Roger Baxter-Jones (1950 to 1985, born in London), was a British mountaineer, skier and alpine guide. He was an early pioneer in Himalayan alpine style ascents of eight-thousander mountains, and a guide in Chamonix, noted for his competence and vast experience. [1] Paul Nunn wrote "One of Britain's leading mountaineers, a member of the ACG Committee for years, and certainly one of the strongest ever, he was a top off-piste skier, and a mountaineer of impeccable judgment, able to guide on routes of the highest standards with a considerable margin." [2]
His notable ascents in the French Alps include the second ascent of the Whymper Spur Direct on the Grandes Jorasses with Nick Colton; and the first winter ascent (solo) of the North Face of the Aiguille des Grands Charmoz. [2] [3] [4]
His notable Himalayan ascents include Jannu, Makalu II, [5] Makalu (unsuccessful), Shisha Pangma, [6] Broad Peak, K2 (unsuccessful). Baxter-Jones' golden rule "Come back alive, come back as friends, get to the top — in that order" was well respected amongst elite climbers. [7]
Baxter-Jones climbed with many of the premiere alpinists of his time including Doug Scott (who said of Baxter-Jones: "All the partners I've had who I really rated have gone"), Georges Bettembourg and Alex MacIntyre. [8] [9]
Baxter-Jones and Scott's ascent of Broad Peak was the subject of the 1984 film Himalaya - 8000 mètres sans oxygène by Jean Afanassieff. [10]
He died on 8 July 1985 aged 35 while guiding a client, when a serac collapsed on the north face of the Triolet. [2]
The Doug Parker and Roger Baxter-Jones Memorial Scholarship was established at the American Mountain Guides Association to honor his memory. [11]
Roger Baxter-Jones married Christine Comte, and had a daughter, the actress Melanie Baxter-Jones .
Kangchenjunga, also spelled Kanchenjunga, Kanchanjanghā and Khangchendzonga, is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at 8,586 m (28,169 ft) in a section of the Himalayas, the Kangchenjunga Himal, which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River. It lies in the border region between Koshi Province of Nepal and Sikkim state of India, with the two peaks West and Kangbachen in Nepal's Taplejung District and the other three peaks Main, Central and South directly on the border.
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.
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 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.
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.
Shishapangma, or Shishasbangma or Xixiabangma, is the 14th-highest mountain in the world, at 8,027 metres (26,335 ft) above sea level. It is located entirely within Tibet. In 1964, it became the final eight-thousander to be climbed.
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.
Lionel Terray was a French climber who made many first ascents, including on the 1955 French Makalu expedition in the Himalaya and Cerro Fitz Roy in the Patagonian Andes.
Douglas Keith Scott was an English mountaineer and climbing author, noted for being on the team that made the first ascent of the south-west face of Mount Everest on 24 September 1975. In receiving one of mountaineering's highest honours, the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award, his personal style and his climbs were described as "visionary".
Mera Peak is a mountain in the Mahalangur section, Barun sub-section of the Himalaya and administratively in Nepal's Sagarmatha Zone, Sankhuwasabha. At 6,476 metres (21,247 ft) it is classified as a trekking peak. It contains three main summits: Mera North, 6,476 metres (21,247 ft); Mera Central, 6,461 metres (21,198 ft); and Mera South, 6,065 metres (19,898 ft), as well as a smaller "trekking summit", visible as a distinct summit from the south but not marked on most maps of the region.
Elizabeth Hawley was an American journalist, author, and chronicler of Himalayan mountaineering expeditions. Hawley's The Himalayan Database became the unofficial record for climbs in the Nepalese Himalaya. She was also the honorary consul in Nepal for New Zealand.
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.
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.
Expedition climbing, is a type of mountaineering that uses a series of well-stocked camps on the mountain that lead to the summit, and which 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.
Ralf Dujmovits is a German mountaineer. In May 2009 he became the 16th person, and the first German, to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.
Alex MacIntyre (1954–1982) was a British mountaineer in the 1970s. He is known for developing new climbing techniques that enabled ascents not previously accomplished.
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.
Georges Bettembourg was a French mountaineer and skier. He came from a family of climbers and guides, and is regarded as an elite alpinist who made numerous significant ascents in the French Alps, North America, the Himalayas and Karakoram including a two-man ascent of Broad Peak (1978); Kangchenjunga (1979); Kusum Kangguru (1979); Nuptse (1979); and Shivling (1981). He also made numerous ski descents of big mountains including Broad Peak, Makalu II and Mont Blanc.