David Breashears

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David Breashears is an American mountaineer and filmmaker, born in 1956. He is well-known for being the first American man to reach the summit of Everest twice in 1985. However, he is perhaps most famous for guiding Richard Bass to the summit of Everest, thus completing Bass' ascent of the Seven Summits.

Breashears has also made eight expeditions to Everest, four of them successful. He has also successfully climbed to the summit of 22,494' Ama Dablam in the Himalayas, and is well known in climbing circles for free climbing some of the most technically challenging rock walls in Colorado as a young man.

Breashears was present on Everest during the 1996 Everest Disaster and was made famous by Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. In that disaster, two guides and three clients perished during a fierce blizzard. He immediately postponed work on the Everest IMAX film, offering bottled oxygen and batteries to aid the surviving climbers and the rescue effort.

He co-directed, co-produced, and filmed the 1998 IMAX film Everest, the footage of which was taken on his 1996 expedition. He has also worked on other related films as Seven Years in Tibet and Cliffhanger.

Breashears is the recipient of four Emmy awards for achievement in cinematography. He has written an autobiography about his climbing entitled High Exposure: An Enduring Passion for Everest and Unforgiving Places, and contributed photographs to a follow-up book about the IMAX Everest film.

He was married to fellow adventurer Veronique Choa in the late 1980's. They have since divorced, and Breashears calls Boston his home when not climbing.