As a boy, Ed Viesturs was inspired to get into mountain climbing because of the book "Annapurna" by French climber Maurice Herzog.
On May 12, Viesturs successfully reached the summit of the 26,493-foot Himalayan peak and in doing so became the first American to ever climb all 14 of the world's 8,000-meter peaks (26,000 feet).
"It was very poetic," he told the Deseret Morning News during an interview at the recent Outdoor Retailers Convention in Salt Lake City. "It all came full circle."
Viesturs is recognized as America's leading high altitude climber. Not bad for a man who grew up in the flatlands of Rockford, Ill.
"It doesn't matter where you're from, anyone can climb mountains," he said.
After high school, Viesturs moved to Seattle and attended the University of Washington, where his climbing career took off. Although his previous climbing experience was limited, Viesturs made up for lost time by becoming extremely dedicated and getting out every chance he could.
His first summit was Mount St. Helens in 1977. The next year he reached the top of Mount Rainier.
In 1982 he began working for Rainier Mountaineering. Over the next three years Viesturs jumped right into the fire and conquered the world's three highest peaks, reaching the summits of Mount Everest on his third attempt, Pakistan's K2 and Nepal's Kangchenjunga, his first 8,000-meter peak, which he reached in 1989.
After getting the top three under his belt, Viesturs said the thought occurred to him, "Maybe I could do the remaining eleven (8,000-meter peaks)."
In 1994 he officially began what he called "Endeavor 8000," a quest to climb the world's 14 tallest peaks. All of the peaks are either in the Himalaya or Karakoram mountain ranges.
The biggest problem Viesturs faced in the early days was funds. Climbing the world's mountains wasn't cheap. Good fortune shined on him, however, when Mountain Hardware asked Viesturs to be a sponsor athlete for them.
Mountain Hardware was run by entrepreneur and former Utah resident Ian Cumming. Cumming's son, John Cumming, is head of Powdr Corp. and Park City Mountain Resort.
Later, Viesturs hooked up with other companies such as Timberland with whom today he helps design products such as shoes. Timberland invited Viesturs to the Outdoor Retailers Convention last week where he was the guest of honor and recognized for his climbing achievement.
With financial backing in place, from 1994 to 2000 Viesturs conquered eight more of the world's tallest peaks. He crossed two more peaks off his list in 2001 and 2003.
His final challenge was scaling to the top of Annapurna, a peak he twice before attempted to reach but could not because of weather and avalanche dangers. Earlier this year the third time was the charm.
"That was the toughest. It was the most dangerous," he said of the Himalayan peak.
Viesturs called Annapurna the "monkey on my back." Before he started his successful ascent, he prepared himself for another possible failed attempt.
"I wasn't going to kill myself doing it. I resigned myself to say 13 of 14 was good," he said. "Now I'm so happy it's done."
All of Viesturs' climbs were done without supplemental oxygen.
"I wanted to honor the mountains for what they represent," he said. "I have to challenge myself to climb 29,000 feet under the mountain's terms. Oxygen is one more mechanical device that can fail. If it fails, you fail."
Viesturs said he never wanted to use the excuse that he failed to climb a mountain because his oxygen failed him.
When he is acting as a guide, however, he does use supplemental oxygen.
"I'm there for the client. It's a safety factor, like a seat belt," he said.
In addition to Endeavor 8000, Viesturs has also scaled Everest six times. Always looking for ways to challenge himself, he was part of the IMAX crews that ascended to the top in 1996. On that trip he lugged a 42-pound camera behind him.
"It was like dragging a ball and chain around. That was one of the most difficult (climbs of my career) but also one of the most rewarding," he said.
At one point, Viesturs and two friends came up with a tongue-in-cheek group called "Everest Anonymous." Club members would have to pay others in the club $1,000 if they climbed Everest again.
Viesturs did, and his money was donated to charity.
Now that he has conquered all of the world's highest peaks, Viesturs said he still has a few goals to accomplish.
"There are a lot of really cool, exotic mountains to climb under 8,000 meters," he said.
For the immediate future however, Viesturs has a lot of speaking engagements ahead of him. He also is writing a book he hopes will be released by the fall of 2006.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com