VAIL — Jon Kedrowski recognized the buzzing, crackling and humming from the rocks around him. His arm brushed the ice ax on his pack. It was hot. “It was like déja vu,” Kedrowski said. “I thought to myself, ‘Man, not again.’ “

Kedrowski was only a couple hundred yards shy of the summit of Washington’s 12,276-foot Mount Adams last month when the electrical storm hit. Three years earlier, the Vail adventurer and geologist had barely escaped his tent on the summit of Colorado’s Mount Harvard before a lightning bolt fried it.

Kedrowski reached the summit of Mount Adams, but booming thunder — and electrified recollections of Harvard — rebuffed his plan to spend the night on that peak. Still, the 35-year-old mountaineer climbed and skied from the summit of 20 of the highest volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest in 30 days last month, camping on as many summits as weather allowed.

The remarkable mission was an extension of his 2011 feat that saw him climb and camp on all 54 Colorado fourteeners. But he’s been climbing most of his life. As a four-sport athlete at Eagle Valley High School — where he graduated valedictorian in 1998 — Kedrowski climbed Colorado’s highest peaks to stay fit in the summer. Reaching the summit of Mount Everest in 2012 was the realization of a lifelong dream sparked by those teenage years, scaling peaks and even sleeping on summits.

“For the last decade, I’ve been camping on summits to help acclimate for the bigger peaks in Alaska, South America and Everest,” he said.

With a doctorate in environmental geography and a background as a geologist, Kedrowski was lured to the volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest for an audacious mission to ski from 20 peaks in a mere 30 days. He slept on seven summits during the push and scaled many of the peaks solo last month.

“That is impressive. I definitely commend his commitment,” said Chris Davenport, the legendary Old Snowmass mountaineer who led a team of skiers up and down 13 Pacific Northwest volcanoes in 18 days in 2012.

It’s a daunting task, Davenport said. Walking early, packing enough food, dealing with weather, keeping focused and healthy.

“To do that many in 30 days can be the toughest thing anyone will do in their life,” Davenport said. “And to do it as a lone wolf, out there like Jon, that makes it even harder.”

Kedrowski joins the elite cadre of Colorado mountaineers who are pushing boundaries and setting new standards for climbing and skiing big peaks. Aspen mountaineers Jordan White, Evan Pletcher and Anton Sponar joined Aaron Diamond of Jackson, Wyo., in a month-long mission to climb and ski Alaska’s Mount Foraker, Mount Hunter and the 20,322-foot Denali, the highest peak in North America. The quartet skied off the summit of Denali on June 3, according to dispatches posted at wildsnow.com, marking a first-ever mission to climb and ski the three Alaska Range peaks.

Kedrowski has become a sort of master at setting up exposed camps, chiseling platforms for his tent and even using ice blocks that melt his tent into the snow. It’s all good training for the world’s highest peaks such as Denali and Everest. But in addition to training, it’s an opportunity for the scientist to study unique geology such as volcanic craters and the ever-shifting weather atop peaks. Also, it leads to some amazing photographs for a book he’s planning that will follow his “Sleeping on the Summits: Colorado Fourteener High Bivys” and will include all 13 of California’s 14,000-foot peaks.

“Sometimes you feel like you are getting away with something … like you shouldn’t be up there,” Kedrowski said. “But I love being up there when nobody is up there. Sometimes climbers come up early for sunrise, but no one is up there when the sun goes down.

“Some of the photos from that perspective are just spectacular. That’s one of my goals as an outdoor adventurer, to get those shots so people can see those views and perspectives that are just so rarely seen.”

Jason Blevins: 303-954-1374, jblevins@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jasonblevins

Mountain man

Jon Kedrowski, 35, of Vail climbed and skied 22 of the highest volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest in 30 days last month. He reached the summit of 20 of the peaks and camped atop seven:

1. Mount Shasta, Calif. (14,179 feet), April 30-May 1

2. Mount Lassen, Calif. (10,462 feet), May 2-3

3. Mount Tehama, Calif. (9,235 feet), May 3

4. Mount McLoughlin, Ore. (9,500 feet), May 6

5. Mount Garfield, Ore. (8,058 feet), May 6

6. Mount Scott, Ore. (8,929 feet), May 6, no summit

7. Mount Thielsen, Ore. (9,184 feet), May 7-8

9. Mount Bailey, Ore. (8,368 feet), May 9, no summit

10. Diamond Peak, Ore. (8,744 feet), May 11

11. Mount Bachelor, Ore. (9,068 feet), May 11-12

12. South Sister, Ore. (10,368 feet), May 12-13

13. Middle Sister, Ore. (10,047 feet), May 13

14. North Sister, Ore. (10,085 feet), May 13

15. Broken Top, Ore. (9,175 feet), May 15

16. Mount Hood, Ore. (11,239 feet), May 16-17

17. Mount St. Helens, Wash. (8,363 feet), May 19

18. Mount Jefferson, Ore. (10,500 feet), May 21

19. Mount Adams, Wash. (12,276 feet), May 22

20. Mount Rainier, Wash. (14,411 feet), May 24

21. Glacier Peak, Wash. (10,541 feet), May 27

22. Mount Baker, Wash. (10,778 feet), May 30-31

14,411

Elevation, in feet, of Mount Rainier, the highest peak Jon Kedrowski climbed and skied last month

20

Peaks in the Pacific Northwest that Kedrowski skied from the summit in 30 days

7

Summits he slept on during his grueling trip

54

All of Colorado’s fourteeners Kedrowski climbed in 2011