Jaan Künnap


Jaan Künnap is an Estonian mountaineer, photographer, and sports coach.

Biography

Künnap went to school in Kose, as well as in Tallinn, where he has lived since 1969.
In 1971–1994 he worked as a deep-sea diver on a rescue ship. During this time he logged over 3,000 hours of diving time and recorded depths of up to 80 m.
He has climbed to the top of over 150 mountains. Künnap received the Snow Leopard award in 1987. In 1999, a film was made about him with the same name. He was the president of the Tallinn Alpinism Club between 1983 and 1988 and since 1999 he has led the mountaineering club that bears his name.
He has climbed to the top of several seven-thousanders. He has technically climbed over 8,000 m; however, he has not successfully reached the summit of an eight-thousander. During his climb of Cho Oyu, the eight-thousander he has climbed, he went above 8,000 m, but started coming down before reaching the top.
Künnap has participated in over 50 photography exhibitions and has reached the podium in numerous photography competitions. He has written two books and served as a producer for several documentaries. Since 1998, he has worked as a photographer for the Tallinn City Museum. He has also added hundreds of photos to Wikipedia and was selected as the best Wikiphotograper of the Year in 2019 in Estonia.

Awards

In 1987, he received the Snow Leopard award together with Kalev Muru and Alfred Lõhmus.
In 2001, he was honored with the 3rd class of the Order of the Estonian Red Cross.

Works

Photos

Books