Jonathan James Kedrowski (born May 12, 1979) is an author, ski-mountaineer, and geographer from

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. He is best known for summiting and camping overnight on the summit of all of Colorado's

Fourteener In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener (also spelled 14er) is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado Co ...

s (mountains over 14,000 feet) in 2011.

Early life and education

Kedrowski is the son of Robert Allan Kedrowski and Barbara Jean Kedrowski. He was born and raised in

Vail, Colorado Vail is a Home rule in the United States, home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the ...

. He earned a bachelor's degree from

Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...

in 2002, and a Masters of Arts in Environmental Geography from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

in 2006. In 2010, he earned a PhD in Environmental Geography from

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

, and he has worked as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at

Central Washington University Central Washington University (CWU) is a public university in Ellensburg, Washington, United States. Founded in 1891, the university consists of four divisions: the President's Division, Business and Financial Affairs, Operations, and Academi ...

Mountaineering

Between 1996 and 1999, Kedrowski summited all 55 of Colorado's Fourteeners. 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 ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in the Denver metropolitan area. it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 mil ...

'', Kedrowski was the first person to accomplish this feat. In 2012, he published a book about the experience, ''Sleeping on the Summits, Colorado Fourteener High Bivys''. In 2012, Kedrowski, successfully climbed Mount Everest, reaching the summit on May 26, 2012. 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. Kedrowski's summit was followed closely and featured on the DatelineNBC Documentary "Into the Death Zone" which won the 2014 Edward R Morrow Award for best Sound and Video. In 2014, Kedrowski skied 20

Cascade Volcanoes The Cascade Volcanoes (also known as the Cascade Volcanic Arc or the Cascade Arc) are a number of volcanoes in a continental volcanic arc in western North America, extending from southwestern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to No ...

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. 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. Kedrowski was at the Mt. Everest Basecamp when the

April 2015 Nepal earthquake The April 2015 Nepal earthquake (also known as the Gorkha earthquake) killed 8,962 people and injured 21,952 across the countries of Nepal, India, China and Bangladesh. It occurred at on Saturday 25 April 2015, with a magnitude of Moment magni ...

struck, causing

avalanches An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a Grade (slope), slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be triggered spontaneously, by factors such as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, othe ...

on the mountain. while injuring nearly 100. Kedrowski was unhurt by the event, helped with recovery efforts, and collected data about the earthquake for the USGS.

Published works

*"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). *"Determining Relative Annual Climbing Frequency of Colorado’s 14,000-foot Peaks". (2009) ''Mountain Research and Development'', 29(1): (82-92). *"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) *''Skiing and Sleeping on the Summits: Cascade Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest Skiing 20 Peaks in 30 Days'' by Jon Kedrowski (2016)

References

External links

Kedrowski's personal webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kedrowski, Jon 1979 births Living people American mountain climbers 21st-century American geographers