Makalu is the fifth-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit at an elevation of 8,485 metres (27,838 ft) AMSL. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas 19 km (12 mi) southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolated peak shaped as a four-sided pyramid.
Dhaulagiri, located in Nepal, is the seventh highest mountain in the world at 8,167 metres (26,795 ft) above sea level, and the highest mountain within the borders of a single country. It was first climbed on 13 May 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian-Nepali expedition. Annapurna I is 34 km (21 mi) east of Dhaulagiri. The Kali Gandaki River flows between the two in the Kaligandaki Gorge, said to be the world's deepest. The town of Pokhara is south of the Annapurnas, an important regional center and the gateway for climbers and trekkers visiting both ranges as well as a tourist destination in its own right.
Nuptse or Nubtse is a mountain in the Khumbu region of the Mahalangur Himal, in the Nepalese Himalayas. It lies 2 km (1.2 mi) WSW of Mount Everest. The main peak, Nuptse I at an elevation of 7,861 m (25,791 ft), was first climbed on May 16, 1961, by Dennis Davis and Sherpa Tashi. After a hiatus of almost 20 years, Nuptse again became the objective of mountaineers, with important routes being put up on its west, south, and north faces.
In mountaineering and climbing, a first ascent, is the first successful documented climb to the top of a mountain or the top of a particular climbing route. Early 20th-century mountaineers and climbers focused on reaching the tops of iconic mountains and climbing routes by whatever means possible, often using considerable amounts of aid climbing, and/or with large expedition style support teams that laid "siege" to the climb.
Baruntse is a mountain in the Khumbu region of eastern Nepal, crowned by four peaks and bounded on the south by the Hunku Glacier, on the east by the Barun Glacier, and on the northwest by the Imja Glacier. It is considered as one of the best preparation peaks in the Himalayas for climbers readying themselves for eight-thousanders, however the mountain has a low success rate due to its technical difficulties, steep slopes and unpredictable weather conditions. It is open for beginners, but requires the use of fixed ropes to climb.
Steve House is an American professional alpinist and mountain guide, and winner of the 2006 Piolet d'Or.
The Piolets d'Or is an annual mountaineering and alpine climbing award organized by the Groupe de Haute Montagne (GHM), and previously with co-founder Montagnes Magazine, since its founding in 1992. Golden ice axes are presented to the annual winners at a weekend awards festival based on their achievements in the previous year. It is considered mountaineering's highest honor and is referred to as the "Oscars of mountaineering".
Wojciech Kurtyka is a Polish mountaineer and rock climber, one of the pioneers of the alpine style of climbing the biggest walls in the Greater Ranges. He lived in Wrocław up to 1974 when he moved to Kraków. He graduated as engineer in electronics. In 1985 he climbed the "Shining Wall," the west face of Gasherbrum IV, which Climbing magazine declared to be the greatest achievement of mountaineering in the twentieth century. In 2016, he received the Piolet d'Or for lifetime achievement in mountaineering.
Victor Saunders is a British climber, mountain guide and author. He has summitted Mount Everest six times, and has climbed all the Seven Summits. His first book, Elusive Summits, won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 1991.
Expedition climbing, is a type of mountaineering that uses a series of well-stocked camps on the mountain leading to the summit, that are supplied by teams of mountain porters. In addition, expedition climbing can also employ multiple 'climbing teams' to work on the climbing route—not all of whom are expected to make the summit—and allows the use of supports such as fixed ropes, aluminum ladders, supplementary oxygen, and sherpa climbers. By its nature, expedition climbing often requires weeks to complete a given climbing route, and months of pre-planning given the greater scale of people and equipment that need to be coordinated for the climb.
Catherine Destivelle is a French rock climber and mountaineer who is considered one of the greatest and most important female climbers in the history of the sport. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s for sport climbing by winning the first major female climbing competitions, and by being the first female to redpoint a 7c+/8a sport climbing route with Fleur de Rocaille in 1985, and an 8a+ (5.13c) route with Choucas in 1988. During this period, she was considered the strongest female sport climber in the world along with Lynn Hill, however, in 1990 she retired to focus on alpine climbing.
Athol Whimp (1961–2012) was a New Zealand mountaineer, rock climber and soldier. Widely regarded as the most accomplished alpinist in New Zealand's modern era, he is the country's only recipient of the prestigious Piolet d'Or award for mountaineering.
Alpine climbing is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large routes in an alpine environment. While alpine climbing began in the European Alps, it is used to refer to climbing in any remote mountainous area, including in the Himalayas and Patagonia. The derived term alpine style refers to the fashion of alpine climbing to be in small lightly equipped teams who carry their equipment, and do all of the climbing.
Hayden Kennedy was an American rock climber and mountaineer who made difficult ascents in North America, Patagonia and in the Himalaya. He died by suicide in 2017 after the sudden death of his partner. He was the son of renowned writer and mountaineer Michael Kennedy and he won the Piolet d'Or for his ascent of The Ogre in 2013, and for Light Before Wisdom in 2016.
Aleš Česen is a Slovenian climber, mountaineer, mountain guide and entrepreneur.
Kim Chang-ho, was a South Korean mountaineer, and at the time of his death in 2018, was considered to be Korea's most prolific alpine and Himalayan climber, noted for his bold and lightweight alpine style ascents.
George Henry Lowe III is an American rock climber and alpinist, noted for his alpine style ascents of difficult and infrequently repeated routes, and his development of traditional climbing routes in the Western United States. He pioneered winter ascents in the North American Rockies along with cousins Jeff Lowe (climber), Mike Lowe, and Greg Lowe. He is also known for his technically difficult ascents of mixed climbing faces in the Himalayas including the North Ridge of Latok I and the first ascent of the East Face of Mount Everest, where the "Lowe Buttress" bears his name. Lowe is currently a resident of Colorado.
Tamotsu Nakamura, FRGS, is a Japanese explorer, alpinist, photographer and author. Since 1990, he has explored the mountainous areas between the Himalayas and the Sichuan basin; which he documents in photographs. He is a leading authority on the Alps of Tibet, the south-eastern sector of the Tibetan high plateau.
Paul Ramsden is a British mountaineer and alpinist. He is internationally noted for his alpine climbing. Ramsden was awarded the Piolet d'Or five times for alpine-style first ascents of extreme high-altitude routes in the Himalayas: 2003, 2013 and 2016 with Mick Fowler. 2017 with Nick Bullock, and in 2023 with Tim Miller. Ramsden is notably media and publicity-shy, and in 2023 was described by the Financial Times as "The most decorated mountaineer ever ".
Richard Frank "Rick" Allen was a Scottish mountaineer. Allen summitted six eight-thousanders and was the first British climber atop some of Tajikistan's biggest mountains. He had over 40 years experience climbing in the Himalayas at the time of his death.
