Sergey Kofanov
Sergey Anatolyevich Kofanov (; born May 6, 1978) is a Russian mountaineer. Since 1994, Kofanov is active in mountaineering. He is a professional mountain guide on all continents since 2005. For this period of time he has organized more than 30 expeditions, including international ones. Biography. In May 2006 Kofanov took part in a rescue operation of Lincoln Hall on Mount Everest, who was on the verge of death in an altitude of 8700 m. Later he wrote a book, "Dead Lucky", becoming a bestseller. A year later he saved the life of the lost and dying Italian climber  Marco Epis on the Everest, lowering him from an altitude of 8300 m. This was the first rescue operation on the Everest when it was organized by one person under such altitude. Many TV channels around the world made reports of this event, such as the Italian RAI-TV and the English Discovery Channel. In January 2009 he was awarded the medal "The Honour" by the Russian Award Committee for this heroic achievement. In 2008 Kofanov was awarded the prestige mountaineering awards, the American Golden Piton and the European Grolla d`Or for the best ascent of 2007 (peak Jannu, 7710  m, Nepal). At the age of 28, he became the youngest Russian Everest summiter. Also he became the seventh and the youngest Russian who finished the project "7 Summits" (ascending the highest peaks of all continents). Kofanov was champion of national and international championships in alpinism and mountaineering. He is considered Merited Master of Sports of Russia.