On May 9, 2022, Dave Ashley, a living kidney donor athlete sponsored by the National Kidney Registry, will leave Mount Everest Base Camp for the final summit push. If all goes according to plan, Dave and his team will reach the 29,032-foot peak of Mount Everest in the early morning hours of May 13.
Dave’s summit of Mount Everest would complete his 1 Kidney 7 Summits challenge—his quest to become the first living kidney donor to climb the highest peaks on each continent within one year. He has completed six of the seven peaks: Denali, Elbrus, Kilimanjaro, Mount Vinson, Aconcagua, and Mount Kosciuszko. “Now it’s time to head up for a crack at Mount Everest, final of the Seven,” Dave said in a post on Instagram.
He will depart tonight and plans to arrive at Camp 2 on May 10, then move on to Camp 3 on May 11 and Camp 4 on May 12. “If all goes well, summit climb will start late on Thursday, May 12, summiting after sunrise on May 13,” said Dave.
“If successful, I’ll be the first living kidney donor to climb the Seven Summits. Along the way I’ve been part of two Guinness World Records, bronze medal at the High Altitude Obstacle Course Race World Championship, partnered with another veteran to finish his own Seven Summit quest on Denali, sprinted in and out of Russia between major world events, and summited Aconcagua despite almost half of our climbing team and guides coming down with COVID,” said Dave.
“You think being a living donor is some kind of physical handicap? Think again. Better yet, go get screened for donation and perhaps you too can save a life.”
Visit https://www.instagram.com/adventurekidney/ for updates and see Dave’s location in real time at https://us0-share.explore.garmin.com/adventurekidney.
Back to Press Releases
