Retirement has not slowed down ALI Life Member William Burke. A former partner of Shearman & Sterling, Mr. Burke retired from the practice of law in 2003. He was elected to ALI’s Council in 1989, and took Emeritus status in 2012.
Since then, Mr. Burke can be found climbing around the world. He is one of very few people to have climbed the highest mountain on every continent after age 60, and the oldest American to summit Mount Everest and return alive, a feat he has accomplished twice. Mr. Burke has climbed Mount Everest from both the North (Tibet) and the South (Nepal).
His amazing journey as a mountaineer has been captured in the film Eight Summits: The Bill Burke Story, and you may read more about Mr. Burke’s adventures at eightsummits.com.
This month, Mr. Burke begins his next expedition to climb Burke-Khang, an unclimbed border peak of Nepal and Tibet. Last year, the government of Nepal officially opened up for exploration 104 new peaks in the Himalayan mountain range, including Burke-Khang. The 22,775 foot-high Burke Khang was named in honor of Mr. Burke by Nepal's Mountaineering Association.
To read more about the long history of mountaineering Mount Everest, click here.