Karl Egloff (born March 16, 1981,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
) is a Swiss-Ecuadorian athlete, mountaineer, cyclist and mountain guide, best known for his speed ascents of high mountains, including the
Seven Summits
The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...
.
He was well known in his native
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
for a record speed ascent of the volcano
Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a h ...
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
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...
, climbing up and down in 6 hours 42 minutes. In February 2015 he also broke Jornet's record on
Aconcagua
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 the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...
, 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.
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
Zurich,
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.
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.
[
]
Mountaineering
In 2012 he began focusing on guiding and climbing, and began doing speed ascents of mountains.[
]
Speed ascent records
* 2022. Makalu
Makalu ( ne, मकालु हिमाल, Makālu himāl; zh, t=馬卡魯峰, p=Mǎkǎlǔ fēng) is the fifth highest mountain in the world at . It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, in Nepal. One of th ...
, Nepal, (8,463m). 17 hours 18 minutes, May 8th, 2022.
* 2021. Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a h ...
, Ecuador, (5,897m). 1 hour 36 minutes, 19 October 2021.
* 2019. Denali
Denali (; also known as Mount McKinley, its former official name) is the highest mountain peak in North America, with a summit elevation of above sea level. With a topographic prominence of and a topographic isolation of , Denali is the th ...
, United States of America, (6,194m). 11 hours 44 minutes, 20 June 2019.
* 2017. Elbrus, Russia, (5,642m). 4 hours 20 minutes, 7 May 2017.
* 2015. Aconcagua
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 the Southern Hemisphere with a summi ...
, Argentina, (6,962m). 11 hours 52 minutes, 19 February 2015.[
* 2016. Cerro Plomo, Chile, (5,424m). 5 hours 55 minutes, 6 January 2016.
* 2016. Huascaran, Peru, (6,655m). 11 hours 0 minutes, 30 June 2016.
* 2014. ]Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...
, Tanzania, (5,895m). 6 hours 42 minutes, 13 August 2014.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Egloff, Karl
Living people
Ecuadorian mountain climbers
Ecuadorian male cyclists
Ecuadorian people of Swiss descent
1981 births