Jonathan James Kedrowski (born May 12, 1979) is an author, ski-mountaineer, and geographer from Colorado. He is best known for summiting and camping overnight on the summit of all of Colorado's Fourteeners (mountains over 14,000 feet) in 2011.

Jon Kedrowski on Everest, May 2012

Early life and education

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Kedrowski is the son of Robert Allan Kedrowski and Barbara Jean Kedrowski.[citation needed] He was born and raised in Vail, Colorado.[citation needed] He earned a bachelor's degree from Valparaiso University in 2002, and a Masters of Arts in Environmental Geography from the University of South Florida in 2006.[citation needed] In 2010, he earned a PhD in Environmental Geography from Texas State University,[1] and he has worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Central Washington University[2][1]

Mountaineering

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Between 1996 and 1999, Kedrowski summited all 55 of Colorado's Fourteeners.[3] In 2011, Kedrowski summitted, camped, and spent the night on top of all 55 peaks over the course of 95 days. According to The Denver Post, Kedrowski was the first person to accomplish this feat.[4][5] In 2012, he published a book about the experience, Sleeping on the Summits, Colorado Fourteener High Bivys.[6]

In 2012, Kedrowski, successfully climbed Mount Everest, reaching the summit on May 26, 2012.[7][8][9] During an earlier summit attempt on May 19–20, Kedrowski was present during one of the deadliest days in Everest history, when violent weather and a "traffic jam" near the summit led to the deaths of four climbers.[10][11] Kedrowski's summit was followed closely and featured on the DatelineNBC Documentary "Into the Death Zone" [12] which won the 2014 Edward R Morrow Award for best Sound and Video.[13]

In 2014, Kedrowski skied 20 Cascade Volcanoes in 30 days, camping on the summits of seven of the more notable volcanoes such as Mount Shasta, Mount Hood, Mount Adams, Mount Baker, and Mount Rainier.[14] His adventure was chronicled in his second book Skiing and Sleeping on the Summits: Cascade Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest which was released in April 2016.[15]

Kedrowski was at the Mt. Everest Basecamp when the April 2015 Nepal earthquake struck, causing avalanches on the mountain.[16][17] while injuring nearly 100.[18] Kedrowski was unhurt by the event, helped with recovery efforts, and collected data about the earthquake for the USGS.[19]

Published works

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  • "Mapping a Section of the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) in Colorado’s Southern San Juan Wilderness". (2009). International Journal of Wilderness 15(3): (17-22).[20]
  • "Determining Relative Annual Climbing Frequency of Colorado’s 14,000-foot Peaks". (2009) Mountain Research and Development, 29(1): (82-92).[21]
  • "Dirty Snow: Documenting the 2009 dust storm events in Colorado’s San Juan and Elk Mountains with repeat photography and historical snowpack data." (2011). NWA Online Electronic Journal of Operational Meteorology. Nov 2010 EJ7. (1-39) https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114234/http://www.nwas.org/ej/pdf/2010-EJ7.pdf
  • Sleeping on the Summits: Colorado Fourteener High Bivys by Jon Kedrowski and Chris Tomer (2012) [22]
  • Skiing and Sleeping on the Summits: Cascade Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest Skiing 20 Peaks in 30 Days by Jon Kedrowski (2016) [23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "CWU Geography Professor Assists Climbers on Everest in Wake of Tragedy". Archived from the original on 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  2. ^ Josh Petrie (26 June 2012). "Former CWU professor recounts harrowing tale from Mount Everest". Daily Record.
  3. ^ EVERYONE WHO HAS COMPLETED THE COLORADO FOURTEENERS (cmc.org)
  4. ^ John Meyer (7 May 2013). "Jon Kedrowski spends a night on all of Colorado's fourteeners". The Denver Post.
  5. ^ "Jon Kedrowski Successfully Summits, Spends Night On, Every 14,000+ Foot Colorado Mountain". The Huffington Post. November 2011.
  6. ^ Sleeping on the Summits (Westcliff Books)
  7. ^ Randy Wyrick Vail Daily (30 May 2012). "Jon Kedrowski of Avon summits Mount Everest".
  8. ^ "Jon Kedrowski, Avon Man, Reaches Summit Of Mt. Everest After Day Of Tragedy On Mountain That Left Several Dead (VIDEO)". The Huffington Post. 30 May 2012.
  9. ^ "Colorado mountain climber talks about getting to the top of Mt. Everest". Channel 2 News. 30 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Geographer reaches Mount Everest summit". Archived from the original on January 2, 2013.
  11. ^ Ashley Strickland, CNN (25 May 2013). "Striving for Everest: World's highest battle - CNN.com". CNN. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  12. ^ "Into the Death Zone -Video on NBCNews.com". NBC News.
  13. ^ "Network Radio and Television Edward R Murrow Award Winners 2014".
  14. ^ Jason Blevins, Denver Post (9 June 2014). "Jon Kedrowski summits, skis 20 highest volcanoes in Pacific Northwest in 30 days - Denver Post". Denver Post.
  15. ^ "Skiing and Sleeping on the Summits: Cascade Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest Skiing 20 Peaks in 30 Days". Archived from the original on 2016-06-02.
  16. ^ "Man describes Everest avalanche experience - CNN Video". CNN. 27 April 2015.
  17. ^ "Jon Kedrowski: At Base Camp". Men's Journal. 25 July 2019.
  18. ^ Photograph Roberto Schmidt, AFP/Getty. "Survivors and Dead Evacuated from Everest Base Camp". Archived from the original on April 29, 2015.
  19. ^ "Climbers recount surviving deadly Everest avalanche". CBS News. 11 May 2015.
  20. ^ http://ijw.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Dec09-IJW-vol-15-no-3small2.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  21. ^ Kedrowski, Jon J. (2009). "Determining the Relative Annual Mountain Climbing Frequency on Colorado's 14,000-foot Peaks". Mountain Research and Development. 29 (1): 82–92. doi:10.1659/mrd.1053.
  22. ^ "Sleeping on the Summits : Big Earth Publishing". www.bigearthpublishing.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  23. ^ "Mountaineers Books: Skiing and Sleeping on the Summits: Cascade Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest". Archived from the original on 2016-06-02. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
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