The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) as being more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) in height above sea level, and sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks. There is no precise definition of the criteria used to assess independence, and at times, the UIAA has considered whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountain peaks by including the major satellite peaks of eight-thousanders. All of the eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in an altitude known as the death zone.
From 1950 to 1964, all 14 eight-thousanders were summited by expedition climbers in the summer (the first to be summited was Annapurna I in 1950, and the last was Shishapangma in 1964), and from 1980 to 2021, all 14 were summited in the winter (the first to be summited in winter being Mount Everest in 1980, and the last being K2 in 2021). On a variety of statistical techniques, the deadliest eight-thousander is Annapurna I (one death – climber or climber support – for every three summiters), followed by K2 and Nanga Parbat (one death for every four to five summiters), and then Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga (one for every six to seven summiters).
The first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders was the Italian climber Reinhold Messner in 1986, who did not use any supplementary oxygen. In 2010, Edurne Pasaban, a Basque Spanish mountaineer became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders, but with the aid of supplementary oxygen. In 2011, Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders without the aid of supplementary oxygen. In 2013, South Korean Kim Chang-ho climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in 7 years and 310 days, without the aid of supplementary oxygen. In July 2023, Kristin Harila and Tenjen Lama Sherpa set a speed record of 92 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, with supplementary oxygen. In July 2022, Sanu Sherpa became the first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders twice, which he did from 2006 to 2022.
Issues with false summits (e.g. Cho Oyu, Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri), or separated dual summits (e.g. Shishapangma and Manaslu), have led to disputed claims of ascents. [1] In 2022, after several years of research, a team of experts reported that they could only confirm evidence that three climbers, Ed Viesturs, Veikka Gustafsson and Nirmal Purja, had stood on the true geographic summit of all 14 eight-thousanders. [2]
The first recorded attempt on an eight-thousander was when Albert F. Mummery, Geoffrey Hastings and J. Norman Collie tried to climb Pakistan's Nanga Parbat in 1895. The attempt failed when Mummery and two Gurkhas, Ragobir Thapa and Goman Singh, were killed by an avalanche. [3]
The first successful ascent of an eight-thousander was by the French climbers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who reached the summit of Annapurna on 3 June 1950 using expedition climbing techniques as part of the 1950 French Annapurna expedition. [4] Due to its location in Tibet, Shishapangma was the last eight-thousander to be ascended, which was completed by a Chinese team led by Xu Jing in 1964 (Tibet's mountains were closed by China to foreigners until 1978). [5]
The first winter ascent of an eight-thousander was by a Polish team led by Andrzej Zawada on Mount Everest, with Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki reaching the summit on 17 February 1980; [6] all-Polish teams would complete nine of the first fourteen winter ascents of eight-thousanders. [7] The final eight-thousander to be climbed in winter was K2, whose summit was ascended by a 10-person Nepalese team on 16 January 2021. [8]
Only two climbers have completed more than one first ascent of an eight-thousander, Hermann Buhl (Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak) and Kurt Diemberger (Broad Peak and Dhaulagiri). Buhl's summit of Nanga Parbat in 1953 is notable as being the only solo first ascent of one of the eight-thousanders. The Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka is noted for creating over ten new routes on various eight-thousander mountains. [7] Italian climber Simone Moro made the first winter ascent of four eight-thousanders (Shishapangma, Makalu, Gasherbrum II, and Nanga Parbat), [9] while three Polish climbers have each made three first winter ascents of an eight-thousander, Maciej Berbeka (Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Broad Peak), Krzysztof Wielicki (Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse) and Jerzy Kukuczka (Dhaulagiri I, Kangchenjunga, and Annapurna I). [7]
On 16 October 1986, Italian Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. In 1987, Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka became the second person to accomplish this feat. [7] Messner summited each of the 14 peaks without the aid of bottled oxygen, a feat that was only repeated by the Swiss Erhard Loretan nine years later in 1995 (Kukuczka had used supplementary oxygen while summiting Everest and on no other eight-thousander [7] ). [11]
On 17 May 2010, Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. [12] In August 2011, Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to climb the 14 eight-thousanders without the use of supplementary oxygen. [13] [14]
The first couple and team to summit all 14 eight-thousanders were the Italians Nives Meroi (who was the second woman to accomplish this feat without supplementary oxygen), and her husband Romano Benet on 11 May 2017. [15] [16] The couple climbed alpine style, without the use of supplementary oxygen or other support. [16] [17]
On 23 May 2023, Nepali guide Kami Rita summitted Everest for the 28th time (a record for Everest), becoming the first-ever person to climb an eight-thousander 38 times. [18] In July 2022, Sanu Sherpa became the first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders twice. [19] He started with Cho Oyu in 2006, and completed the double by summiting Gasherbrum II in July 2022. [20]
On 20 May 2013, South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho set a new speed record of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, without the use of supplementary oxygen, in 7 years and 310 days. On 29 October 2019, the British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja set a speed record of 6 months and 6 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders with the use of supplementary oxygen. [21] [22] [23] On 27 July 2023, Kristin Harila and Tenjen Lama Sherpa set a new speed record of 92 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders with supplementary oxygen. [24] [25]
Eight thousander | From 1950 to March 2012 [27] | Climber death rate [28] [29] [lower-alpha 1] | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Total ascents [lower-alpha 2] | Total deaths [lower-alpha 3] | Deaths as % of ascents [lower-alpha 4] | ||
Everest | 5656 | 223 | 3.9% | 1.52% |
K2 | 283 | 40 | 14.1% | 3.00% |
Lhotse | 461 | 13 | 2.8% | 1.03% |
Makalu | 361 | 31 | 8.6% | 1.63% |
Cho Oyu | 3138 | 44 | 1.4% | 0.64% |
Dhaulagiri I | 448 | 69 | 15.4% | 2.94% |
Manaslu | 661 | 65 | 9.8% | 2.77% |
Nanga Parbat | 335 | 68 | 20.3% | – [lower-alpha 5] |
Annapurna I | 191 | 61 | 31.9% | 4.05% |
Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) | 334 | 29 | 8.7% | – [lower-alpha 5] |
Broad Peak | 404 | 21 | 5.2% | – [lower-alpha 5] |
Gasherbrum II | 930 | 21 | 2.3% | – [lower-alpha 5] |
Kangchenjunga | 243 | 40 | 16% | 3.00% |
Shishapangma | 302 | 25 | 8.3% |
The eight-thousanders are the world's deadliest mountains. The extreme altitude and the fact that the summits of all eight-thousanders lie in the Death Zone mean that climber mortality (or death rate) is high. [31] Two metrics are quoted to establish a death rate (i.e. broad and narrow) that are used to rank the eight-thousanders in order of deadliest. [30] [32]
The tables from the HDB for eight-thousanders also show that the death rate of climbers for the period 1990 to 2009 (e.g. modern expeditions), is roughly half that of the combined 1950 to 2009 period, i.e. climbing is becoming safer for the climbers attempting the summit. [28]
From 1950 to 1964, all 14 of the eight-thousanders were summited in the summer (the first was Annapurna I in 1950, and the last was Shishapangma in 1964), and from 1980 to 2021, all 14 were summited in the winter (the first being Everest in 1980, and the last being K2 in 2021).
Mountain [26] | First ascent [26] | First winter ascent [26] | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Height [34] | Prom. [34] | Country | Date | Summiter(s) | Date | Summiter(s) |
Everest | 8,849 m (29,032 ft) [35] | 8,849 m (29,032 ft) | Nepal China | 29 May 1953 | Edmund Hillary | 17 February 1980 | Krzysztof Wielicki Leszek Cichy |
K2 | 8,611 m (28,251 ft) | 4,020 m (13,190 ft) | Pakistan China [36] | 31 July 1954 | Achille Compagnoni Lino Lacedelli | 16 January 2021 [8] | Nirmal Purja [40] Gelje Sherpa |
Kangchenjunga | 8,586 m (28,169 ft) | 3,922 m (12,867 ft) | Nepal India [41] | 25 May 1955 | George Band Joe Brown on British expedition | 11 January 1986 | Krzysztof Wielicki Jerzy Kukuczka |
Lhotse | 8,516 m (27,940 ft) | 610 m (2,000 ft) | Nepal China | 18 May 1956 | Fritz Luchsinger Ernst Reiss | 31 December 1988 | Krzysztof Wielicki |
Makalu | 8,485 m (27,838 ft) | 2,378 m (7,802 ft) | Nepal China | 15 May 1955 | Jean Couzy Lionel Terray on French expedition | 9 February 2009 | Simone Moro Denis Urubko |
Cho Oyu | 8,188 m (26,864 ft) | 2,344 m (7,690 ft) | Nepal China | 19 October 1954 | Joseph Joechler Pasang Dawa Lama Herbert Tichy | 12 February 1985 | Maciej Berbeka Maciej Pawlikowski |
Dhaulagiri I | 8,167 m (26,795 ft) | 3,357 m (11,014 ft) | Nepal | 13 May 1960 | Kurt Diemberger Peter Diener Nawang Dorje Nima Dorje Ernst Forrer Albin Schelbert | 21 January 1985 | Andrzej Czok Jerzy Kukuczka |
Manaslu | 8,163 m (26,781 ft) | 3,092 m (10,144 ft) | Nepal | 9 May 1956 | Toshio Imanishi Gyalzen Norbu | 12 January 1984 | Maciej Berbeka Ryszard Gajewski |
Nanga Parbat | 8,125 m (26,657 ft) | 4,608 m (15,118 ft) | Pakistan | 3 July 1953 | Hermann Buhl on German–Austrian expedition | 26 February 2016 | Muhammad Ali Sadpara Simone Moro Alex Txikon |
Annapurna I | 8,091 m (26,545 ft) | 2,984 m (9,790 ft) | Nepal | 3 June 1950 | Maurice Herzog Louis Lachenal | 3 February 1987 | Jerzy Kukuczka Artur Hajzer |
Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) | 8,080 m (26,510 ft) | 2,155 m (7,070 ft) | Pakistan China | 5 July 1958 | Andrew Kauffman Pete Schoening | 9 March 2012 | Adam Bielecki Janusz Gołąb |
Broad Peak | 8,051 m (26,414 ft) | 1,701 m (5,581 ft) | Pakistan China | 9 June 1957 | Fritz Wintersteller Marcus Schmuck Kurt Diemberger Hermann Buhl | 5 March 2013 | Maciej Berbeka Adam Bielecki Tomasz Kowalski Artur Małek |
Gasherbrum II | 8,034 m (26,358 ft) | 1,524 m (5,000 ft) | Pakistan China | 7 July 1956 | Fritz Moravec Josef Larch Hans Willenpart | 2 February 2011 | Simone Moro Denis Urubko Cory Richards |
Shishapangma | 8,027 m (26,335 ft) | 2,897 m (9,505 ft) | China | 2 May 1964 | Xu Jing Chang Chun-yen Wang Fuzhou Chen San Cheng Tien-liang Wu Tsung-yue Sodnam Doji Migmar Trashi Doji Yonten | 14 January 2005 | Piotr Morawski Simone Moro |
There is no single undisputed source or arbitrator for verified ascents of Himalayan eight-thousander peaks.
Various mountaineering journals, including the Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Journal , also maintain extensive records and archives on expeditions to the eight-thousanders, but do not always opine on disputed ascents, and nor do they maintain registers or lists of verified ascents of the eight-thousanders. [1] [42]
Elizabeth Hawley's The Himalayan Database , [43] is considered as an important source for verified ascents for the Nepalese Himalayas. [44] [45] Online databases of Himalayan ascents pay close regard to The Himalayan Database, including the website AdventureStats.com, [46] and the Eberhard Jurgalski List. [1] [42] [47]
The "No O2" column lists people who have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders without supplementary oxygen.
Order | Order (No O2) | Name | Period climbing eight-thousanders | Born | Age | Nationality |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Reinhold Messner | 1970–1986 | 1944 | 42 | Italian |
2 | Jerzy Kukuczka | 1979–1987 | 1948 | 39 | Polish | |
3 | 2 | Erhard Loretan | 1982–1995 | 1959 | 36 | Swiss |
4 | [49] | Carlos Carsolio | 1985–1996 | 1962 | 33 | Mexican |
5 | Krzysztof Wielicki | 1980–1996 | 1950 | 46 | Polish | |
6 | 3 | Juanito Oiarzabal | 1985–1999 | 1956 | 43 | Spanish |
7 | Sergio Martini | 1983–2000 | 1949 | 51 | Italian | |
8 | Park Young-seok | 1993–2001 | 1963 | 38 | Korean | |
9 | Um Hong-gil | 1988–2001 | 1960 [50] | 40 | Korean | |
10 | 4 | Alberto Iñurrategi | 1991–2002 [51] | 1968 | 33 | Spanish |
11 | Han Wang-yong | 1994–2003 | 1966 | 37 | Korean | |
12 | 5 [52] | Ed Viesturs | 1989–2005 | 1959 | 46 | American |
13 | 6 [53] [54] [55] | Silvio Mondinelli | 1993–2007 | 1958 | 49 | Italian |
14 | 7 [56] | Iván Vallejo | 1997–2008 | 1959 | 49 | Ecuadorian |
15 | 8 [57] | Denis Urubko | 2000–2009 | 1973 | 35 | Kazakhstani |
16 | Ralf Dujmovits | 1990–2009 | 1961 [58] | 47 | German | |
17 [59] | 9 [60] | Veikka Gustafsson | 1993–2009 | 1968 | 41 | Finnish |
18 [61] | Andrew Lock | 1993–2009 | 1961 [62] | 48 | Australian | |
19 | 10 | João Garcia | 1993–2010 | 1967 | 43 | Portuguese |
20 [63] | Piotr Pustelnik | 1990–2010 | 1951 | 58 | Polish | |
21 [64] | Edurne Pasaban | 2001–2010 | 1973 | 36 | Spanish | |
22 [65] | Abele Blanc | 1992–2011 [66] [67] | 1954 | 56 | Italian | |
23 | Mingma Sherpa | 2000–2011 [66] | 1978 | 33 | Nepali | |
24 | 11 | Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner | 1998–2011 [66] | 1970 | 40 | Austrian |
25 | Vassily Pivtsov | 2001–2011 [66] | 1975 | 36 | Kazakhstani | |
26 | 12 | Maxut Zhumayev | 2001–2011 [66] | 1977 | 34 | Kazakhstani |
27 | Kim Jae-soo | 2000–2011 [66] | 1961 | 50 | Korean | |
28 [68] | 13 | Mario Panzeri | 1988–2012 | 1964 | 48 | Italian |
29 [69] | Hirotaka Takeuchi | 1995–2012 [69] | 1971 | 41 | Japanese | |
30 | Chhang Dawa Sherpa | 2001–2013 [66] | 1982 | 30 | Nepali | |
31 | 14 | Kim Chang-ho | 2005–2013 [66] | 1970 | 43 | Korean |
32 | Jorge Egocheaga | 2002–2014 [70] | 1968 | 45 | Spanish | |
33 | 15 | Radek Jaroš | 1998–2014 [66] | 1964 | 50 | Czech |
34/35 [71] | 16/17 [71] | Nives Meroi | 1998–2017 [72] [73] | 1961 | 55 | Italian |
34/35 [71] | 16/17 [71] | Romano Benet | 1998–2017 [72] [73] [74] | 1962 | 55 | Italian / Slovenian |
36 | Peter Hámor | 1998–2017 [75] [76] [77] | 1964 | 52 | Slovak | |
37 | 18 | Azim Gheychisaz | 2008–2017 [78] | 1981 | 37 | Iranian |
38 | Ferran Latorre | 1999–2017 [79] | 1970 | 46 | Spanish | |
39 | 19 | Òscar Cadiach | 1984–2017 [80] | 1952 | 64 | Spanish |
40 | Kim Mi-gon | 2000–2018 [81] [82] | 1973 | 45 | Korean | |
41 | Sanu Sherpa | 2006–2019 [83] | 1975 | 44 | Nepali | |
42 | Nirmal Purja | 2014–2019 [23] [84] [lower-alpha 6] | 1983 | 36 | British [37] [38] [39] | |
43 | Mingma Gyabu Sherpa | 2010–2019 [85] [86] | 1989 | 30 | Nepali | |
44 | Kim Hong-bin | 2006–2021 [87] [88] [89] | 1964 | 57 | Korean | |
45 | Nima Gyalzen Sherpa | 2004–2022 [90] [91] | 1985 | 37 | Nepali | |
46 | Dong Hong Juan | 2015–2023 [92] [93] | 1981 | 42 | Chinese | |
47 | Kristin Harila | 2021–2023 [94] [95] | 1986 | 37 | Norwegian | |
48 | Sophie Lavaud | 2012–2023 [96] [97] [98] [99] | 1968 | 55 | Swiss / French / Canadian | |
49 | Tunç Fındık | 2001–2023 [98] [99] | 1972 | 51 | Turkish | |
50 | Tenjen Lama Sherpa | 2016–2023 [24] [25] [100] | 35 [101] | Nepali | ||
51 | Gelje Sherpa | 2017–2023 [102] [103] [104] | 1992 [102] | 30 | Nepali | |
52 | Chris Warner | 1999–2023 [105] | 1965 | 58 | American | |
53 | 20 | Marco Camandona | 2000-2024 [106] [107] | 1970 | 54 | Italian |
Claims have been made for summiting all 14 peaks for which not enough evidence was provided to verify the ascent; the disputed ascent in each claim is shown in parentheses in the table below. In most cases, the Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley is considered a definitive source regarding the facts of the dispute. Her The Himalayan Database is the source for other online Himalayan ascent databases (e.g. AdventureStats.com). [44] [45] The Eberhard Jurgalski List is also another important source for independent verification of claims to have summited all 14 eight-thousanders. [1] [42]
Name and details | Period climbing eight-thousanders | Born | Age | Nationality |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fausto De Stefani (Lhotse 1997) [108] His partner Sergio Martini reclimbed Lhotse in 2000 to verify his 14, see above. | 1983–1998 | 1952 | 46 | Italian |
Alan Hinkes (Cho Oyu 1990) [109] [110] Hinkes rejected Hawley's decision to "unrecognise" his ascent, see "Cho Oyu dispute". | 1987–2005 | 1954 | 53 | British |
Vladislav Terzyul (Shishapangma (West) 2000, Broad Peak 1995 [111] [112] ) [113] [114] As he did not claim the main summit of Shishapangma, this status is unlikely to change. | 1993–2004 (deceased) | 1953 | 49 | Ukrainian |
Oh Eun-sun (Kangchenjunga 2009) [115] [116] [117] As the potential first female climber of all 14, this dispute was followed internationally. [116] | 1997–2010 | 1966 | 44 | Korean |
Carlos Pauner (Shishapangma 2012) [118] Pauner acknowledged his uncertainty as it was dark; said he might reclimb. [119] | 2001–2013 | 1963 | 50 | Spanish |
Zhang Liang (Shishapangma 2018) [120] [121] [122] Suspected the 2018 Chinese Shishapangma expedition stopped at central summit. | 2000–2018 | 1964 | 54 | Chinese |
A recurrent problem with verification is the confirmation that the climber reached the true peak of the eight-thousander. Eight-thousanders present unique problems in this regard as they are so infrequently summited, their summits have not yet been exhaustively surveyed, and summiting climbers are often suffering the extreme altitude and weather effects of being in the death zone. [1] [42]
Cho Oyu for example, is a recurrent problem eight-thousander as its true peak is a small hump about a thirty minutes walk into the large flat summit plateau that lies in the death zone. The true peak is often obscured in very poor weather, and this led to the disputed ascent (per the table above) of British climber, Alan Hinkes (who has refused to re-climb the peak). [123] [124] Shishapangma is another problem peak because of its dual summits, which despite being close in height, are up to two hours climbing time apart and require the crossing of an exposed and dangerous snow ridge. [1] [125] When Hawley judged that Ed Viesturs had not reached the true summit of Shishapangma (which she deduced from his summit photos and interviews), he then re-climbed the mountain to definitively establish his ascent. [126] [1]
In a May 2021 interview with the New York Times, Jurgalski pointed out further issues with false summits on Annapurna I (a long ridge with multiple summits), Dhaulagiri (misleading false summit metal pole), and Manaslu (additional sharp and dangerous ridge to the true summit, like Shishapangma), noting that of the existing 44 accepted claims (as per the table earlier), at least 7 had serious question marks (these were in addition to the table of disputed ascents), and even noting that "It is possible that no one has ever been on the true summit of all 14 of the 8,000-meter peaks". [1] In June 2021, Australian climber Damien Gildea wrote an article in the American Alpine Journal on the work that Jurgalski and a team of international experts were doing in this area, including publishing detailed surveys of the problem summits using data from the German Aerospace Center. [42]
In July 2022, Jurgalski posted conclusions of the team's research (the wider team being of Rodolphe Popier and Tobias Pantel of The Himalayan Database, and Damien Gildea, Federico Bernardi, Bob Schelfhout Aubertijn, and Thaneswar Guragai). According to their analysis, only three climbers, Ed Viesturs, Veikka Gustafsson and Nirmal Purja have stood on the true summit of all 14 eight-thousanders, and no female climber had yet done so. [2] Viesturs is also the first to have done so without the use of oxygen. [2] Jurgalski allowed for the fact that they had deliberately not stood on the true summit of Kangchenjunga out of religious respect. [2] The team has not formally published their work, and according to Popier, they had not decided about "the best respectful form to present it". [2]
In 2012, to relieve capacity pressure and overcrowding on the world's highest mountain, greater restrictions were placed on expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest. [127] To address the growing capacity constraints, Nepal lobbied the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (or UIAA) to reclassify five subsidiary summits (two on Lhotse and three on Kanchenjunga), as standalone eight-thousanders, while Pakistan lobbied for a sixth subsidiary summit (on Broad Peak) as a standalone eight-thousander. [128] See table below for list of all subsidiary summits of eight-thousanders.
In 2012, the UIAA initiated the ARUGA Project, with an aim to see if these six new 8,000 m (26,247 ft)-plus peaks could feasibly achieve international recognition. [128] The proposed six new eight-thousander peaks have a topographic prominence above 60 m (197 ft), but none would meet the wider UIAA prominence threshold of 600 m (1,969 ft) (the lowest prominence of the existing 14 eight-thousanders is Lhotse, at 610 metres (2,001 ft)). [129] [130] Critics noted that of the six proposed, only Broad Peak Central, with a prominence of 181 metres (594 ft), would even meet the 150 metres (492 ft) prominence threshold to be a British Isles Marilyn. [129] The appeal noted the UIAA's 1994 reclassification of Alpine four-thousander peaks used a prominence threshold of 30 m (98 ft), [lower-alpha 7] amongst other criteria; the logic being that if 30 m (98 ft) worked for 4,000 m (13,123 ft) summits, then 60 m (197 ft) is proportional for 8,000 m (26,247 ft) summits. [131]
As of April 2024 [update] , there has been no conclusion by the UIAA and the proposals appear to have been set aside.
Proposed new eight-thousander | Height (m) | Prominence (m) | Dominance (Prom / Height) as a % [133] | Dominance classification [133] |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broad Peak Central | 8011 | 181 | 2.26 | B2 |
Kangchenjunga W-Peak (Yalung Kang) | 8505 | 135 | 1.59 | C1 |
Kangchenjunga S-Peak | 8476 | 116 | 1.37 | C2 |
Kangchenjunga C-Peak | 8473 | 63 | 0.74 | C2 |
Lhotse C-Peak I (Lhotse Middle) | 8410 | 65 | 0.77 | C2 |
Lhotse Shar | 8382 | 72 | 0.86 | C2 |
K 2 SW-Peak | 8580 | 30 | 0.35 | D1 |
Lhotse C-Peak II | 8372 | 37 | 0.44 | D1 |
Everest W-Peak | 8296 | 30 | 0.36 | D1 |
Yalung Kang Shoulder | 8200 | 40 | 0.49 | D1 |
Kangchenjunga SE-Peak | 8150 | 30 | 0.37 | D1 |
K 2 P. 8134 (SW-Ridge) | 8134 | 35 | 0.43 | D1 |
Annapurna C-Peak | 8051 | 49 | 0.61 | D1 |
Nanga Parbat S-Peak | 8042 | 30 | 0.37 | D1 |
Annapurna E-Peak | 8026 | 65 | 0.81 | C2 |
Shisha Pangma C-Peak | 8008 | 30 | 0.37 | D1 |
Everest NE-Shoulder | 8423 | 19 | 0.23 | D2 |
Everest NE-Pinnacle III | 8383 | 13 | 0.16 | D2 |
Lhotse N-Pinnacle III | 8327 | 10 | 0.12 | D2 |
Lhotse N-Pinnacle II | 8307 | 12 | 0.14 | D2 |
Lhotse N-Pinnacle I | 8290 | 10 | 0.12 | D2 |
Everest NE-Pinnacle II | 8282 | 25 | 0.30 | D2 |
Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at 8,188 metres (26,864 ft) above sea level. Cho Oyu means "Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the Khumbu sub-section of the Mahalangur Himalaya 20 km west of Mount Everest. The mountain stands on the China–Nepal border, between the Tibet Autonomous Region and Koshi Province.
Alan Hinkes OBE is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire. He is the first British mountaineer to claim all 14 Himalayan eight-thousanders, which he did on 30 May 2005.
Juan Eusebio Oiarzabal Urteaga, commonly known as Juanito Oiarzabal, is a noted Spanish Basque mountaineer. He has written four books on the subject. He was the 6th man to reach all 14 eight-thousander summits, and the third to do so without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb the top three summits twice and the oldest climber to summit Kangchenjunga, at almost 53, until Carlos Fontan did so in 2014, at 75 years old. In 2004, he lost all his toes to frostbite after summiting K2.
Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar is a Basque Spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the first woman to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders – and the 21st person to do so. Her first 8,000 peak had been achieved 9 years earlier, on May 23, 2001, when she reached the summit of Mount Everest. She has also completed the seven summits.
Benoît Chamoux was a French Alpinist, who claimed to have summited 13 of the Eight-thousanders in the Himalayas.
Nives Meroi is an Italian mountaineer and a climbing writer. On 11 May 2017 she completed the ascent of all 14 eight-thousanders using the alpine style of climbing and without supplementary oxygen.
Andrew James Lock OAM is an Australian mountaineer. He became the first, and still remains the only, Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" on 2 October 2009, and is the 18th person to ever complete this feat. He climbed 13 of the 14 without bottled oxygen, only using it on Mount Everest, which he has summited three times. He retired from eight-thousander climbing in 2012.
Oh Eun-sun is a South Korean mountaineer. She was the first Korean woman to climb the Seven Summits. On April 27, 2010, she reached the summit of Annapurna; upon doing so, she claimed to have climbed all fourteen eight-thousanders, which would have made her the first woman to achieve this feat. However, her claim to have ascended Kangchenjunga was disputed by multiple experts. Oh later admitted that she had stopped a few hundred meters before the summit of Kangchenjunga, and so the Korean Alpine Federation ruled that she had not summited. The mountaineering site ExplorersWeb officially considers the Basque Edurne Pasaban as the first woman to have successfully climbed all fourteen peaks.
Alberto Iñurrategi Iriarte is a Basque Spanish mountaineer born in Aretxabaleta, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country. In the year 2002, he became the second Basque and Spaniard and the 10th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.
Nirmal Purja is a Nepal-born naturalised British mountaineer. Prior to taking on a career in mountaineering, he served in the British Army with the Brigade of Gurkhas followed by the Special Boat Service (SBS), the special forces unit of the Royal Navy. Purja is notable for having climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in a time of six months and six days with the aid of bottled oxygen. This was a record at the time of climbing, although it was broken in 2023 by Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa, who summitted all 14 eight-thousanders in 92 days. Purja was the first person to reach the summits of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Makalu within 48 hours. In 2021, Purja, along with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers, completed the first winter ascent of K2.
Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, is a Nepalese mountaineer and rescue climber. He is the youngest person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, and holds the Guinness World Record for "Fastest time to climb Everest and K2", which he did within 61 days.
Sanu Sherpa is a Nepalese mountaineer from Makalu, Sankhuwasabha. On 21 July 2022, he became the first person to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders, twice-over. He made his first ascent of all the 14 eight-thousanders, between 2006 and 2019, becoming the 42nd person ever to do so. Before starting climbing as a porter, Sanu was previously a herdsman in Sankhuwasabha District in his early life.
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible is a 2021 documentary film directed by Torquil Jones, and produced by Noah Media Group, Little Monster Films and Torquil Jones with Nirmal Purja, Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Vasarhelyi as executive producers. The film follows Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja and his team as they attempt to climb all 14 eight-thousander peaks within a record time of under seven months. The previous record was over seven years.
Kristin Harila is a Norwegian-Northern Saami mountaineer and former cross-country skier. During 2022–2023, she set multiple speed records for the ascent of all 14 eight-thousanders, which are the peaks in the world that are over 8,000 metres in elevation.
Dawa Ongju Sherpa- Nepali: दावा ओङ्जु शेर्पा is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer. He has climbed 13 of the 14 highest peaks in the world.
Sirbaz Khan is a Pakistani mountaineer. He is the first Pakistani to summit 13 of the eight-thousanders, which comprise the world's 14 highest peaks.
Tenjen Sherpa, also known as Tenjen Lama Sherpa, was a Nepalese mountaineer who climbed all 14 eight-thousander together with Kristin Harila in 92 days. He went missing after an avalanche hit on Shishapangma on 7 October 2023. He was declared dead by Chinese authorities on 8 October 2023.
A Nepali mountaineer and former British Marine has climbed the world's tallest 14 peaks in six months - beating an earlier record of almost eight years.
On October 29th, Nirmal Purja Magar announced via Instagram that he had summited China's Shishapangma. This marked the fourteenth 8,000-meter peak he had climbed in seven months and the completion of an extraordinary project to speed climb the world's tallest mountains in rapid succession.
For every three thrill-seekers that make it safely up and down Annapurna I, one dies trying, according to data from Eberhard Jurgalski of website 8000ers.com, collected in his forthcoming book "On Top of the World: The New Millennium", co-authored by Richard Sale.
Table D-3: Deaths for peaks with more than 750 members above base camp from 1950–2009
Included are only fatalities from, at or above BC or caused from there. Fatalities on approach or return marches are not listed.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)...the American climber became one of only five men in the world to accomplish the quest entirely without supplementary oxygen.
Last year, Silvio 'Gnaro' Mondinelli broke the haunted 13 when he summited the last peak on his list of 14, 8000ers – becoming only the 6th mountaineer in the world to have bagged them all without supplementary oxygen.
13/07 interview with Silvio Mondinelli after the summit of his 14th 8000m peak without supplementary oxygen.
Implied in text: ...Following Italian Silvio "Gnaro" Mondinelli last year and American Ed Viesturs in 2005, Ivan also became only the seventh mountaineer in the world to have done them all without supplementary oxygen.
...Ivan also became only the seventh mountaineer in the world to have done them all without supplementary oxygen.
But a South Korean climber, who followed in their footprints on the crusted snow three days later [in 1997] in clearer weather, did not consider that they actually gained the top. While [Sergio] Martini and [Fausto] De Stefani indicated they were perhaps only a few meters below it, Park Young-Seok claimed that their footprints stopped well before the top, perhaps 30 meters below a small fore-summit and 150 vertical meters below the highest summit. Now in 2000 [Sergio] Martini was back again, and this time he definitely summited Lhotse.
But his claim to have now climbed all 8000ers is open to question. In April 1990 he and others reached the summit plateau of Cho Oyu. It was misty so they could not see well; nine years later Hinkes said he had "wandered around for a while" in the summit area but could see very little and eventually descended to join the others, one of whom said they had not reached the top.
Nepal
The most prominent one, Broad Peak Central is just 196m high and the least prominent, Lhotse Middle, is a meagre 60m. To put this in context, the highest mountain in Malta is 253m, while the Eiffel Tower stands a whopping 300m.
Topographic criterium: for each summit, the level difference between it and the highest adjacent pass or notch should be at least 30 m (98 ft) (calculated as average of the summits at the limit of acceptability). An additional criterium can be the horizontal distance between a summit and the base of another adjacent 4000er.
There are several different subsidiary peaks! Here are the geographical facts, from the one "relative independent Main-Peak" (EU category B) over the important subsidiary peaks (C) to the major notable points (D1) Especially the last category is just guessed by contours or from photographs.
Accordingly, the author introduced altitude classes (AC) and a proportional prominence, which he named orometrical dominance (D). D is calculated easily but fittingly: (P/Alt) x 100. Thus, it indicates the percentage of independence for every elevation, no matter what the altitude, prominence or mountain type it is. From a scientific point of view, altitude could be seen as the thesis, prominence as the antithesis, whereas dominance would be the synthesis.