Lieutenant Colonel Marc Hoffmeister of Eagle River has been awarded a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award for his climb on Denali this summer.
The climb, led by Kirby Senden of Alaska Mountaineering School, received national attention as Hoffmeister organized a team of wounded Iraq veterans to climb Denali. The effort was called Operation Denali and included Hoffmeister, his wife, Gayle, and three others who had sustained severe injuries in combat overseas.
The award details the climb but doesn’t mention the great lengths that Hoffmeister and his team went to in order to have a successful climb. The team trained in 2008 on Denali with Alaska Mountaineering School before setting out on their climb this summer.
Three members of the team summitted. Hoffmeister says the Denali summit effort pulled him out of the depression that he was in previously and he is headed back to Iraq this coming year.
There are 10 top adventurers named by National Geographic each year. This year, for the first time, National Geographic is asking the general public to go to their website and vote for their favorite. Another Alaskan is on the top 10 list. University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Katey Walter -Anthony is also featured for her work on thawing permafrost in the arctic.
The final decision will be announced on January 19th.
