While we are on the subject of speed climbing, I thought I dig up a feature we did on Chad Kellogg in 2004. Kellogg is the first known man to climb up and down Rainier in under five hours.

It should be noted that this story includes extensive quotes from his wife, Lara, who died in a climbing accident last year.

Photo by Peter Haley, The News Tribune

By Craig Hill
The News Tribune

One of the world's fastest mountain climbers gave his calculations for scaling Mount Rainier one last check as he stood in the Paradise parking lot just before 6 a.m.

It takes most people two days and 40 pounds of gear to climb the 14,410-foot peak. All Chad Kellogg had on Aug. 9 was unwrapped energy bars taped to his arms, two packs of sugary energy syrup, a pair of javelin spikes, customized ski poles and a mini-disc player blaring the inspirational tunes of The White Stripes.

That's hardly enough gear to get average climbers out of the parking lot, let alone keep them alive overnight on the mountain. But for Kellogg it would be perfect, because his climb would be done in time for lunch.

Kellogg, 33, ran from his car to the summit and back in 4 hours, 59 minutes, 1 second, becoming the first person to climb Rainier in less than five hours. He broke the record of 5:06 he set in 1998, a year after getting into the sport of speed climbing.

The West Seattle resident is also the only person to bag Alaska's Mount McKinley in less than 24 hours. And last summer, Kellogg traveled to Kazakhstan to win the world's most prestigious speed-climbing competition.

"He's a machine," said Roger Strong, one of Kellogg's climbing partners. "He's absolutely amazing."

=> Read more!