Stephen Koch is an American adventurer, risk management expert, professional speaker, extreme snowboarder, mountaineer, guide, and pioneer in the field of snowboard mountaineering, a term he coined. He is best known as the first and only person to snowboard on all Seven Summits

Seven Summits

The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven continents. Summiting all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first postulated as such and achieved on April 30, 1985 by Richard Bass .-Definition:...

, the highest peak on each continent. Koch is also the first to snowboard all the major Teton

Teton Range

The Teton Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in North America. A north-south range, it is on the Wyoming side of the state's border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. Most of the range is in Grand Teton National Park....

 peaks in Wyoming.

Koch was born in San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

He is a member of the American Alpine Club and professional mountain guide for over 20 years. He has been featured in Outside, Men's Journal, and Sports Illustrated. Appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, MSNBC and OLN.

Author of articles for Alpinist Magazine, Transworld Snowboarding Magazine, Snowboarder, Mountain Zone.com, Men's Journal Magazine and American Alpine Journal. His photography work was been published in Men's Journal Magazine, Outside Magazine, National Geographic Adventure Magazine, American Alpine Journal, and Alpinist Magazine.

Ascents, Snowboard Descents and Expeditions:

• 1989 East Face/Stettner Couloir, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, WY, USA, First Snowboard Descent with Tom Turiano and Andy Matz
• 1990 West Face, Aiguille du Chardonnet, Alps, France, First Snowboard Descent with Alain Moroni
• 1990 Derby de la Mieje Champion (multi-discipline snow descent race)
• 1991 Central and Diagonal Gullies, Mount Washington, New Hampshire, USA, First Snowboard Descents, solo
• 1991 North Face, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, solo
• 1992 North Face, Mount Hood, Oregon, USA, First Snowboard Descent, solo
• 1993 Polish Glacier, Aconcagua, Argentina, First Snowboard Descent, solo
• 1993 SE Face, Patagonia, Argentina, First Ascent with Andy Parkin
• 1994 Black Ice Couloir, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, First Snowboard Descent, with Mark Newcomb
• 1995 Diamond Couloir, Mount Kenya, Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya, Africa, solo
• 1996 Messner Couloir, Denali (McKinley), Denali National Park, Alaska, USA, First Snowboard Descent, solo
• 1997 North Face, Matterhorn, Switzerland, Solo Winter Ascent
• 1997 Kersten/Heim Glaciers, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa, First Snowboard Descent, with Scott Backes
• 1999 Normal, Vinson Massif, Antarctica, First Snowboard Descent, with Dirk Collins, Doug Coombs, Wade McKoy, Mark Newcomb and Doug Stoup
• 1999 South Face, Mount Shinn, Antarctica, First Snowboard Descent, with Doug Coombs and Mark Newcomb
• 2001 Normal Route, Puncak Jaya, Australasia, First Snowboard Descent, with Rob Milne and Corey Rich
• 2001 Koch/Milne, Carstensz Pyramid, Australasia, New Route, with Rob Milne
• 2001 Moonflower Buttress, Mount Hunter, Denali National Park, Alaska, USA, First Free Ascent with Marko Prezelj
  Marko Prezelj
  Marko Prezelj is a Slovenian mountaineer and photographer.Prezelj received two Piolet d'Or awards. He won the inaugural "Oscar of mountaineering" in 1992 with Andrej Štremfelj for their new route on the south ridge of Kangchenjunga South in alpine style...
  
  
• 2001 Light Traveler, Denali (McKinley), Denali National Park, Alaska, USA, New Route with Marko Prezelj; nominated for the 2001 Piolet d' Or Award for pioneering “Light Traveler"
• 2002 Beyond Good and Evil, Aguille du Pelerins, France, First Free Ascent (in 5 hours) with Marco Prezelj
• 2003 Koch Line, Breach Wall, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, Africa, solo
• 2003 Japanese Couloir, Mount Everest, Tibet, Partial Snowboard Descent with Jimmy Chin, Kami Sherpa and Lakpa Dorge Sherpa
• 2004 Grand Traverse, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, First Winter Ascent with Renny Jackson, Hans Johnstone and Mark Newcomb
• 2004 Alex Lowe Memorial Route, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, New Route with Mark Newcomb
• 2005 Complete SE Ridge, Cerro Torre, Patagonia, Argentina, New Route with Dean Potter and Marko Prezelj
• 2005 Extreme Emotions, Cerro Standhardt, Patagonia, Argentina, New Route with Marko Prezelj
• 2007 Squeeze Box, Grand Teton, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, New Route with Hans Johnstone
• 2009 Raven Cracked, Prospector's, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA, New Route with Sam Magro.

External links