RIP Atanas Skatov · Annapurna Climb Camp 2 to 3

Tragically Atana Skatov would later die attempting K2 winter of 2021. Here he is climbing up bullet ice between Camp 2 and Camp 3 on the infamous Annapurna in 2016.

---Annapurna I---
The 10th-highest mountain — is the Most Dangerous mountain to climb, with a fatality rate of 32%. K2, second-highest peak, is almost as dangerous, with a fatality rate of 29%.

Annapurna I was the first 8,000-metre (26,200 ft) peak to be climbed. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, of the French Annapurna expedition led by Herzog (including Lionel Terray, Gaston Rébuffat, Marcel Ichac, Jean Couzy, Marcel Schatz, Jacques Oudot, Francis de Noyelle), reached the summit on 3 June 1950. Ichac made a documentary of the expedition, called Victoire sur Annapurna. Its summit was the highest summit attained for three years, until the first successful ascent of Mount Everest.

Atanas Skatov was born on 11 March 1978 in Sliven, Bulgaria. In 2001, he graduated with distinction from the Agricultural University in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and held a master's degree in plant protection. During his study he gained two scholarships, allowing him to study for two semesters at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. From 2001–2004, he was a full-time PhD student, in the departments of both horticulture and phytomedicine (plant protection). In February 2005, he received a Doctorate degree in Agricultural Science after successfully presenting his dissertation on “Integrated Tomato Production (Lycopersicon esculentum) in a glasshouse with an emphasis on integrated and biological pest control against the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum westwood)”.

In 2015, he published his first book The Mother Goddess of the Universe. At the same time his first documentary movie: Skatov, The Experiment, Episode 1: The First Vegan on Everest was released. Skatov has published scientific articles in Bulgaria and abroad. He has been generating significant media atention, regarding his latest project: Climbing the 14 highest summits on the planet without consumption of food of animal origin.

Skatov has one son, born in 2009.

Skatov said he had never been on a mountain until 2010, and before 2012 had never been an active sports person. Without passing even a basic mountaineering or climbing training program, he became the first known person of the world on a vegan diet who climbed the highest summits on six of the continents in less than two years, climbing four eight – thousanders in a week apiece. He is the first Bulgarian mountaineer taking part in four expeditions to climb eight-thousanders in a single season.

Skatov became a vegan in January 2012, and decided to test this kind of diet by climbing the highest summits of each continent in the world, testing his physical and mental endurance. He has chosen the high-altitude mountaineering as it allows a human being to put his physical and mental health under intense pressure.

In 2015, Skatov was awarded a “Honorary Citizen” of Sliven, Bulgaria.

In 2018, Skatov who climbed the sixth highest peak on the planet Cho Oyu (8201 m) without supplemental oxygen has received the Golden Bulgaria badge for Best Athlete of May

In 2019, Skatov was awarded the Green Person of Bulgaria for 2019

In 2020, he published his first book in English - The First Vegan on Everest.

November 2020 saw the release of Skatov's 7th book which is dedicated to SE7EN SUMMITS VEGAN project. It has over 650 pages and author's only images