David Ashley is quite the adventurer.
The athlete summitted some of the tallest peaks in America in record-breaking time, achieving the record for the fastest time to climb the highest points in all 50 US states.
David (USA) accomplished his climb in 41 days 21 hours and 1 minute between 19 May to 30 June, beating the previous record by almost a full day.
What makes his feat even more amazing is that the 49-year-old is a kidney donor.
In addition to competing for the world record, David and his team challenged themselves to raise awareness for living kidney donation, as an effort to help the 90,000+ people in the US in need of a kidney transplant.
They also aimed to encourage individuals to consider donating.
He often takes on challenging feats of endurance in an effort to prove to the world that living organ donation is not an impediment to physical fitness and achievement.
In fact, David was joined by other kidney donors at different points throughout his record attempt.
David’s record-breaking climb began at Denali, Alaska, and finished with Gannett Peak in Wyoming.
He says the most difficult part of his accomplishment was climbing Mount Denali.
“We climbed unguided and carried all our climbing, camping, and cooking gear, making for some heavy loads,” said David.
This mountain is known to be one of the hardest if not the hardest of the Seven Summits.
David says it can even be more challenging than climbing Mount Everest because porters aren’t allowed, and the weather is notoriously unpredictable and severe.
“With a historical summit rate of just 50 per cent, we were all concerned that failure here would stop the attempt in our first two weeks,” he said.
“But all three members of the climbing team successfully summitted, with a big credit to Jodi’s backcountry and winter camping skills and Jay’s incredible strength to carry heavy loads and make camps at high altitudes.”
David also faced several other major challenges during his climb.
A historic level of winter snow out west resulted in a near complete re-plan of the lower 48 states that jeopardised his team’s timeline by adding days to the plan and driving an unplanned cross-country flight from Maine to California late in the attempt.
“Also, climbing team member Jodi was injured early in the attempt and withdrew,” he said.
“Additionally, climbing team member Jay battled with extreme exhaustion midway in the attempt and also withdrew, leaving the team with just one climber left to beat the record.”
David says he also battled natural issues such as lightning high up on climbs, which drove rain and caused whiteouts.
“Our RV was hit as a driver crossed over the centre line,” he said.
But these are the kinds of things we expected were possible and we had a buffer in the schedule.
Mentally, the most difficult part of his climb was staying focused on achieving his goal while receiving messages disparaging his record attempt.
“We were all surprised by this, especially considering our cause. Dealing with sleep deprivation, exhaustion, and considerable logistical challenges was hard enough,” he said.
“[Having this happen] during our record attempt was nearly too much for us to bear.”
Although David enjoyed the record attempt, there were some parts of the climb that he disliked.
His first attempt on Montana’s Granite Peak was his least favourite because the trail was still buried under several feet of snow, requiring snowshoes from the trailhead and challenging navigation.
The ordeal greatly slowed the team’s expected pace.
Team member Jodi was also injured during this climb and later had to withdraw from the attempt, and the team encountered a snowstorm while nearing the summit at night, reducing headlamp vision to just a few feet.
As a result, the climb took over 30 hours and required a complete re-climb later during the Guinness World Records title attempt.
There were, however, some parts of the climb that proved to be a bit easier for David and his team.
He said there were several of the State high points that are simply a marker without an appreciable elevation gain or an opportunity to climb - just a parking lot where the team hopped out and took a photo.
David says he enjoyed many of the climbs, but South Dakota’s Black Elk Peak really stands out.
“We had a beautiful sunny day on the climb,” he said.
“Our climbing team was all together, a few days after we joined our support crew in Chicago before Jodi was injured.”
David says the trail was a great mix of flowing and technical single tracks, perfect for trail running.
The team also encountered other hikers who shared stories of how living kidney donation changed the lives of family members and friends.
David is proud to have achieved a Guinness World Records title and raised awareness for kidney donation.
“By achieving this record, we shattered the misperception that kidney donation imposes physical limits on donors,” he said.
We hope it also inspires others to consider becoming living organ donors and be ‘Officially Amazing’ like us!
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