HISTORY: A Climber and his Doll- Viekka Gustafson

A climber and his doll you say? Sure, it may sound a little far fetched, but a man by the name of Viekka (pronounced Vay-ka) Gustafson has gone ahead and become such a famous celebrity in his home country of Finland that an action figure of him was created, complete with crampons, ice axes, base camp tent and other accouterments of his trade. This didn't happen overnight, although if you ask many climbers it did. Viekka, at only 31 years of age, is a young climber given his international fame. He, along with Ed Viesturs, has climbed all of the 14 highest peaks in the world without the use of supplemental oxygen. His story parallels that of Viesturs to a great degree as well. Viekka Gustafson is Ed's go to climbing partner and as such they completed many of the 8000er's together, among them Annapurna (26,545 feet), Dhualagiri (26, 794 feet), and Makalu (27,765 feet) just to name a few. What spurred on his fantastic rise in fame? It was a couple of events actually, starting with his birth. Gustafson seems to have been blessed with a body that is remarkably suited to the high altitude realm. He finds that he is nowhere near as labored while in the death zone (the point above 8000 meters) as many other climbers seem to be, even with more acclimatization and training. The other piece to Veikka's success is his almost unbelievable luck. Few climbers in the world have had so many successful summit bids with so few attempts. Weather, snow conditions, his climbing partners and most definitely his physical ability have all played an important role in Viekka's climb to the top of the mountaineering world. As for his partnership with Viesturs, Ed was quick to say that they get along so well due to their values while climbing high mountains. There are points when both feel a connection, similar to what a married couple may feel, where they no longer need to speak to communicate. Rather, they go with the flow so well that each of them knows exactly what the other is thinking. So what of this action figure? In an interview with Mountainzone.com he was quoted as follows:

"Normally toys are violent, there are guns and things, so I was thinking: Why not? If kids can learn something positive from it, if I can be a positive role model, then it's a good thing."

He obviously has the best interest of both his country and its children at heart.

Veikka Gustafson. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veikka_Gustafsson

Potterfield, P. (2005). A Rapid Climb to the Top. Retrieved May 5, 2010, from Mountain Zone's website: http://climb.mountainzone.com/interviews/2000/gustafsson/html/