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{{Infobox person
| name        = Anatoli Boukreev
| image       = High-altitude_mountain_climber_Anatoli_Boukreev.tiff 
| caption     = In Seattle, June 1996
|birth_name=Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1958|1|16}}
| birth_place = [[Korkino, Chelyabinsk Oblast|Korkino]], [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1997|12|25|1958|1|16}}
| death_place = [[Annapurna|Annapurna I]], [[Nepal]]
| death_cause = [[Avalanche]]
| citizenship = [[Kazakhstan]]
| ethnicity   = [[Russia]]
| alma_mater  = [[Chelyabinsk State University]]
| education   = Bachelor of Science
| known_for   = 18 ascents of 8000m peaks,<br>1996 Mount Everest disaster rescues
| occupation  = [[Mountaineer]]
| awards = {{Order "For Personal Courage"}} [[Order "For Personal Courage"|USSR Order For Personal Courage]]<br>{{Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"}} [[Order "For Merit to the Fatherland"|USSR Order For Merit To The Fatherland]]<br>[[David A. Sowles Memorial Award]]
           
}}
'''Anatoli Nikolaevich Boukreev''' ({{lang-ru|Анато́лий Никола́евич Букре́ев}}; January 16, 1958 – December 25, 1997) was a [[Russians in Kazakhstan|Russian Kazakhstani]] mountaineer who made ascents of 10 of the 14 [[eight-thousander]] peaks, i.e., peaks above {{convert|8000|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}, without supplemental [[oxygen]]. From 1989 through 1997, he made 18 successful ascents of peaks above 8000 m.

Boukreev had a reputation as an elite mountaineer in international climbing circles for summiting [[K2]] in 1993 and [[Mount Everest]] via the North Ridge route in 1995, but became more widely known for his role in saving climbers during the [[1996 Mount Everest disaster]].

In 1997, Boukreev was killed in an avalanche during a winter ascent of [[Annapurna]] in [[Nepal]].<ref name="GammelgaardSeal2000">{{cite book|author1=Lene Gammelgaard|author2=Press Seal|title=Climbing High: A Woman's Account of Surviving the Everest Tragedy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OyYET6wHSacC&pg=PA207|accessdate=25 September 2012|date=20 June 2000|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-06-095361-4|page=207}}</ref>  Boukreev's companion, Linda Wylie, edited his memoirs and published them in 2002 under the title, ''Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer''.

==Biography==
Boukreev was born in [[Korkino]], within the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] [[Soviet Union]] (in the present [[Chelyabinsk Oblast]]). He came from the ''narod'', the common people, and his parents were both poor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Above the Clouds|author1=Boukreev, Anatoli |author2=Wylie, Linda |page= 7|isbn=0312269706}}</ref>  After completing high school in 1975, he attended Chelyabinsk University for [[Pedagogy]], where he majored in [[physics]] and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1979. At the same time, he also completed a coaching program for [[cross-country skiing]].

After graduation, the 21-year-old dreamed of mountain climbing. Boukreev moved to [[Alma-Ata]], the capital of the neighbouring [[Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic|Kazakh SSR]] (present day [[Kazakhstan]]) located in the [[Tian Shan]] mountain range. From 1985 he was part of a Kazakhstani mountaineering team, and he became a citizen of Kazakhstan in 1991 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Boukreev worked as a commercial guide in the 1990s, and was working with [[Scott Fischer]]'s adventure company [[Mountain Madness]] during the [[1996 Mount Everest disaster]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/11/sports/as-climbers-die-the-allure-of-everest-keeps-on-growing.html?pagewanted=all The New York Times - As Climbers Die, The Allure of Everest Keeps on Growing - By Tim Egan -  Published: March 11, 1998]</ref> He managed to survive and was also instrumental in saving the lives of others, including New York socialite Sandy Hill Pittman.<ref name= vogue>[http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/09/sandy-hill-pittman-mount-everest The Real Story of Sandy Hill Pittman, Everest’s Socialite Climber July 31, 1996 8:00 pm]</ref>

==Climbing accomplishments==
===Major highlights===
1987
*[[Lenin Peak]] (7,134 m) – First solo ascent
1989
*April 15 [[Kangchenjunga]] (8,556 m) – new route with Second Soviet Himalaya Expedition
*April 30 - May 2 [[Kangchenjunga]] – first traverse of the four 8,000 m summits of the [[massif]]
1990
*April [[Denali]] – Cassin Ridge route
*May [[Denali]] – West Rib route (solo)
1991
*May 10 [[Dhaulagiri]] – new route on the west wall with First Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition
*October 7 [[Mount Everest]] – South Col route
1993
*May 14 [[Denali]] (6,193 m)
*July 30 [[K2]] (8,611 m) Abruzzi route.
1994
*April 29 Makalu II (8,460 m)
*May 15 [[Makalu]] (8,476 m)
1995
*May 17 [[Mount Everest]] – North Ridge route
*June 30 Peak Abai (4,010 m) – guide for [[President]] of [[Kazakhstan]]
*October 8 [[Dhaulagiri]] (8,176 m) – fastest ascent record (17h 15m)
*December 8 [[Manaslu]] (8,156 m) – with Second Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition
1996
*May 10 [[Mount Everest]] – South Col route
*May 17 [[Lhotse]] – solo ascent, speed record
*September 25 [[Cho Oyu]] (8,201 m) with Third Kazakhstan Himalaya Expedition
*October 9 North summit of [[Shishapangma]] (8,008 m)
1997
*April 24 [[Mount Everest]] (8,848 m) South Col Route as guide for Indonesian military expedition
*May 23 [[Lhotse]] (8,501 m)
*July 7 [[Broad Peak]] (8,047 m) – solo ascent
*July 14 [[Gasherbrum II]] (8,035 m) – solo ascent

===Denali===
In May 1990, Boukreev was invited by an American climber to guide several clients to the summit of Denali in Alaska. Denali, previously known as [[Mount McKinley]], has challenges such as hidden crevasses and unpredictably cold weather due to its proximity to the [[Arctic Circle]] and the ocean.

The expedition was a success and the team reached the summit and returned without incident.  During the climb there had been somewhat of a language barrier and Boukreev felt the sting of needing to borrow equipment due to his economic circumstances.  After the team had returned home, Boukreev decided to attempt a solo speed ascent of Denali before returning to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Boukreev, Anatoli |author2=Wylie, Linda (ed.) |title=Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0VctgUB2tIC&pg=PA38-43|accessdate=23 September 2012|date=December 2002|publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |isbn=978-0-312-29137-2|pages=38–43}}</ref>

Boukreev's solo speed ascent of Denali in 1990 was completed in 10½ hours from the base to the summit.<ref name= Denali >{{cite book|author1=Anatoli Boukreev|author2=Linda Wylie|title=Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a0VctgUB2tIC&pg=PA47|date=20 December 2002|publisher=St. Martin's Press|isbn=978-0-312-29137-2|pages=47–}}</ref>  That season acclimated climbers were normally taking three to four days and five camps to summit — Boukreev's feat was noted by ''[[Climbing (magazine)|Climbing]]'' magazine in a 1990 issue, and commented on by [[Denali Park]] rangers who described it as "unreal".<ref name= Denali />

===K2===
In 1993, Boukreev reached the summit of [[K2]] via the [[Abruzzi Spur]], where he shared the peak with team members Peter Metzger of Germany and Andy Locke of Australia. The other team members were German climbers Reinmar Joswig (the team leader) and Ernst Eberhardt.  With a peak elevation of 8,611 metres (28,251&nbsp;ft), K2 is the [[List of highest mountains|second-highest]] mountain on Earth after [[Mount Everest]].

[[File:K2 2006b.jpg|thumb|[[K2]]]]
As part of the [[Karakoram]] [[mountain range|range]], K2 is located on the border between [[Pakistan]] and [[People's Republic of China|China]]. K2 is referred to as the "Savage Mountain" — notable for its steep pyramidal relief, dropping quickly in almost all directions, and the inherent danger in climbing it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-big-question-what-makes-k2-the-most-perilous-challenge-a-mountaineer-can-face-885220.html  |title=The Big Question: What makes K2 the most perilous challenge a mountaineer can face? |accessdate=2008-08-07 |author=Jerome Taylor |date=2008-08-05 |work=The Independent |publisher= | location=London| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080818214211/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-big-question-what-makes-k2-the-most-perilous-challenge-a-mountaineer-can-face-885220.html| archivedate= 18 August 2008 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl= yes}}</ref>
The danger facing Boukreev on K2 was that the summit felt like the finish line. Boukreev would later write that he did not feel the emotions of victory in that moment on top of K2's peak because he was physically and emotionally spent.  Boukreev found himself in a dangerous position.  He had expended too much energy placing fixed lines along a narrow, steep portion earlier that day.  But since the team wanted to push on to the summit that same afternoon, rather than return to their tents to sleep and make a summit bid the next morning, Boukreev acquiesced.<ref>Boukreev; Wylie; ''Above the Clouds'' pp. 92–95.</ref>  Boukreev would later write:

{{Blockquote|During my years of training as a ski racer, and then as a mountaineer, I had learned how to wring out the last of my energy for a finish.  But this is dangerous in mountaineering, because the summit is not the finish of your competition with a great mountain.  To survive you must be able to get down from the forbidden zone.<ref name="Boukreev p. 96">Boukreev; Wylie; ''Above the Clouds'' p. 96.</ref>
|}}
Boukreev later described feeling like a "squeezed lemon".<ref name="Boukreev p. 96"/>  When Boukreev and the other two climbers began their descent just after sundown they met Reinmar Joswig ascending and near the peak.  Relying heavily on intuition and his previous mountaineering experiences, Boukreev slowly made his way down the steep rock and ice of the mountain.  A [[crampon]] kept coming off of his boot, and at one point he had to use his [[ice axe]] to arrest a fall, keeping himself from sliding into the abyss. Eventually he made his way to the tents at the highest elevation camp.  However, teammates Peter Metzger and Reinmar Joswig never returned from the summit, each having fallen to their death during the descent.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/adventure/2009/12/andrew-lock-life-in-the-death-zone/|title=Andrew Lock: life in the death zone|work=Australian Geographic|date=2009-12-18}}</ref>

===Everest===
{{main|1996 Mount Everest disaster}}
Boukreev became widely known as the lead climbing [[guide]] for the [[Mountain Madness]] expedition headed by [[Scott Fischer]] in May 1996. The expedition was one of several attempting to summit Everest on the same day (May 10). Soon after summiting on May 10 a disastrous blizzard struck, stranding many climbers above the [[South Col]] overnight, and by May 11, eight climbers from three different expeditions had perished. Boukreev rescued three climbers stranded in the disaster above 8000 m, and all six of the climbing clients on the Mountain Madness expedition survived the ordeal.[[File:Mount Everest from Rongbuk may 2005.JPG|thumb|View of [[Mount Everest]] from [[Rongbuk Glacier]]]]

[[Galen Rowell]] described Boukreev's rescue efforts in the ''Wall Street Journal'' as:
{{cquote|One of the most amazing rescues in mountaineering history performed single-handedly a few hours after climbing Everest without oxygen...<ref>Galen Rowell, ''Wall Street Journal'', May 29, 1997</ref>}}

However, author [[Jon Krakauer]] was generally critical of Boukreev in his book, ''[[Into Thin Air]].''  Subsequently, Boukreev was contacted by various media for a response, and also wrote his own account of the events on Everest in ''[[The Climb (book)|The Climb]]'', a book co-written with Gary Weston DeWalt.

The core of the controversy<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:b1Hxfe1aPSYJ:www.pauldeegan.com/expeditions/the_climb_review.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESixpTIBjGVvvO0PAsq8Fw9UxEshbEhmPAAA42XHvC9F0givAsva_zdiQBLvM4gQtlGkO8LKeFbkPvNoh7BerDF6DCQ9jBRhQk-Zs8f67GYWCsNFe4YXA_UU_7rJazwoq0_2MnX2&sig=AHIEtbRpgC9jscLCSegMctg4alp6SQFJtw|title=''Review of The Climb''|author=Deegan, Paul|year=1998}}</ref> was Boukreev's decision to attempt the summit without supplementary oxygen and to descend to the camp ahead of his clients in the face of approaching darkness and blizzard. He was one of the first to reach the summit on the day of the disaster and stayed at or near the summit for nearly 1.5 hours helping others with their summit efforts, before returning to his tent by 5 pm on May 10, well ahead of the later summiters on his team.

Boukreev's supporters point to the fact that his return to camp allowed him enough rest that, when the blizzard had subsided around midnight, he was able to mount a rescue attempt and to lead several climbers still stranded on the mountain back to the safety of the camp. Boukreev's detractors say that had he simply stayed with the clients, he would have been in better position to assist them down the mountain, though it should be noted that every one of Boukreev's clients survived, including the three (Pittman, Fox, Madsen) that he rescued on May 11 after he had rested and overcome hypoxia. The only client deaths that day were suffered by the [[Adventure Consultants]] expedition, led by guide [[Rob Hall]], who lost his own life when he chose to stay and help a client complete a late summit rather than helping the client descend.<ref name=Lopsang>{{cite web|url=http://outsideonline.com/outside/destinations/199609/199609_everest_clarification_4.html |title=Lopsang Jangbu Sherpa's response to Krakauer's article |publisher=Outsideonline.com |date= |accessdate=2010-12-05 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919000319/http://outsideonline.com/outside/destinations/199609/199609_everest_clarification_4.html |archivedate=September 19, 2010 }}</ref>

{{Quote box |quoted=true |quote= Mountaineer [[Ed Viesturs]] commented on Boukreev in a 2011 interview: "Anatoli was just an amazing person," Viesturs recalled. "I’d met him long before the Everest tragedy, in the early '80s when I was guiding in the Pamirs. He was one of the coaches in the Soviet sports federations back then, when I traded him gear for badly needed ice screws. One thing I gave him in return was this old fleece-lined JanSport bomber hat, he wore that thing on almost all his climbs after that. Anatoli spoke English very poorly, and for that reason a lot of people did not appreciate his skill as a climber and did not realize how thoughtful, introspective and poetic he was.<ref name= Potterfield>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatoutdoors.com/published/the-will-to-climb|title=The Will to Climb: Ed Viesturs, America's best known high altitude climber, recounts his epic adventures on Annapurna with a new book|author=Potterfield, Peter|date=2011-11-10|publisher=greatoutdoors.com|accessdate=2015-09-20}}</ref>
|align=right|width=50%
|}}

Before returning to the U.S. after the events on Everest in 1996, Boukreev climbed the 8,516 metres (27,940&nbsp;ft) [[Lhotse]], which is in proximity to Everest. He decided on a solo ascent because he hoped that in the process of climbing it he might find some inner clarity to what had just transpired on Everest.<ref name= Boukreev >{{cite book|title=Above the Clouds|author1=Boukreev, Anatoli |author2=Wylie, Linda |pages=165–169|isbn=0312269706}}</ref>

In 1997 Anatoli Boukreev was awarded with [[David A. Sowles Memorial Award]] by [[American Alpine Club]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.americanalpineclub.org/p/sowles-award |title=David A. Sowles Memorial Award -  American Alpine Club |work=americanalpineclub.org |accessdate=27 September 2015 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150927000946/http://www.americanalpineclub.org:80/p/sowles-award |archivedate=27 September 2015 |df= }}</ref> The award recognizes people "who have distinguished themselves, with unselfish devotion at personal risk or sacrifice of a major objective, in going to the assistance of fellow climbers imperiled in the mountains. It is dedicated to the memory of David A. Sowles." It was presented to him by [[Jim Wickwire]], the first American to summit K2. The award is the American Alpine Club's highest award for valor in recognition of his role in rescuing climbers in the 1996 Everest disaster.<ref name=Sowles>{{cite web|title=David A. Sowles Memorial Award|url=http://www.americanalpineclub.org/p/sowles-award|publisher=The American Alpine Club|accessdate=20 March 2012}}</ref>

==Death==
Three weeks after receiving the David A. Sowles Memorial Award, Boukreev began his attempt to climb the south face of [[Annapurna|Annapurna I]] ({{convert|8091|m|ft|disp=or|abbr=on}}) along with [[Simone Moro]], an accomplished [[Italy|Italian]] mountaineer. They were accompanied by Dimitri Sobolev, a [[cinematographer]] from [[Kazakhstan]] who was documenting the attempt. On December 25 around noon, Boukreev and Moro were fixing [[rope]]s in a [[couloir]] at around the {{convert|5700|m|ft|abbr=on}} level.<ref>Boukreev; Wylie; ''Above the Clouds'' pp. 226–227.</ref> Suddenly, an enormous [[cornice (climbing)|cornice]] broke loose from the heights of Annapurna's Western Wall and rumbled down the {{convert|800|m|ft|abbr=on}} long couloir. The [[avalanche]] knocked Moro down the mountain where he landed just above their tent at Camp I {{convert|5200|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Fortuitously, Moro had somehow stayed near the top of the avalanche debris and managed to dig himself out after a few minutes. Unable to see or hear any signs of Boukreev or Sobolev (whom Moro had witnessed disappearing beneath "car-sized blocks of ice"),<ref>Boukreev; Wylie; ''Above the Clouds'' p. 1</ref>  Moro descended to Annapurna base camp where he was flown by helicopter back to [[Kathmandu]] for surgery on his hands, which had been ripped down to the [[tendon]]s during the fall.[[File:Anatoli Boukreev Memorial at Annapurna Base Camp.jpg|thumb|Anatoli Boukreev memorial at [[Annapurna]] base camp]]

News of the accident reached [[New Mexico]] on December 26. Linda Wylie, Boukreev's girlfriend, left for [[Nepal]] on December 28. Several attempts were made to reach the avalanche site by helicopter but inclement weather in late December prevented search teams from reaching Camp I. On January 3, 1998, searchers were finally able to reach Camp I and an empty tent.  Linda Wylie subsequently issued a somber statement from Kathmandu:
<blockquote>This is the end... there are no hopes of finding him alive.</blockquote>

Boukreev had dreamt in detail of dying in an avalanche nine months before his death.  The only thing missing was the name of the mountain. When Boukreev's companion tried to convince him to take a different path in life to avoid a fate that Boukreev was convinced of, he responded, "Mountains are my life...my work.  It is too late for me to take up another road."<ref>Boukreev; Wylie; ''Above the Clouds'' p. 31.</ref>

===Memorial===
At the site of [[Annapurna]] base-camp there is a memorial [[chorten]] to Boukreev including a quotation of his:
<blockquote>"Mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion."<!-- hiding part not on the memorial  ..I go to them as humans go to worship. From their lofty summits I view my past, dream of the future and, with an unusual acuity, am allowed to experience the present moment...my vision cleared, my strength renewed. In the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn. --></blockquote>

==In popular culture==
Icelandic actor [[Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson]] portrays Boukreev in the [[Baltasar Kormákur]] film, ''[[Everest (2015 film)|Everest]]'',  about the 1996 Everest disaster.

== See also ==
* [[List of climbers]]
* [[1996 Everest disaster]]
* [[List of Mount Everest summiters by number of times to the summit]]

==Bibliography==
*''[[The Climb (book)|The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest]]'' by Anatoli Boukreev and Gary Weston DeWalt, published by St. Martins Paperbacks, 1997, ISBN 0-312-96533-8.
*''Above the Clouds: The Diaries of a High-Altitude Mountaineer'', written by Anatoli Boukreev. Collected and edited by Linda Wylie; published by St. Martin's Griffin, 2002, ISBN 0-312-29137-X.

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.boukreev.org/ Anatoli Boukreev Memorial Fund]
* [http://old.risk.ru/rus/pics/people/boukreev/galery/big_3.jpg Photo of Anatoli Boukreev (left) and Martin Adams with Kazakhstan state flag on Everest 1996]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boukreev, Anatoli}}
[[Category:1958 births]]
[[Category:1997 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Korkino]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani mountain climbers]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani explorers]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani writers]]
[[Category:Soviet mountain climbers]]
[[Category:Mountaineering deaths]]
[[Category:Summiters of Mount Everest]]
[[Category:Natural disaster deaths in Nepal]]
[[Category:Deaths in avalanches]]
[[Category:Kazakhstani people of Russian descent]]
[[Category:Deceased Everest summiters]]