NYC Banking Exec Dies While Attempting ‘Everesting’ Hiking Challenge

Exercise can be a great way to get healthy, improve your fitness and even relieve stress, but overdoing it can be deadly.

There really is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and for one NYC banking executive, that too much of a good thing involved a hiking challenge that resulted in cardiac arrest.

The New York Post reports that 43-year-old Slava Leykind participated in an endurance hiking challenge called “Everesting” that took place at Snow King Mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in June 2025. It’s called “Everesting” because participants repeatedly climb 1500 feet up and back down a mountain multiple times to replicate climbing Mount Everest.

The father of two made it up and down the mountain six times before he collapsed. First responders rushed him to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho where he died on July 2nd. He was buried near his home in Connecticut.

Leykind lived in Westport, Connecticut with his wife and three children. He was an executive at New York City-based investment bank CG Sawaya Partners, and he had worked at the firm for over two decades.

According to his obituary, even though he had immense success professionally, his family was his top priority. “Despite his significant professional success at a young age, Slava’s role as a husband and father was his greatest achievement, passion and pride. He fervently supported his children, bringing love and a sense of calm to the wonderful chaos of a full house.”

After Leykind collapsed at the Everesting event, the rest of the even continued as planned with hikers continuing laps up and down the mountain. Only after the event, did Everesting comment on Leykind’s death. According to Jackson Hole News & Guide, after the event was over, the organizers sent out a message to participants that read, “Today is an incredibly sad day for our community, as a Jackson Hole participant has passed away.”