Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
The eight-thousanders are the 14 mountains recognised 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, since 2012, the UIAA has been involved in a process to consider whether the list should be expanded to 20 mountains. All eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits are in the death zone.
Nanga Parbat, known locally as Diamer, is the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and its summit is at 8,126 m (26,660 ft) above sea level. Lying immediately southeast of the northernmost bend of the Indus River in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Nanga Parbat is the westernmost major peak of the Himalayas, and thus in the traditional view of the Himalayas as bounded by the Indus and Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra rivers, it is the western anchor of the entire mountain range.
Broad Peak is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with 8,051 metres (26,414 ft) elevation above sea level. The first ascent of this mountain was in June 1957, accomplished by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl as part of an Austrian expedition.
Hermann Buhl was an Austrian mountaineer. His accomplishments include the first ascents of Nanga Parbat in 1953 and Broad Peak in 1957.
Gasherbrum II ; surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at 8,035 metres (26,362 ft) above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. The mountain was first climbed on July 7, 1956, by an Austrian expedition which included Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch, and Hans Willenpart.
Krzysztof Jerzy Wielicki is a Polish mountaineer, regarded as one of the greatest Polish climbers in history. He is the 5th man to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders and the first ever to climb Mount Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse in winter. He is a member of The Explorers Club.
Nazir Sabir is a Pakistani mountaineer. He was born in Hunza. He has climbed Mount Everest and four of the five 8000 m peaks in Pakistan, including the world's second highest mountain K2 in 1981, Gasherbrum II 8035m, Broad Peak 8050m in 1982, and Gasherbrum I 8068m in 1992. He became the first from Pakistan to have climbed Everest on 17 May 2000 as a team member on the Mountain Madness Everest Expedition led by Christine Boskoff from the United States that also included famed Everest climber Peter Habeler of Austria and eight Canadians.
Rakhiot Peak is a peak in the Himalayas range of the Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It is one of the many subsidiary summits of the Nanga Parbat massif.
Chongra Peak is a peak in the Himalaya range of Asia. Located in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, it is one of the many subsidiary summits of the Nanga Parbat massif. The peak lies just south of the Indus River, in Pakistan. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.
Shaigiri is a mountain in Pakistan's western Himalayas. The peak rises precipitously from the south end of the Rupal Valley, soaring 5,584 metres (18,320 ft) above sea level and some 6,500 ft (1,980 m) above the valley floor. To its east stands Rupal Peak, to its west, the iceflows of Rupal Glacier. Despite its impressive height and unique pyramid shape, Shaigiri is greatly overshadowed by its giant neighbor to the north, the 8,126-metre Nanga Parbat. Though the peak itself is seldom climbed, its northern base camp is a summer destination for travelers, mountaineers and local herdsmen. The peak is highly visible from most of the Rupal Valley. From Shaigiri's base, Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face and the eastern end of the Mazeno Wall are visible.
Karl Unterkircher was an Italian mountaineer. He is mostly known for opening new mountain routes.
Günther Messner was an Italian mountaineer from South Tyrol and the younger brother of Reinhold Messner. Günther climbed some of the most difficult routes in the Alps during the 1960s, and joined the Nanga Parbat-Expedition in 1970 just before the beginning of the expedition due to an opening within the team.
Willy Merkl was a German mountain climber who is most notable for his attempt to lead a German-American team up Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas in 1932.
Amir Mehdi was a Pakistani mountaineer and porter known for being part of the team which made the first successful ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953, and of K2 in 1954 with an Italian expedition. He, along with the Italian mountaineer Walter Bonatti, are also known for having survived a night at the highest open bivouac - 8,100 metres (26,600 ft) - on K2 in 1954.
Sarwali Peak, also known as Dabbar Peak, Toshe Ri, and Toshain-I, is a mountain peak located at an altitude of 6,326 metres (20,755 ft) in Neelum District of the Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir, in the disputed Kashmir region. It is located at the junction of the Neelam and Shounter valleys on Toshain/Rupal Glacier towering in Rupal Valley of Nanga Parbat. It is the highest point in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The Mazeno Ridge is an arête, a long narrow ridge, and part of the Nanga Parbat massif in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, in the Himalayan range. The ridge is the longest of any ridge on the eight-thousander peaks in the Himalayas. A series of eight subsidiary peaks form the ridge, the highest being Mazeno Peak at 7,120 metres (23,360 ft). All eight subsidiary peaks have been climbed, but a complete traverse of the ridge and ascent of Nanga Parbat was only successfully achieved in 2012, and as of 2019, no other expedition has reached the summit of Nanga Parbat via the Mazeno Ridge.
Meherban Karim was a Pakistani mountaineer. He lost his life, along with 10 other mountaineers, in the 2008 K2 disaster, following an avalanche in what was to be one of the deadliest accidents in the history of K2 mountaineering. He summited several eight-thousanders: K2, Nanga Parbat, and Gasherbrum II. In the mountaineering community, he was known as "Karim The Dream" and "Karim Meherban".
On the 1953 German–Austrian Nanga Parbat expedition Hermann Buhl succeeded in making the first ascent of Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world. He reached the top on 3 July 1953. This was and remains the only time an 8,000-metre summit was first reached by someone climbing alone. The expedition was led by Karl Herrligkoffer who went on to lead a long series of attempts to climb eight-thousanders in the Himalaya and Karakoram.
Igor Svergun – Soviet and Ukrainian climber, USSR Master of Sports in mountaineering (1989), USSR Snow Leopard award, USSR master of sports at the international level (1991), instructor-methodologist of the 3rd category.
