196 Countries » Explorersweb". Explorersweb. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    15. Benavides, Angela (2023-12-01). "Eric Gilbertson Becomes Just 3rd American to Get Snow Leopard Award » Explorersweb". Explorersweb. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    16. McLemore, Andrew (2023-09-12). "Duo Claims First Ascent Of Highest Peaks in All The 'Stans » Explorersweb". Explorersweb. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    17. Benavides, Angela (2023-06-01). "More Kangchenjunga Summits » Explorersweb". Explorersweb. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    18. "The Line: Global Ambition — American Alpine Club". American Alpine Club. 2024-08-21. Retrieved 2024-09-10.
    19. "Beta and Brews: Winter FA of Hard Mox with Eric Gilbertson". The Mountaineers. Retrieved 2024-09-11.
    20. "Rainier Is Shorter Than We All Thought". Seattle Met. Retrieved 2024-09-11.