Draft:Karl Krüger (adventurer)

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  The primary page that the hatnote should be added to is Karl Krüger. Robert McClenon (talk) 20:56, 5 November 2024 (UTC)

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Karl Krüger (born June 14, 1972) is an American adventure athlete best known for his paddling 877 miles of the Northwest Passage by Stand Up Paddleboard (SUP). Krüger rose to fame in June 2017 when he was the first and only person to finish the Race To Alaska on a Standup Paddleboard, completing the 750-mile race from Port Townsend, WA to Ketchikan, Alaska, in 14 days and 6 hours. Krüger also holds the record for the fastest completion of Northwest Maritime Center’s Seventy48 Race for the "Standing Up" class at 13 hrs and 15 minutes, placing first for the SUP class in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022.

Krüger is the captain of a 64-foot steel-hulled expedition sailing vessel, Raven, as well as the owner and operator of Krüger Expeditions, a for-profit sailing company, and the President of Krüger Creative, a 501(c)3 non-profit, offering artist-in-resident programs aboard SV Raven in some of the most remote areas of the West Coast of North America.

Early Life

Krüger was born Carl Ernest Haischer Jr in Syracuse, NY to Beatrice Krüger (b 1937- 2017), and Carl Ernest Haischer Sr, (1909-1993), being the 7th of his mother’s children.

Krüger’s father was born to an Algonquin mother and Austrian father in New York State, and following his mother’s death in 1916 was sent with his younger brother to a Native American Residential School where his brother died the first winter of neglect and abuse. Krüger’s father also suffered severe abuse and starvation during his time at the Residential School.

Beatrice Krüger, born in Norway, migrated to the United States shortly after World War II, having been caught in Germany during the War. Beatrice was a single mother of six before meeting Krüger’s father, although by the time Krüger was born, only his older brother of 5 years, John, lived at home. Krüger suffered chronic physical abuse from both his father and his mother during childhood. Following the death of Krüger’s brother John when Krüger was 12, tension in the home between his mother and father escalated until their divorce in 1984. His only sister died a year later from an accidental steroid overdose due to complications from multiple sclerosis.

Krüger's mother belonged to the Jehovah's Witness religion and insisted that Krüger also join the church. He refused and Krüger was forced out of his mother's house in 1987, living out of his car and small lean-to shelter in the woods outside Cortland, NY. He worked in kitchens and other after-school jobs to support himself while attempting to complete his high school degree. In 1989, when Krüger was 17, his mother involuntarily put him into Benjamin Rush for 3 months. Following his release from the hospital, Krüger fought to return to Cortland Junior Senior High after being kicked out due to his medical incarceration. Krüger graduated from high school in 1991 and being of age, legally changed his name to Karl Krüger, taking his mother’s maiden name, attempting to distance himself from his father.

Krüger attended Paul Smith’s College at Paul Smiths, NY (1997-1998), completing an Associate's Degree in Applied Science (AAS), later finishing his education at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA (1998-2001), achieving a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Environmental Science / Environmental Toxicology, with a Minor in Chemistry.

At Western Washington University, Krüger met Jessica Stahl and they were married in 2005. The couple had one daughter, Dagny Galen Krüger, in 2007. Krüger divorced Stahl in 2022 due to irreconcilable differences. In 2024, Krüger married his best friend and Krüger Expeditions business partner, Elyn Oliver.

Athletic Career

Mountaineering

Krüger's father began his outdoor athletic education when Krüger was 3 years old, having him climb unassisted 'Big Slide', a 4,240-foot peak in the High Peaks Region of New York's Adirondacks. By the time Krüger was 12, he and his father had climbed all 46 high peaks, achieving the status of a '46'er'.

Skiing

His mother set him on skis at age 2, first learning to cross-country ski, moving to Super-G ski racing in 1979, at age 7. Krüger would continue ski racing through high school until his father refused to fund training, ending any chance of future competitive racing. Krüger later coached ski racing and worked at as a ski tech in the Winter of 1990-1991 in Sugarloaf, Maine. After moving to the West Coast, Krüger became a ski patrol at Mount Baker from 1996 until 2014.

Paddling

Krüger first held a paddle at age 2, when his father would take his family canoeing on the lakes and rivers of the Adirondacks near his home in Cortland, NY. Later, Krüger was given a small canoe and a paddle and spent his free time exploring the coast of Nova Scotia, learning about coastal tides and currents. Krüger focused on climbing, sailing and skiing until 2005, when he was introduced to a SUP surfing, Krüger became committed to the sport, later racing in the 8th annual Round the Rock Race in 2015 and 2016. In June 2016, Krüger entered the Race to Alaska on a 17-foot Starboard Ace GT. Krüger remained at the front of the race pack when he pulled out of the race in Nanaimo, BC due to cracks in his board, causing water ingress. In 2017, Krüger completed the 750-mile Race in 14 days, 6 hours and 17 minutes, becoming the first person to do so on a Stand Up Paddleboard. In 2023 Krüger became the first person to Stand Up Paddle 877 miles of the Arctic's Northwest Passage.

Sailing

In 1984, Krüger taught himself to windsurf off Meyer's Point on Cayuga Lake, often cutting classes if the wind was blowing. It was a healing and an escape from the structure of his school classrooms. In 1985, he began teaching windsurfing and soon moved to teaching small boat sailing at East Shore Sailing, in Ithaca, NY. In 1991, Krüger did his first off-shore delivery, a Hinckley, from Boston, Massachusetts, to Maine. Krüger began living aboard his boat, a San Juan 24, Sirocco, in 1999. Krüger now holds a United States Coast Guard 100 Ton Master’s License with Sail and Tow endorsements. For over 20 years, he has cruised extensively in the San Juan Islands, the Canadian Gulf Islands, the Inside Passage, and Alaska.

Climbing

Krüger began his climbing on ice near Ithaca, New York. In 1990, Krüger climbed Yosemite first time, beginning a passion for rock climbing. In 1991 Krüger moved to North Conway, New Hampshire and guided for two years, later serving on two different mountain rescue services. In 1992, Krüger spent three months in France, Italy and Switzerland ice climbing Aiguille du Midi, the Argentière Glacier and alpine climbing on Mount Blanc. Returning to the US, Krüger climbed routes in the Bugaboos, Canadian Rockies, British Columbia Coast Range, Colorado, California, Utah, and Montana. Many of these climbs were done with his climbing partner, Steve Mascioli, who later died in 1997 during a climb on Moonflower Buttress on Mount Hunter in the Denali Range of Alaska. As a tribute to Mascioli that same year, Krüger solo climbed Grand, Middle, and South Teton in 26.5 hrs.

Arctic Paddle

Following the Race to Alaska, Krüger felt a pull towards doing something bigger. What started as an attempt to paddle the length of the Northwest Passage in one season, became a multi-season effort to paddle the 1,900 miles of the Northwest Passage by SUP.

In 2019, Krüger attempted to SUP paddle 1,900 miles of the Northwest Passage but aborted his plan a few days before his start date due to complications at home in his business and marriage. Covid prevented his return to the Arctic until 2022, when Krüger paddled solo and unsupported from Tuktoyaktuk, NWT to Paulatuk, NWT (420 miles). In 2023, Krüger returned and paddled from Paulatuk, NWT to Kugluktuk, Nunavut (487 miles). Krüger has plans to continue paddling the Northwest Passage in the summer of 2025.

Business and Philanthropy

While aboard a friend's sailboat after a personal sail to ski of Mt. Waddington in 1996, Krüger dreamed up the idea of a sail charter company that would take people into nature, his solace from the difficulties of his childhood. Along with his then-wife, Jessica Stahl, Krüger started Kruger Escapes in 2008 on Orcas Island, WA after purchasing and restoring SV Tomahawk, a 50-foot custom Frers TransPac record holder formally known as Margaret Rintoul III. That same year the couple formed Krüger Carpentry Inc., a construction company, on Orcas Island. Doing day sails out of Deer Harbor, WA, and multi-day sails in the Salish Sea, Krüger sailed an average of 3000 nautical miles each year.

In 2015, Krüger purchased a 61' C&C ketch, SV Winkapew, allowing the company to focus on multi-day trips and a further geographical reach. Krüger never let go of the dream of Sail to Ski, and in 2018, secured SV Ocean Watch, a 64' steel-hulled cutter that was the first American-flagged vessel to circumnavigate the Americas. Following his divorce from Stahl, Krüger closed down Krüger Construction to focus exclusively on his sailing business, rebranding it as Krüger Expeditions in 2022, and renaming Ocean Watch as SV Raven. In 2024, Krüger shifted into a proven 42' Aluminum hulled polar expedition vessel.

In 2024, Krüger, along with Elyn Oliver, created Krüger Creative, a 501(c)(3) non-profit to focus more deeply on the connection between humans and their connection to place, offering in-residency programs to artists and educators aboard their polar expedition sailboat in remote coastal waters in Washington State, Southeast Alaska, and the Arctic's Northwest Passage.

Films

• The Race to Alaska (2020)

Competitive Achievements

• 2017 Race to Alaska, SUP solo, first to complete race by SUP, finishing 17 overall, completed in 14 days, 6 hours, 17 minutes
• 2024 Race to Alaska, Trimaran with a team of 4, completed in 5 days, 18 hours, 9 minutes

• 2018 Seventy48 Race, 1st in Standing Up category, 16th overall, 13 hours 15 minutes
• 2019 Seventy48 Race, 1st in Standing Up category, 16th overall, 15 hours 56 minutes
• 2021 Seventy48 Race, 1st in Standing Up category, 14th overall, 15 hours 26 minutes
• 2022 Seventy48 Race, 1st in Standing Up category, 19th overall, 14 hours 12 minutes

See Also

• Race to Alaska