Mountain Madness

{{Short description|American mountaineering and adventure travel company}} {{About|the mountain guide service and mountaineering school|the video game|Mountain Madness: Super Pro Skiing|the professional wrestling event|Mountain Top Madness}} {{Infobox company | name = Mountain Madness | logo = File:MountainMadness-logo-2013-09-16.png | logo_alt = Mountain Madness logo | image = | image_size = | image_alt = | image_caption = | type = | founded = 1984 | founders = Scott Fischer, Wes Krause, and Michael Allison | hq_location_city = White Center, Seattle, Washington | key_people = Christine Boskoff, Anatoli Boukreev, Charlie Fowler | industry = Mountaineering guides | services = Adventure travel, rock climbing, peak ascents | owner = Lisa Thompson | website = {{URL|mountainmadness.com}} }} '''Mountain Madness''' is a Seattle-based mountaineering and trekking company. The company specializes in mountain adventure travel and has a training school for mountain and rock climbing.

==History==

===Fischer and Krause=== In 1984, Scott Fischer, Wes Krause, and Michael Allison, each a mountaineering guide, co-founded Mountain Madness. Although Fischer had decided in the early 1970s that he would one day have a guide service named Mountain Madness, the founders did not incorporate the company until 1984. Fischer anchored the Seattle operations while Krause concentrated his efforts in Africa. Allison soon sold his share to his partners so that he could pursue other interests.{{sfn|Birkby|2008}}

While leading Mountain Madness, Fischer became renowned for his ascents of the world's highest mountains without the use of supplemental oxygen. He and Wally Berg were the first Americans to summit Lhotse, the world's fourth highest mountain (27,940 feet / 8516 m), located next to Mount Everest.{{sfn|Birkby|2008|p=207}} Fischer and Ed Viesturs were the first Americans to summit K2 (28,251 feet / 8611m), in the Karakoram of Pakistan, without supplemental oxygen.{{sfn|Birkby|2008|p=237}}

During his stewardship of Mountain Madness, Fischer led social and environmental initiatives to help people in the countries in which Mountain Madness traveled. As the leaders of the 1994 Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition, Fischer and Rob Hess both summited Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Later that year, the American Alpine Club awarded the David Brower Conservation Award, "an annual award recognizing leadership and commitment to preserving mountain regions worldwide," to all members of the expedition.<ref name="americanalpineclub.org 1984 p224">{{cite journal |title= Africa, Kilimanjaro, Breach Icicle |journal= American Alpine Journal |volume=26 |issue=58 |page= 224 |url= http://aac-publications.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/aaj/1984/PDF/AAJ_1984_26_58_224a.pdf |year=1984 |issn=0065-6925 |oclc=654858472 |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref> Fischer also led the 1996 Climb for CARE expedition on Mount Kilimanjaro (19,341 feet / 5,895 m) in Africa. This endeavor raised nearly a million dollars for the relief organization.{{Sfn|Birkby|2008|p=289}}

After 23 years of mountaineering and 12 years of guiding Mountain Madness, Fischer died in the 1996 Mount Everest disaster while leading an expedition and descending from summit.{{Sfn|Birkby|2008|pp=304-313}}

===The Boskoffs=== In 1997, the year after Scott Fischer's death, Keith and Christine Boskoff purchased Mountain Madness.<ref name="Make_it_Happen">[http://www.climbing.com/news/christine-boskoff-making-it-happen/ Christine Boskoff Making It Happen Jane Courage January 30 2007]</ref><ref name="Bizjournals.com Justin Matlick May 14, 2006">{{cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2006/05/15/smallb1.html |title=Boskoff builds Mountain Madness into more than just Mount Everest ascents - Puget Sound Business Journal |newspaper=Bizjournals.com |date=May 14, 2006 |first=Justin |last=Matlick |access-date=September 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Mountain Madness company history">{{cite web |url=http://www.mountainmadness.com/about/company-history/overview |title=Company History - Mountain Madness |newspaper=Mountainmadness.com |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref> In 1999 Keith died, leaving his widow Christine to run Mountain Madness on her own.<ref name="Make_it_Happen"/> She led expeditions for about three months that year and planned to ring in the year 2000 on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, with a group of climbing clients.<ref name="people.com">[http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20129971,00.html People - December 06, 1999 Vol. 52 No. 22 - Aiming High By Pam Lambert]</ref>

Mountain Madness broadened its adventure travel offerings to include a new genre of trips: "adventure treks" that include both trekking and climbing options.<ref name="Mountain Madness company history"/> The company earned an accreditation by the American Mountain Guides Association<ref name="Accredited Businesses - AMGA">{{cite web |url=https://amga.com/accredited-businesses/ |title=Accredited Businesses |newspaper=AMGA.com |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref> as a commitment to "high technical standards, strong programs, and a quality staff of engaged and engaging climbing instructors and guides."<ref name="AMGA Accreditation">{{cite web |url=https://amga.com/accreditation/ |title=Accreditation |newspaper=AMGA.com |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref>

Nine years into her tenure as the owner and leader of Mountain Madness, in the fall of 2006, Christine Boskoff and Charlie Fowler, another well-known American climber and Mountain Madness guide, died in an avalanche while climbing near Lenggu Monastery on Genyen Mountain, in Sichuan Province in southwest China.<ref name="Rockandice.com Jane Courage September_13_2015">{{cite web |url=http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/chris-boskoff |title=Chris Boskoff |newspaper=Rockandice.com |date= |first=Jane |last=Courage |access-date=September 13, 2015 |archive-date=September 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905085917/http://www.rockandice.com/lates-news/chris-boskoff |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="NYT July 10, 2007 William Yardley">{{cite web |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E4D7103EF933A25754C0A9619C8B63 |title=WORLD BRIEFING - ASIA - China - Body of Climber Is Found |newspaper=The New York Times |date= July 10, 2007 |first=William |last=Yardley |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Everestnews.com July 9, 2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.everestnews.com/stories2007/missing07082007.htm |title=Body of Accomplished US Climber Christine Boskoff Found In China |newspaper=Everestnews.com |date=July 9, 2007 |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref>{{dead|date=January 2025}}<ref name="The Guardian Ed Douglas December 23, 2006">{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/china.theobserver |title=Fatal accident ... or murder? |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Ed |last=Douglas |date=December 23, 2006 |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref>

===Mark Gunlogson=== The loss of both of the company's owners presented new challenges for Mountain Madness, so in 2008, Mark Gunlogson, who began guiding for Mountain Madness in 1993, took over. Since 2000, he had been the company's business operations manager, and he is currently the president and majority owner. Mountain Madness continues to operate as a well-known and respected international adventure travel company.<ref name="Hellyhansen.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.hellyhansen.com/news/display/671/Helly+Hansen+Forges+Three-Year+Partnership+with+Mountain+Madness |title=Helly Hansen Forges Three-Year Partnership with Mountain Madness |newspaper=Hellyhansen.com |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Adventure.nationalgeographic.com_">{{cite web |url=http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/outfitter_profile/id217 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125042313/http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/outfitter_profile/id217 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 25, 2009 |title=Adventure Travel Ratings: Mountain Madness |newspaper=National Geographic Adventure Magazine |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref><ref name=" Wanderlust World Guide Awards 2013">{{cite web |url=http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/awards/wanderlust-world-guide-awards/meet-the-winners-2013?page=4 |title=Meet the Winners 2013 |newspaper=Wanderlust.co.uk |year=2013 |author= |access-date=September 13, 2015 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035524/http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/magazine/awards/wanderlust-world-guide-awards/meet-the-winners-2013?page=4 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Mountain Madness currently concentrates on expeditions to the Seven Summits, on mountaineering schools, and on trekking.<ref name="Mountainmadness.com September 13, 2015 ">{{cite web |url=http://www.mountainmadness.com/ |title=Expedition Trek Alpine Rock Ice Climbs and Ski Avalanche School - Climb, Trek, and Ski Worldwide |newspaper=Mountainmadness.com |access-date= September 13, 2015}}</ref>

==Owners and guides== *Scott Fischer (d. 1996) *Neal Beidleman (b. 1960) *Anatoli Boukreev (d. 1997) *Keith Boskoff (d. 1999) *Christine Boskoff (d. 2007) *Charlie Fowler (d. 2007) *Mark Gunlogson (2008−2025) *Lisa Thompson (current owner)

==References== {{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=Birkby |first1=Robert |author-link1=Robert Birkby |year=2008 |title=Mountain Madness: Scott Fischer, Mount Everest and a Life Lived On High |location=New York, NY |publisher=Citadel Press/Kensington Publishing Corp |isbn=9780806528755 |oclc=882611111 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/mountainmadnesss00birk }} *{{cite book |last=Garton |first=Johanna |title=Edge of the map : the mountain life of Christine Boskoff |publisher=Mountaineers Books |publication-place=Seattle, WA |year=2020 |isbn=9781680512885 |oclc=1119761109}}

==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.mountainmadness.com}}

Category:Adventure travel Category:Climbing and mountaineering organizations Category:Transport companies established in 1984 Category:Ecotourism - Category:Mountaineering in the United States Category:1984 establishments in Washington (state)