Steven Swenson

Steve Swenson (born 14 February 1954) is an American rock climber, mountaineer, and author. Swenson served as the President of the Board of Directors for the American Alpine Club from 2009 until 2012. He is known for his big-mountain climbing expeditions and has taken part in over 15 expeditions to the Karakoram range about which he wrote the book Karakoram: Climbing Through the Kashmir Conflict. This book won the Himalayan Club Kekoo Naoroji Book Award. In 2012, Swenson along with Mark Richey and Freddie Wilkinson, made the first ascent of Sasser Kangri – II. At the time, the peak was the second highest unclimbed mountain in the world. For their climbing, the team was awarded the Piolet d’Or. In 2019, at the age of 65Swenson, along with Graham Zimmerman, Mark Richey, and Chris Wright, climbed Link Sar – its first ascent. Swenson had a 35-year career as a water resources consulting engineer. His summit list includes K2 via its remote north ridge in 1990 and Everest, which he climbed solo and without oxygen in 1994, before swearing off big-name peaks forever. He found more challenge putting up Alpine-style ascents on the likes of Nepal’s Kwangde Nup.