Far out

Since then he’s undertaken a variety of treks and climbs aimed at testing his physical and mental fitness, including many so-called first ascents of various mountain peaks around the world. He claims the Guinness World Record for climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, making it to the summit in 5 hours and 29 minutes. (Most people who make that climb take days). Burch has also got the Guinness record for the fastest climb of Mount Fuji in Japan, and in 2004 he won a marathon race to… the North Pole, dodging ice breaks, polar bears and stray bullets shot from drunken Russians supposedly hired for security.

Burch’s most recent feat took place late last year in Nepal. He trekked from one end of the country to the other, covering the 1,250 miles of the Great Himalaya Trail in a record 49 days. (The previous record had been 68.) He says the average elevation was 12,000 feet (topping out as high as 20,000), and that during the trip he suffered through a landslide, snowstorms, a monsoon and an attack of leeches on his feet. “The obstacles that I went through made Everest seem tame,” he says of the expedition that he undertook partly to create awareness of remote regions in that country. “Overall, it was absolutely the toughest expedition I’ve had.” For his effort, the government of Nepal named Burch a goodwill ambassador to the country, an honor he was given during a recent dinner at the D.C. home of Nepal’s ambassador.

Burch, a native of Fairfax, says that he’d long been fascinated by Everest—and while in his late 20s, his late grandfather gave him the nudge he needed to tackle it, telling him to go out and chase his dreams. Burch trained for four years, climbing various summits, before climbing Everest—the first Virginian to do so. And he’s been on a personal mission ever since. “I’m trying to live my life to the fullest,” he says. “Some people say I’m tough, others would say I’m stupid. But the idea is, how close can I come to being happy?”