Denis Urubko (Russian: Денис Викторович Урубко, Denis Viktorovitch Ouroubko), born July 29, 1973 in Nevinnomyssk (Russia), is a Russian and Polish mountaineer. He previously held Kazakh nationality from 1991 to 2012. In 2009, he became the fifteenth person to have climbed all 14 peaks over 8,000m high.
In 2006, he won the speed climbing competition on Elbrus in 3 h 55 min 58 s for an ascent from Azau station to the summit, ie 3,250 meters. It arrives almost 40 minutes ahead of the second. He also won the Khan Tengri Mountain Festival where he made a round trip from the base camp at 4,200 meters to the summit at 7,010 meters in 12 hours and 21 minutes, winning by 3 hours in advance.
He climbed 2 peaks of 8,000 meters in winter: Makalu in 2009 with Simone Moro and Gasherbrum II in 2011 with Cory Richards and Simone Moro. He also opened up new routes on Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Broad Peak. He has successfully climbed 22 peaks over 8,000 meters. He is the recipient of the Snow Leopard award and the event record for having climbed the 5 7000m peaks of the former USSR in 42 days in 1999.
With Adam Bielecki, he led the rescue operation for Elisabeth Revol and Tomasz Mackiewicz on January 27, 2018, on Nanga Parbat, Pakistan. Climbing around 1,200 meters in altitude, at night and in difficult conditions in just eight hours, the expedition enabled the French mountaineer to be rescued but had to give up the rescue of Mackiewicz, who remained at around 7,200 meters above sea level, in the storm.
He climbs without artificial oxygen supply, inspired by Reinhold Messner. He decides to end his career and the extreme Himalayas in February 2020.
