Inducted 2019

John Stenderup, a 2004 Garces High graduate, summited Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world on May 21, 2017, and then Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain, less than 48 hours later on May 23, 2017. In 2018, he summited K2, the world's second highest mountain on July 22nd, and became the 21st American to do so. He is one of only 7 Americans to have climbed all three peaks and the only person from Kern County to climb any of them.

Mount Everest (elevation 29,035 feet above sea level) has been climbed by approximately 5,000 people since the first summit in 1963. K2 (28,251 feet above sea level), referred to the "Holy Grail of Mountaineering," has been climbed approximately 400 times since 1964. Lhotse (27,940 feet), a sister peak to Everest, has had fewer than 800 people reach the summit since 1965.

Stenderup has also climbed Denali in Alaska (at 20,310 feet, the highest point in North America), Peru's Alpamayo (19,511 feet), Mount Rainier (14,411 feet), Mount Baker (10,781 feet), and numerous other prominent mountains in North America. In the winter, he focuses his time on ice climbing, the sport of climbing frozen waterfalls.

Stenderup grew up on a farm in the Arvin area and graduated from Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, where he earned a degree in international agriculture business.

Currently, Stenderup is a Supply Chain Consultant for C.H. Robinson, a global supply chain company, and is based out of Monterey, CA. He works closely with shippers of produce and perishable foods on supply chain development, cold chain efficiency and transportation spend management. He has worked for the company since 2008.