Adrian Ballinger facts for kids
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Main discipline | Mountain Guide and Sponsored Athlete |
| Born | February 25, 1976 (age 49) United Kingdom |
| Nationality | American British |
| Career | |
| Starting discipline | Mountain Guide |
| Notable ascents | Everest without supplemental oxygen, K2 without supplemental oxygen, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, First person to ski Makalu |
Adrian Ballinger was born on February 25, 1976. He is a British-American mountain guide and a sponsored climber and skier. Adrian has been guiding full-time for 25 years. He has led over 150 climbing trips on six continents.
Adrian is known for helping climbers get used to high altitudes before their trips. This method, called pre-acclimatization, can cut the time spent on an expedition in half. He is the only American to have skied down three 8,000-meter peaks. This includes the first ski descent of Manaslu from its very top. Adrian is also one of only four Americans to have climbed both Mount Everest and K2 without extra oxygen.
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Adrian's Guiding Career
Adrian worked as a guide for Himalayan Experience until 2012. He was even featured on the Discovery Channel show Everest: Beyond the Limit. In 2004, Adrian started his own company, Alpenglow Expeditions. It is based in Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A. He is the CEO and a lead guide there.
Since 2008, Adrian has reached the top of 18 different 8,000-meter peaks. He has climbed Mount Everest 9 times, Manaslu 4 times, and Cho Oyu 3 times. He has also summited K2 and Lhotse once each. In 2011, he became the first person to climb three 8,000-meter peaks in just three weeks. This included climbing Everest twice and Lhotse once.
Adrian has led many successful trips to over 40 Himalayan peaks taller than 6,000 meters. This includes twelve climbs of Ama Dablam, a challenging 6,812-meter peak near Everest. In 2010, he led a clean-up trip on Ama Dablam. His team removed old ropes and trash from the mountain. They also taught Sherpa and other climbers how to properly dispose of human waste.
Adrian has also guided on many other famous mountains. These include Kilimanjaro (14 times), Denali, Alpamayo (14 times), and Cotopaxi (over 30 times). He also guides for Alpenglow Expeditions in Lake Tahoe, California.
Alpenglow Expeditions
Adrian started Alpenglow Expeditions in 2004. It has grown into one of the top mountain guiding companies in the United States. Based in Olympic Valley, California, Alpenglow Expeditions leads over 30 international trips each year. They also offer local climbing, backcountry skiing, and outdoor education programs. Over 4,000 clients join their trips every year.
Personal Life
Adrian is married to The North Face athlete and professional climber, Emily Harrington.
Big Mountain Adventures
Adrian has had many amazing adventures on the world's highest mountains.
In 2010, Adrian climbed Mount Everest twice in three weeks. On his first climb, he was the first non-Sherpa climber of the season to reach the top. He helped set up ropes and remove old ones with nine Sherpa climbers.
In 2011, Adrian made the first ski descent from the summit of Manaslu. This means he skied all the way down from the top of the mountain.
In 2016, Adrian and Cory Richards tried to climb Mount Everest without extra oxygen. They shared their journey on Snapchat in a series called “Everest No Filter.” Adrian did not reach the top on this attempt. Later that year, Adrian made a second ski descent of Cho Oyu with his wife, Emily Harrington. They completed the entire trip from the USA in a record 14 days.
In 2017, Adrian and Cory Richards returned to Everest. This time, Adrian successfully reached the summit without using any extra oxygen.
In 2019, Adrian was the lead guide for a Discovery Channel expedition. They tried to solve the mystery of whether George Mallory and Andrew Irvine were the first to climb Everest in 1924. This expedition was filmed for a documentary called Everest's Greatest Mystery.
Also in 2019, Adrian and fellow guide Carla Perez climbed K2 without extra oxygen. K2 is the second tallest mountain in the world. They reached the summit on July 24. Their climb was made into a film called Breathtaking: K2 - The World's Most Dangerous Mountain.
In 2022, Adrian returned to Makalu. He made the first ski descent of this mountain. He skied from just below the summit all the way down to base camp on the same day.
8,000m Summits
Everest (8,848m, 29,032’):
- May 21, 2009
- May 5, 2010
- May 22, 2010
- May 5, 2011
- May 20, 2011
- May 18, 2013
- May 27, 2017 (without supplemental oxygen)
- May 20, 2018
K2 (8,611m, 28,251’):
- July 24, 2019 (without supplemental oxygen)
Lhotse (8,516m, 27,940’):
- May 26, 2011
Makalu (8,481m, 27,824'):
- May 8, 2022 (First Ski Descent)
Cho Oyu (8,188m, 26,906’):
- Sept 25, 2013 (Ski Descent)
- Oct 1st, 2016 (Ski Descent)
- May 6, 2018
Manaslu (8,163m, 26,759’):
- Oct 3rd, 2008
- Sept 28, 2009
- Oct 1st, 2010
- Oct 5th, 2011 (First Ski Descent)
See Also
- List of Mount Everest summiters by number of times to the summit
- List of Mount Everest guides
