Chad Kellogg

Chad Kellogg (September 22, 1971 – February 14, 2014) was an American mountain climber, best known for his numerous speed climbing records and first ascents. He died by a falling rock after climbing Fitz Roy successfully and while descending.

Early life Kellogg was born in Omak, Washington in 1971. His parents, Ric and Peggy Kellogg, were missionaries, and as a result his family moved to Kenya for seven years before returning to the United States to settle in Seattle. He enrolled at the University of Washington in 1989 when he was 17 and graduated with a degree in economics. He trained with the U.S. national luge team for seven years in Lake Placid, New York, but gave up the sport after failing to qualify for the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Mountaineering Kellogg began climbing in 1984 in the North Cascades but it was not until he left the national luge team that he began to pursue mountaineering as a career. He became well known in the climbing community in 1998 as he began to break records for speed ascents.

Personal life Kellogg met Lara-Karena Bitenieks, another climber, in 1994 while they were working at REI in Seattle. They began dating in 1999 and were married from 2000 until she died in 2007 while descending Mount Wake in Denali National Park, Alaska. A month after his wife's death, Kellogg was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which later went into remission. Before his death in 2014, Kellogg was in a relationship with Mandy Kraus. He was a Buddhist.