Karl Egloff

Last updated
Karl Egloff
KARL EGLOFF (19356883913).jpg
Born(1981-03-16)March 16, 1981 [1]
NationalitySwiss-Ecuadorian
Occupation(s)Speed climber, mountain guide, cyclist
Website http://www.karlegloff.com//

Karl Egloff (born March 16, 1981, Ecuador [1] ) is a Swiss-Ecuadorian athlete, mountaineer, cyclist and mountain guide, best known for his speed ascents of high mountains, including the Seven Summits.

Contents

He was well known in his native Ecuador for a record speed ascent of Cotopaxi in December 2012, climbing up and down in 1 hour 37 minutes. He came to international attention in August 2014 when he broke the athlete Kilian Jornet's record for a speed ascent of Kilimanjaro, climbing up and down in 6 hours 42 minutes. In February 2015 he also broke Jornet's record on Aconcagua, climbing up and down in 11 hours 52 minutes.

In June 2019 he broke Kilian Jornet's speed record on Denali by a single minute, climbing up and down in 11 hours 44 minutes. A notable feature of this ascent is that while Jornet used skis for his descent, therefore descending much more quickly, Egloff ran and climbed back down again. [2]

Early life and education

Born and raised in Ecuador to a Swiss father and Ecuadorian mother, he climbed mountains from an early age, assisting his father with his mountain guiding business from the age of 15. When he was 17 he moved to Zürich, Switzerland to study for a degree in business administration. While in Switzerland he served in the Swiss Army and tried unsuccessfully to train as a professional footballer. [3]

At the age of 25 he returned to Ecuador and established his own mountain guiding business. He took up mountain biking and raced with the Ecuador national team for two years. [3] [4]

Mountaineering

In 2012 he began focusing on guiding and climbing, and began doing speed ascents of mountains. [3]

Speed ascent records

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denali</span> Highest mountain in North America

Denali is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190 m) above sea level. It is the tallest mountain in the world from base-to-peak on land, measuring 18,000 ft (5,500 m), and Earth's highest mountain north of 43°N. With a topographic prominence of 20,194 feet (6,155 m) and a topographic isolation of 4,621.1 miles (7,436.9 km), Denali is the third most prominent and third-most isolated peak on Earth, after Mount Everest and Aconcagua. Located in the Alaska Range in the interior of the U.S. state of Alaska, Denali is the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aconcagua</span> Highest mountain in the Americas

Aconcagua is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere with a summit elevation of 6,961 metres (22,838 ft). It lies 112 kilometres northwest of the provincial capital, the city of Mendoza, about five kilometres from San Juan Province, and 15 km (9 mi) from Argentina's border with neighbouring Chile. The mountain is one of the Seven Summits of the seven continents.

The Seven Summits are the highest mountains on each of the seven traditional continents. Reaching the peak of these summits is considered a significant achievement amongst many mountaineers, alongside many other such goals and challenges in the mountaineering community. On 30 April 1985, Richard Bass became the first climber to reach the summit of all seven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Elbrus</span> Highest mountain of Russia and Europe

Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is situated in the western part of the Caucasus and is the highest peak of the Caucasus Mountains. The dormant volcano rises 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level; it is the highest stratovolcano in Eurasia and the 10th-most prominent peak in the world. The mountain stands in Southern Russia, in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illiniza</span> Volcanic mountains near the city of Latacunga, Cotopaxi, Ecuador

The Illinizas are a pair of volcanic mountains that are located in the north of Latacunga, Cotopaxi, Ecuador. They are located in the Illinizas Ecological Reserve. These twin mountains are separated by a saddle that is about a kilometer long. The peaks are among the highest in Ecuador, with Illiniza Sur standing slightly taller than Illiniza Norte, its northern counterpart, at 5245 metres and 5126 metres respectively.

Richard Daniel "Dick" Bass was an American businessman, rancher and mountaineer. He was the owner of Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah and the first man to climb the "Seven Summits", the tallest mountain on each continent.

Jake Julian Barrington Meyer is a British mountaineer and adventurer. He achieved fame by becoming the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest in 2005, aged 21 years 4 months. In doing so, Meyer also became the youngest man in the world to climb the Seven Summits. More recently in 2018 he summited K2, the second highest mountain in the world, and climbed Everest a second time. He has taken part in over 30 expeditions around the world.

Davorin "Davo" Karničar was a Slovene alpinist and extreme skier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seven Second Summits</span> Second-highest mountains on each continent

The Seven Second Summits are the second-highest mountains of each of the seven continents. All of these mountains are separate peaks rather than a sub-peak of the continents' high point. The Seven Second Summits are considered a harder challenge than the traditional Seven Summits.

Victor Saunders is a British climber and author. He trained as an architect at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. His first book, Elusive Summits, won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 1991. He became as a UIAGM/IFMGA ski and mountain guide in 1996 and joined the SNGM in 2003. Saunders first reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 2004, and went on to climb it several more times. In 2020 he became president of the Alpine Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Stangl</span>

Christian Stangl is an Austrian alpine style mountaineer and mountain guide. He has become known as Skyrunner by numerous exceptionally fast ascents of high mountains. His major success was in 2013, when he became the first person to ascend the three highest mountains on all seven continents, the so-called Triple Seven Summits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kílian Jornet Burgada</span> Catalan professional sky runner, long-distance runner, trail runner and ski mountaineer

Kílian Jornet is a Spanish professional long-distance trail runner and ski mountaineer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest trail runners of all time, he has won some of the most prestigious ultramarathons, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc multiple times, Grand Raid, Western States and Hardrock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sergey Kofanov</span> Russian mountaineer

Sergey Anatolyevich Kofanov is a Russian mountaineer.

Melissa Arnot Reid is an American mountaineer. She has climbed to the summit of Mount Everest six times.

Samina Khayal Baig is a Pakistani mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest in 2013, all Seven Summits by 2014, and K2 in 2022. She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest, K2 and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt. Everest at the age of 21.

Tyler Robert Armstrong is an American mountain climber who became the youngest person to climb Aconcagua in Argentina at the age of 9.

Vernon "Vern" Tejas is an American mountain climber and mountain guide. He is the current world record holder in the amount of time taken to summit all of the Seven Summits consecutively, having also previously held the same record. He was also the first person to solo summit several of the world's tallest peaks. Tejas was named one of the top fifty Alaskan athletes of the twentieth century by Sports Illustrated in 2002. In 2012, he was elected to the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame. Tejas plays the harmonica and guitar. He currently resides in Greenwich Village, New York.

Bruno Brunod is an Italian athlete, a bicyclist who began running late, when he was in his thirties. He is twice world champion of the Skyrunner World Series and holds numerous speed records for climbing and descending some of the highest mountains in the world, like the Matterhorn in 1995, broken only in 2013 by a professional 25 years younger than him, Kílian Jornet Burgada. As of 2016 his speed records for the Monte Rosa in 1997 and the Aconcagua in Argentina in 2000 remained unbroken. Brunod produces results like a professional athlete, but has retained the spirit and humility of an amateur, for which he is widely admired especially amongst fellow mountain runners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniela Sandoval</span> Ecuadorian athlete

Daniela Cristina Sandoval Bravo is an Ecuadorian athlete, mountain climber, cyclist, and physical therapist.

References

  1. 1 2 "Karl Egloff". Mammut. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Karl Egloff Just Beat Kilian Jornet's Denali Record". Outside Magazine. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Where in the World Did Karl Egloff Come From?". Outside Online. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  4. "Who is Karl Egloff? – Part one". iancorless.com – Photography, Writing, Talk Ultra Podcast. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  5. "Karl Egloff achieves third world record in speed climbing on the Elbrus mountain". El Universo. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  6. "Achievements - Karl Egloff". KarlEgloff.com. Retrieved 9 May 2017.