Victor Saunders is a British climber [1] and author. He trained as an architect [2] at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. His first book, Elusive Summits, won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature in 1991. He became as a UIAGM/IFMGA ski and mountain guide in 1996 and joined the SNGM (National Syndicate of French Mountain Guides) in 2003. Saunders first reached the summit of Mount Everest in May 2004, and went on to climb it several more times. [3] [4] In 2020 he became president of the Alpine Club. [5]
He lives in Les Houches, [6] near Chamonix, France. [7]
The climbs are listed in date order.
Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. At an elevation of 8,516 metres (27,940 ft) above sea level, the main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
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 Tibet–Nepal Koshi Pradesh border.
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.
Ama Dablam is a mountain in the eastern Himalayan range of Koshi Province, Nepal. The main peak is 6,812 metres (22,349 ft), the lower western peak is 6,170 metres (20,243 ft). Ama Dablam means "mother's necklace"; the long ridges on each side like the arms of a mother (ama) protecting her child, and the hanging glacier thought of as the dablam, the traditional double-pendant containing pictures of the gods, worn by Sherpa women. For several days, Ama Dablam dominates the eastern sky for anyone trekking to Mount Everest Base Camp. For its soaring ridges and steep faces Ama Dablam is sometimes referred as the "Matterhorn of the Himalayas." The mountain is featured on the one rupee Nepalese banknote.
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.
Stephen Venables is a British mountaineer and writer, and is a past president of the South Georgia Association and of the Alpine Club. He is the first Briton to ascend the summit of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen.
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.
Michael Fowler is a British rock climber, ice climber, mountaineer and climbing author. He is internationally noted for his alpine climbing and was awarded the Piolet d'Or three times, with Paul Ramsden, in 2003, 2013, and 2016, for alpine-style first ascents of faces in the Himalayas. Fowler was one of the first British rock climbers to free an E6-graded traditional rock climbing route, and the first ice climber to free a consensus grade VI mixed Scottish winter route.
The 2006 Philippine Mount Everest expedition is a Filipino mountaineering expedition that made a successful attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest via the traditional southeast ridge route in May 2006 during the spring climbing season in the Himalayas. It was the first national expedition organized by the Philippines to reach the summit of world's highest mountain.
Adrian Ballinger is a British-American certified IFMGA/AMGA mountain guide, certified through the American Mountain Guides Association and a sponsored climber and skier. Ballinger is the founder and CEO of Alpenglow Expeditions, and has been guiding full-time for 25 years. He has led over 150 international climbing expeditions on six continents, and made 18 successful summits of 8,000m peaks. He is known for pioneering the use of pre-acclimatization for commercial expeditions as early as 2012, which can cut the amount of time typically spent on an expedition in half. Adrian is the only American to have made three successful ski descents of 8,000m peaks, including the first ski descent of Manaslu from its summit. He is also the fourth American to have summited both Mount Everest and K2 without the use of supplemental oxygen.
Krushnaa Patil is an Indian climber. In 2009, at the age of 19, she became the youngest Indian woman to successfully ascent Mount Everest, earth's highest mountain.
Rodrigo Jordán Fuchs is a Chilean business man, a University Professor, social entrepreneur and mountaineer. He is a founder and president of Vertical S.A., Leadership Professor in Pontifical Catholic University of Chile’s MBA (MBA-UC) and Faculty member of Executive Education at the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. Since 2018, he is also president of the Comunidad de Organizaciones Solidarias. Considered an accomplished mountaineer, he led the first South-American expedition to summit Everest in 1992. He repeated the ascent in 2012 and 2016 by different routes, making him the only person to have summited Mount Everest on each of its faces. He has also been in many expeditions on mountains around the world and has authored a series of books and documentary films that recount these adventures.
Garrett Madison is an American mountaineer, guide and expedition leader. Madison began guiding professionally in 1999 on Mount Rainier and has reached the summit of Mount Everest 13 times. His company, Madison Mountaineering, specializes in climbs on Mount Everest and other high altitude peaks, operates on the highest peaks on all seven continents, and also provides training programs and summit climbs in Washington State.
Asian Trekking is a Nepal-based adventure company, specializing in mountaineering expeditions and trekking in the Himalayas. Started in 1982 by UIAA Honorary Member Ang Tshering Sherpa, it is Nepal's oldest mountaineering and trekking company still in operation. In 2008, Tshering's son Dawa Steven Sherpa, an environmentalist and mountaineer, took over the leadership of the company and continues to serve as the managing director to this day.
The Himalayan Database: The Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley is a large digital and published record of mountaineering in the Nepalese Himalayas since 1903, maintained by Richard Salisbury who digitised the records.
SheikhaAsma Al Thani is a Qatari mountaineer who is the first Qatari woman to summit Mount Everest, Lhotse, and Manaslu, K2 as well as the first Qatari female to climb Ama Dablam. She is also the first Qatari person to ski to the North Pole. On her ascent of Manaslu, she became the first Arab person to summit an eight-thousander without oxygen. She is Director of Marketing and Communications for the Qatar Olympic Committee. She is also a member of the ruling family of Qatar.