Denis Urubko (; 29 July 1973) is a Russian-Polish climber. In 2009, as a citizen of

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

he became the 15th person to climb all 14

eight-thousander The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise defin ...

s and the 8th person to achieve the feat without supplemental oxygen. He had

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

citizenship, but after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

he became a citizen of Kazakhstan, but renounced the citizenship in 2012. In 2013, he received Russian citizenship and on 12 February 2015 he received

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

citizenship.

Mountaineering career

In 2006, he won the

Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant volcano, dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the List of mountain peaks by prominence, tenth-most promi ...

Speed Climbing competition which he did by setting a new speed record, climbing from Azau station to the summit in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 58 seconds (record was beaten in 2010 by

Andrzej Bargiel Andrzej Leszek Bargiel (; born April 18, 1988, in Rabka, Poland) is a Polish ski mountaineer, backcountry skier, mountain runner and climber. Raised in Łętownia, he is a three-time Polish ski mountaineering champion and held third place in ...

). This climb represents a vertical rise of almost 3,250 metres or more than 10,600 feet and thus a speed of more than 800 vertical metres (2,600 vertical feet) an hour. He summited almost 40 minutes ahead of the next finisher. He has also won the

Khan Tengri Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. It is on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan tripoint, east of lake Issyk-Kul, Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial icecap rises to ...

Mountain Festival when he speed climbed the mountain from Base Camp at 4,200 metres to the summit at 7,010 metres and then back to Base Camp in 12 hours and 21 minutes, winning by over 3 hours. He has climbed two 8,000-metre peaks in winter.

Makalu Makalu (; ) is the fifth-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit at an elevation of AMSL. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolat ...

in 2009 together with

Simone Moro Simone Moro (born 27 October 1967 in Bergamo) is an Italian mountaineer known for having made first winter ascents of four of the fourteen eight-thousanders: Shishapangma in 2005, Makalu in 2009, Gasherbrum II in 2011, and Nanga Parbat in 2016. No ...

and

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...

in 2011 together with Cory Richards and again

. He has also opened new routes on

Cho Oyu Cho Oyu ( Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means " Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the '' Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur Him ...

Manaslu Manaslu (; , also known as Kutang) is the List of highest mountains#List, eighth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in west-central Nepal. Manaslu means "mountain of the ...

and

Broad Peak Broad Peak (; ) is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with elevation above sea level. The first ascent of t ...

. All together he has 25 ascents of 8,000-metre peaks. He is also a "

Snow Leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

" having summited the five 7,000-metre peaks of the former

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in only 42 days in 1999. He climbs without additional

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

. On 27 January 2018, Urubko along with

Adam Bielecki Adam Radosław Bielecki (born 12 May 1983) is a Polish alpine and high-altitude climber, known for the first winter ascents of the eight-thousanders: Gasherbrum I and Broad Peak. In his book ''Spod zamarzniętych powiek'', written with co-author D ...

- while taking part in the

Krzysztof Wielicki Krzysztof Jerzy Wielicki (Polish pronunciation: ; born 5 January 1950) is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He is the 5th man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount ...

led Polish winter expedition on K2 - led a rescue operation on

Nanga Parbat Nanga Parbat () (; ), known locally as Diamer (), is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-a ...

to save climbers

Élisabeth Revol Élisabeth Revol (born 29 April 1979) is a French mountaineer. In January 2018, Revol became the first woman to climb Nanga Parbat in winter; on the descent, she was rescued, while her teammate Tomasz Mackiewicz died, an event which was widel ...

and

Tomasz Mackiewicz Tomasz Mackiewicz (13 January 1975 – c. 26 January 2018) was a Polish high-altitude climber. He died on Nanga Parbat, an eight-thousander and the westernmost major peak in the Himalayas. Nanga Parbat has been referred to as the "Killer Mountain" ...

, who were stuck on the mountain. Bielecki and Urubko were brought to the mountain by helicopter and climbed over 1000m through the night to reach Revol. They succeeded in bringing Revol to safety, but, were unable to save Mackiewicz due to the severe weather conditions. Then he resumed the K2 expedition, but due to the unfavorable snow and weather conditions and an accident causing injury to Rafal Fronia, the team canceled the planned approach via Cesen/Basque route and reached up to 7400m on the Abruzzi Spur route. Then in an unauthorized solo attempt, Denis Urubko reported that he probably reached up to 7600m having drawn criticism from his fellow climbers. In 2019 remarkably, on 18 July, he summited Gasherbrum II by the normal route for acclimatization for his expedition to open a new route on Gasherbrum II. After 14 days, on 1 August 2019 at 8:40 pm, he reached the summit of Gasherbrum II again via a new route without supplemental oxygen.

Eight-thousander climbs

Urubko completed the following successful ascents of eight-thousanders: #

Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at its ...

(8848 m, without oxygen south normal route; 24 May 2000) #

Lhotse Lhotse ( ; ; ) is the List of highest mountains#List, fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of Chin ...

(8516 m, without oxygen normal route; 23 May 2001). #

Hidden Peak Gasherbrum I, originally surveyed as K5, and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located between Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan and Tashkurgan in the X ...

(Gasherbrum 1; 8068 m, without oxygen Japanese couloir; 13 August 2001) #

(8035 m, without oxygen normal route speed ascent: from 5800 to top in 7 hours 30 minutes, and back to 5800 in 4 hours.; 20 August 2001) #

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

(8586 m, classical SW-face route without oxygen; 13 May 2002) #

Shisha Pangma Shishapangma, or Shishasbangma or Xixiabangma ( zh, s=希夏邦马, p=Xī xià bāng mǎ), is the 14th-highest mountain in the world, at above sea level. The lowest 8,000 metre peak, it is located entirely within Tibet. Name Geologist Toni Ha ...

(main 8046 m and Central summits (8012 m) without oxygen; 25 October 2002) #

(8125 m, Kinshoffer route, without oxygen; 17 June 2003) #

(8046 m, normal route without oxygen; 18 July 2003) #

Annapurna I Annapurna (; ) is a mountain situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province, north-central Nepal. It is the 10th highest mountain in the world at above sea level and is well known for the difficulty and danger involved in its as ...

(8091 m, night ascent; May 2004) #

(8046 m, SW Face first climb, with Sergey Samoilov, in alpine style; 25 July 2005) #

(8163 m, normal route, with Sergey Samoilov; 25 April 2006) # Manaslu (8163 m, NE face first climb, with Sergey Samoilov; 8 May 2006) #

Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapur ...

(8167 m, normal route; 5 February 2007) # K2 (8611 m, WW ridge, Japanese route, with Sergey Samoilov; 10 February 2007) #

(8463 m; 5 December 2008) # Makalu (8463 m, first winter climb, with

; 2 September 2009) #

(8201 m, SE Face, first climb, alpine style, with Boris Dedeshko; May 2009) # Lhotse (8516 m, new route from South Col, solo from C3; 16 May 2010) # Gasherbrum II (8035 m, first winter ascent, with Simone Moro and Cory Richards; 2 February 2011) # Kangchenjunga (8586 m, North Face; 19 May 2014) # Gasherbrum II (8035 m, normal route; 18 July 2019) # Gasherbrum II (8035 m, new route solo in 24 hours from 6100 meters to summit 1 August 2019) # Broad Peak (8046 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 19 July 2022) # Gasherbrum II (8035 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 25 July 2022) # K2 (8611 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 29 July 2022)

References

External links

Painting of Denis Urubko on Makalu

Urubko Denis in Kyrgyzstan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urubko, Denis 1973 births Living people Summiters of all 14 eight-thousanders People from Nevinnomyssk Kazakhstani people of Russian descent Summiters of K2 Polish summiters of Mount Everest Ice climbers Russian summiters of Mount Everest Piolet d'Or winners Summiters of Broad Peak