Eagle Valley, Colorado native Jon Kedrowski will stand on top of the world this weekend.
Kedrowski is currently moving up through the Khumbu Icefall, Lhotse Face, into the Death Zone, and eventually to the sacred 29,034ft summit of Mount Everest.
Kedrowski is no stranger to high mountains growing up near Avon, CO. He played basketball throughout high school and would climb Fourteeners (14,000-foot peaks) as training.
Later, Kedrowski went on to earn a PhD in Mountain Geography. While studying at Valparaiso University near Chicago, Kedrowski met Chris Tomer, now a meteorologist at FOX-31/KWGN Channel 2 in Denver.
Kedrowski and Tomer have been climbing big mountains across North America ever since then.
“The challenge is the draw for me … I want to test myself, and see what I’m made of,” Kedrowski said.
He is part of Dan Mazur’s Summit Climb Expedition on Everest. Mazur tasked Tomer with providing detailed weather forecasts for the expedition.
“I’m providing wind forecasts, snowfall forecasts, and temperature forecasts tailored to specific elevations on Everest.” The jet stream normally sits right on top of Everest with 50-150mph wind speeds making a summit attempt impossible.
“But, a small window normally opens up in May where the winds back off and the temperatures warm up, relatively speaking.” I told expedition leaders to expect a summit window starting on the 17th continuing through the 21st.
Kedrowski is also conducting grant-funded research on Everest – including air and water quality. Some of the tests have never been done so high on the mountain.
Kedrowski trained hard for Everest including a project never done before in Colorado.
Together, Kedrowski and Tomer slept on the summit of every Colorado 14er from sunset to sunrise in 95 days.
They’ve gone on to write a book about it due out in June called, Sleeping on the Summits: Colorado Fourteener High Bivys.
“It was the absolute perfect training for Everest,” Kedrowski said. “Pinpoint weather forecasts, speed ascents with heavy overnight gear, dodging afternoon thunderstorms, making timetables, and doing this routine on back-to-back-to-back 14ers.”