Sean Burch '92 picks up seventh world record in Mongolia and names Roanoke College Peak

Update: Dec. 22, 2014

Sean Burch'92 is back in the United States after a month-long Mongolian adventure where he set his seventh world record and named one of the 23 Mongolian mountain peaks that he ascended after Roanoke College.

Burch set a new official world record for the most first ascents of mountain peaks in Mongolian history. He reached the summits of 23 previously unclimbed high-altitude peaks, breaking the former record of four ascents by a Mongolian climber. 

He named one of the peaks the Roanoke College peak in honor of his alma mater.

Burch climbed more than 80,000 feet in temperatures at 35 degrees below zero.

"My fingertips are black and hard. I have frostbite on my toes and could not feel my hands for the last 10 days," Burch said in a news release detailing his trip. "I am just happy to have endured the expedition. The record is an added bonus. I was in continual survival mode due to the extreme conditions."

While hiking, Burch also fell through an ice river. He said he ran back to his camp and spent an hour and a half chipping ice from his boots.

"That was probably one of the most intense parts of the expedition," Burch said, during a recent interview on DC101, a radio station in Washington, D.C. "I was scared. I could barely get my feet out of the ice water."

Since his return, Burch wears gloves all of the time to protect his sensitive hands from pain as a result of frostbite. He said during his DC101 interview that there is a chance that he could lose one of his fingertips from the frostbite. Listen to his radio interview here.

End Update

Blinding snowstorms. Avalanches. Sub-zero temperatures. Wolves, snow leopards and wild dogs.

Sound like ideal conditions for a month-long excursion? Roanoke College alumnus, Sean Burch '92, believes that he is up for the challenge.

Starting today, this extreme athlete and six-time world record holder embarks on what he calls his most challenging feat yet - trekking the mountains of Western Mongolia. 

The mountains are home to the Kazakh Eagle Hunters. Burch's trip is planned for one of the coldest times of year in this east central Asian country, where mountain access may require crossing glacier expanses with hundred-foot deep crevasses.

Burch plans to hike 20 hours a day and land his seventh world record for achieving the most first ascents in the history of these Mongolian mountains that have rarely, if ever, been traversed by humans.

At the same time, Burch aims to raise awareness for the No Kid Hungry campaign by Share Our Strength, a nonprofit organization that seeks to end child hunger in America. Once he returns to the United States, he plans to attend and speak at some of the organization's education awareness events.

Burch isn't a stranger to adventure and extreme pursuits. His world records include feats such as the fastest ascent of Nepal, the fastest ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2005 and winning the North Pole Marathon in 2004. In the past year, Burch's four-person team won National Geographic Channel's "Ultimate Survival Alaska." 

But he said this Mongolian adventure is by far one of his most challenging journeys. He has never been to the country, and he will climb solo on peaks near the borders of Russia, China and Kazakhstan.

"I just love that, going to a new area that you've never been before," he said. "What you learn is 10-fold."

Even so, "Mental fortitude is going to be everything," said Burch, who runs a Northern Virginia-based motivational leadership and wellness consulting business and is author of the fitness and self-help book "Hyperfitness."

While in Mongolia, Burch will travel with a group of locals who will help him set up a base camp. From there, he will hike mountains and ridgeline paths by day and camp at night. The base camps will travel by camel to different spots. 

Burch will rely on Mongolian fare for food, including camel, sheep's head, stomach butter and fermented horse milk.

He'll complete his trek and head back to the United States on Dec. 4.

"This is real true exploration," he said.

Follow Burch's Mongolian adventure via Twitter, @SeanBurch, and track his path here.

Published Nov. 10, 2014