Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev (; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a Russian-born Kazakh mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 eight-thousander peaks—those above —without supplemental oxygen. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful ascents of peaks above 8,000 m.
Boukreev had a reputation as an elite mountaineer in international climbing circles for summiting K2 in 1993 and Mount Everest via the North Ridge route in 1995, and for his solo speed ascents of some of the world's highest mountains. He became even more widely known for saving the lives of three climbers during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, although his actions during that event were tinged with controversy. He was the co-author of The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest about the 1996 disaster.
In 1997, Boukreev was killed in an avalanche during a winter ascent of Annapurna in Nepal. Boukreev's companion, Linda Wylie, edited his memoirs and published them in 2002 under the title Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer.
Biography Boukreev was born in Korkino, a poor, coal-mining town within the Soviet Union's Russian SFSR. He came from the narod, the common people, and his parents were both poor. He began climbing in the Ural Mountains when he was twelve years old. When he was sixteen, he was selected by the Soviet government for high-altitude training in the Tian Shan. After completing high school in 1975, he attended Chelyabinsk University for Pedagogy, where he majored in physics and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. At the same time, he also completed a coaching program for cross-country skiing. Revised edition, Web Version.
After graduation, the 21-year-old dreamed of mountain climbing. Boukreev moved to Alma-Ata, the capital of the neighbouring Kazakh SSR (present-day Kazakhstan) located in the Tian Shan mountain range. He became a member of the National Climbing Team of the Soviet Union and scaled many summits during the 1980s. As a member of the National Climbing Team, he received a salary, prestige, and support for his climbing. In 1989, he climbed Kanchenjunga, his first summit of an peak. In 1991, he made his first summit of Everest.
The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 left Boukreev without a livelihood and even finding enough to eat became a challenge. He became a citizen of Kazakhstan in 1991 and embarked on a nomadic career as a mountaineering guide in Asia and the United States, sometimes relying on common labor to earn a living. Despite his straitened economic condition, he accumulated an impressive number of mountaineering feats, including speed records for climbing several mountains.
Boukreev worked as the head guide for Scott Fischer's newly-formed company Mountain Madness during the 1996 Mount Everest disaster.The New York Times - As Climbers Die, The Allure of Everest Keeps on Growing - By Tim Egan - Published: March 11, 1998 He survived and, during a blizzard, was instrumental in saving the lives of Charlotte Fox, Tim Madsen, and New York socialite Sandy Hill Pittman. The Real Story of Sandy Hill Pittman, Everest’s Socialite Climber July 31, 1996 8:00 pm
Climbing accomplishments
Highlights
Year Date Mountain Height Route/Details Notes 1987 Lenin Peak 7,134 m First solo ascent 1989 April 15 Kangchenjunga 8,586 m New route With Second Soviet Himalaya Expedition April 30 - May 2 Kangchenjunga First traverse of the four 8,000 m summits of the massif 1990 April Denali 6,193 m Cassin Ridge route May Denali 6,193 m West Rib route Solo ascent 1991 May 10 Dhaulagiri 8,176 m New route on the west wall With First Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition October 7 Mount Everest 8,848 m South Col route 1993 May 14 Denali 6,193 m July 30 K2 8,611 m Abruzzi route 1994 April 29 Makalu II 8,460 m May 15 Makalu 8,476 m With Neal Beidleman; planned fastest speed ascent abandoned due to destroyed tent at camp III 1995 May 17 Mount Everest 8,848 m North Ridge route June 30 Peak Abai 4,010 m Guide for President of Kazakhstan October 8 Dhaulagiri 8,176 m Fastest ascent record (17h 15m) December 8 Manaslu 8,156 m With Second Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition 1996 May 10 Mount Everest 8,848 m South Col route Guide for Mountain Madness May 17 Lhotse 8,516 m Solo ascent, speed record (21h 16min) from Base Camp without supplemental oxygen September 25 Cho Oyu 8,201 m With Third Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition October 9 Shishapangma (North summit) 8,008 m 1997 April 24 Mount Everest 8,848 m South Col Route Guide for Indonesian military expedition May 23 Lhotse 8,516 m July 7 Broad Peak 8,047 m Solo ascent July 14 Gasherbrum II 8,035 m Solo ascent. Advanced Base Camp (5800 metres) to summit in 9hr 30min.
Denali In May 1990, Boukreev was invited by an American climber to guide several clients to the summit of Denali in Alaska. Denali, also known as Mount McKinley, has challenges such as hidden crevasses and unpredictably cold weather due to its proximity to the Arctic Circle and the ocean.
The expedition was a success, and the team reached the summit and returned without incident. During the climb, there had been somewhat of a language barrier, and Boukreev felt the sting of needing to borrow equipment due to his economic circumstances. After the team had returned home, Boukreev decided to attempt a solo speed ascent of Denali before returning to the Soviet Union.
Boukreev's solo speed ascent of Denali in 1990 was completed in 10½ hours from the base to the summit. That season acclimatized climbers were normally taking three to four days and five camps to summit — Boukreev's feat was noted by Climbing magazine in a 1990 issue, and commented on by Denali Park rangers who described it as "unreal".
K2 In 1993, Boukreev reached the summit of K2 via the Abruzzi Spur, where he shared the peak with team members Peter Metzger from Germany and Andrew Lock from Australia. The other team members were German climbers Reinmar Joswig (the team leader) and Ernst Eberhardt. With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251 ft), K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth after Mount Everest.
As part of the Karakoram range, K2 is located on the border between Pakistan and China. K2 is referred to as the "Savage Mountain" — notable for its steep pyramidal relief, dropping quickly in almost all directions, and the inherent danger in climbing it. The danger facing Boukreev on K2 was that the summit felt like the finish line. Boukreev would later write that he did not feel the emotions of victory in that moment on top of K2's peak because he was physically and emotionally spent. Boukreev found himself in a dangerous position. He had expended too much energy placing fixed lines along a narrow, steep portion earlier that day. But since the team wanted to push on to the summit that same afternoon, rather than return to their tents to sleep and make a summit bid the next morning, Boukreev acquiesced.Boukreev; Wylie; Above the Clouds pp. 92–95. Boukreev would later write:
Boukreev later described feeling like a "squeezed lemon". When Boukreev and the other two climbers began their descent just after sundown they met Reinmar Joswig ascending and near the peak. Relying heavily on intuition and his previous mountaineering experiences, Boukreev slowly made his way down the steep rock and ice of the mountain. A crampon kept coming off of his boot, and at one point he had to use his ice axe to arrest a fall, keeping himself from sliding into the abyss. Eventually he made his way to the tents at the highest elevation camp. However, teammates Peter Metzger and Reinmar Joswig never returned from the summit, both having fallen to their death during the descent.
Everest
Boukreev became widely known as the lead climbing guide for the Mountain Madness expedition headed by Scott Fischer in May 1996. The expedition was one of several attempting to summit Everest on the same day (May 10). Soon after summiting on May 10, a disastrous blizzard struck, stranding many climbers above the South Col overnight, and by May 11, eight climbers from three different expeditions had perished. Boukreev rescued three climbers stranded in the disaster above 7,900 m, and all six of the climbing clients on the Mountain Madness expedition survived the ordeal.
Galen Rowell described Boukreev's rescue efforts in the Wall Street Journal as:
Controversy The 1996 Mount Everest disaster ignited controversy. Author Jon Krakauer was critical of Boukreev in his book, Into Thin Air. Subsequently, Boukreev was contacted by various media for a response, and also wrote his own account of the events on Everest in The Climb, a book co-written with Gary Weston DeWalt.
The core of the controversy was Boukreev's decision, as was his usual practice, to summit Everest without using supplementary oxygen and to descend to the camp ahead of his clients. He was the first to reach the summit on the day of the disaster and stayed at or near the summit for nearly 1.5 hours helping others with their summit efforts, before descending and arriving at his tent shortly after 5 pm on May 10, well ahead of all the summitting clients and guides on his team.
According to Boukreev the plan to descend ahead of his clients was discussed with and approved by expedition leader Fischer.
Krakauer acknowledged Boukreev's skills as a mountaineer and said that Boukreev, a Russian who spoke English poorly, "came from a tough, proud, hardscrabble climbing culture that did not believe in coddling the weak." Mountaineer Galen Rowell pointed out that Boukreev "fixed the Hillary Step after Sherpas failed to do so, foresaw problems with clients nearing camp after dark in a storm, noted five other guides present on the mountain, and descended to the South Col to be rested and hydrated enough to respond to an emergency" of a blizzard with gale force winds. Unable to find anyone -- guides, clients, or Sherpas -- to accompany him, Boukreev undertook four solo rescue attempts during the night and found and led three climbers stranded and lost on the mountain back to the safety of the camp.
Boukreev's detractors say that had he stayed with the clients, he would have been in better position to assist them down the mountain, although every one of Boukreev's clients survived, including three (Pittman, Fox, Madsen) he rescued on May 11. The only client deaths that day were suffered by the Adventure Consultants expedition, led by guide Rob Hall, who lost his own life when he chose to stay and help a client summit the mountain past the safe turnaround time of 14:00. Reinhold Messner, who was the first to solo Everest, and with a partner the first to summit it without oxygen, criticized Boukreev, saying "no one should guide Everest without using bottled oxygen" while David Breashears pointed out that Boukreev, despite coming down first, was "sitting in his tent unable to assist anyone" until clients staggered into the camp with the information vital to the rescue of others still on the mountain. On the other hand, Messner had previously stated that "I don’t think there’s a big difference between danger and not danger, using or not using oxygen" while working as a guide. Furthermore, it was less than an hour from when Boukreev arrived at Camp IV to when he set out to search for stranded climbers, having gathered supplies and oxygen in the meantime.