BIOGRAPHY

Alex got his first taste of adventure when his father took him rock climbing at Taylors Falls Minnesota when he was 8 years old. Throughout the next 10 years, his parents were constantly nurturing his passion for the outdoors and helping him push his physical and mental limits, whether it was getting open water scuba certified at age 12 or climbing devils tower in Wyoming at age 14. Alex began taking extended backpacking trips when he was 14, every year topping the length and level of difficulty of his previous trips.

He combined his love of rock climbing and backpacking when he first tried glacier mountaineering during a 3-month semester in Alaska with the National Outdoor Leadership School when he was 17.  Alex was instantly hooked on mountaineering and has been actively pursuing his dream of becoming the world’s youngest to conquer the seven summits ever since. 

During the 2005/2006 school year, Alex was president of the student council for Eden Prairie High School, the largest high school in the state of Minnesota.  Alex's team raised over $20,000 for charity during the year. Alex also became a certified Emergency First Responder during his senior year.

In June of 2006 Alex climbed Mt. Rainier via the Kautz Chute with 2 other fellow NOLS alumni, and in a 2 week period in July-August 2006 and was successful in climbing Mt. Elbrus and a speed ascent up the Umbwe route, one of the hardest available on Kilimanjaro.  Typically the Umbwe route takes six days - Alex did it in 73 hours.

 

In the fall of 2006, Alex started college as a freshman at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the Leeds School of Business. In addition to attempting Aconcagua and summiting Denali, this last year Alex has joined Theta Xi fraternity, the only adventure sports oriented fraternity in the country.


                             
   Alex Shockley Scuba Diving in Belize in 2004                                Alex on Devils Tower at age 14


Alex and Brett Shockley at Denali base camp 2005