Nives Meroi (born 17 September 1961 in Bonate Sotto) 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. [1] [2] [3] [4]
All of Nives's (and Romano's) 8,000 m climbs to the summits of eight-thousenders were completed without supplementary oxygen and without use of sherpas. [5]
In 2015 Nives published a book about their three expeditions to Kangchenjunga It. "Non ti farò aspettare. Tre volte sul Kangchendzonga, la storia di noi due raccontata da me" ("I won’t let you wait. Three times on Kangchendzonga, the story of the two of us told by me"). Later the book was published in other languages. Nives also wrote a book about their expeditions to Annapurna It. "Il volo del corvo timido" ("The flight of the shy crow") [6]
Since 1989, Meroi has been married to Romano Benet, a climber and her partner in Himalayan mountaineering. Meroi and Benet live in Tarvisio in the Alps in northern Italy.
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.
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 sixth man to reach all 14 eight-thousander summits, and the third one to do so without supplementary oxygen. He was the first person to conquer the top three summits twice and was the oldest climber to summit Kangchenjunga, at almost 53, until Carlos Soria 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 in the World –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.
Benoît Chamoux was a French Alpinist, who claimed to have summited 13 of the Eight-thousanders in the Himalayas.
Andrew James Lock OAM is an Australian high-altitude 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.
Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is an Austrian mountaineer. In August 2011, she became the second woman to climb the fourteen eight-thousanders and the first woman to do so without the use of supplementary oxygen or high-altitude porters. In 2012, she won the prestigious National Geographic Explorer of the Year Award.
Iván Vallejo is a high-altitude mountaineer from Ecuador. On 1 May 2008, he became the 14th person to reach the summit of all 14 mountains above 8,000 meters, and the 7th without use of supplemental oxygen. He is the first, and still the only, Southern Hemisphere climber to complete all 14 eight-thousanders, without supplemental oxygen.
Carlos Carsolio Larrea is a Mexican mountain climber. Carsolio is known for being the fourth man and the second youngest to climb the world's 14 eight-thousander mountains, all of them without supplementary oxygen.
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 considers 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 (Spain). In the year 2002, he became the second Spaniard and Basque and the 10th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.
Silvio Mondinelli, is an Italian climber. In the year 2007, he became the 13th person to climb the 14 eight-thousanders. He is the 6th person to achieve that feat without using supplemental oxygen. He was 49 years old when he summited the last of the 14 summits, a task he started in 1993 and finished in 2007.
Denis Urubko is a Russian-Polish climber. In 2009, as a citizen of Kazakhstan he became the 15th person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders and the 8th person to achieve the feat without using supplemental oxygen. He had Soviet citizenship, but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union he became a citizen of Kazakhstan, but renounced the citizenship in 2012. In 2013, he received Russian citizenship and on 12 February 2015 he received Polish citizenship.
Ralf Dujmovits is a German mountaineer. In May 2009 he became the 16th person, and the first German, to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.
Azim Gheychisaz is an Iranian climber and summiter of all 14 Eight-thousanders without any supplimantry oxygen. Marble Wall peak in Kazakhstan was his first professional climbing in 2000. He is a member of Iranian national mountaineering team. By 2017, he has successfully ascended all 14 peaks over 8,000 m, becoming the first Iranian to do so and joining the 8000 club.
Òscar Cadiach i Puig is a Spanish mountain climber. He has climbed all the 14 eight-thousanders.
Alberto Zerain Berasategi was a Spanish mountaineer from Alava. He is best known as a solo alpinist and the first person to summit K2 during the 2008 K2 Disaster on 1 August. Zerain summited the mountain solo from Camp III and successfully descended before the series of events that led to the deaths of 11 climbers on 2 August 2008. In his lifetime, he climbed at least 7 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.
