Wally Berg (born 1955) is a mountaineer from the United States. He was the first American to summit Lhotse in 1990, and he soloed Cho Oyu in 1987. He has summited Mount Everest four times. [1]
Berg now operates Berg Adventures International, an adventure travel company based in Canmore, Alberta, Canada. Berg Adventures offers guided mountaineering trips to the Seven Summits, and many other destinations including Tanzania, Galapagos, Ecuador, Nepal, and Kazakhstan. Since 1992 he has guided more than 50 Continental summits. [2]
Berg was born in Lebanon, Missouri and lived in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, from 1965 to 1974. He was active in the Boy Scouts of America. His interest in climbing developed during his days on the staff of Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico in the 1970s. [3] [4]
Mount Everest(also Mount Sagarmatha or Mount Qomolangma) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
James W. Whittaker, also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American climber and mountain guide. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, on May 1, 1963, he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as a member of the American Mount Everest Expedition led by Norman Dyhrenfurth, alongside the Sherpa Nawang Gombu, a nephew of Tenzing Norgay. They ran out of oxygen, but managed to reach the summit.
Scott Eugene Fischer was an American mountaineer and mountain guide. He was renowned for ascending the world's highest mountains without supplemental oxygen. Fischer and Wally Berg were the first Americans to summit Lhotse, the world's fourth highest peak. Fischer, Charley Mace, and Ed Viesturs summitted K2 without supplemental oxygen. Fischer first climbed Mount Everest in 1994 and later died during the 1996 blizzard on Everest while descending from the peak.
David Finlay Breashears was an American mountaineer, filmmaker, author and motivational speaker. In 1985, he reached the summit of Mount Everest a second time, becoming the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest more than once. He is perhaps best known as the director and cinematographer of Everest (1998)—which became the highest-grossing IMAX documentary—and for his assistance in the rescue efforts during the 1996 Everest disaster, which occurred during the film's production.
Edmund Viesturs is an American high-altitude mountaineer, corporate speaker, and well known author in the mountain climbing community. He was the first American to climb all 14 of the eight-thousander mountains, and the 5th person to do so without supplemental oxygen. Along with Apa Sherpa, he has summitted eight-thousanders on 21 occasions, including Mount Everest seven times.
Peter Athans is one of the world's foremost high-altitude mountaineers. In 2008 he was celebrated for summiting Mount Everest seven times, and was given the moniker "Mr. Everest". His first attempt to climb Everest in 1985 via the West Ridge, and further attempts in 1986, 1987, and 1989 were unsuccessful, but he succeeded in summitting in 1990 as part of an expedition that included Scott Fischer and Wally Berg.
Nawang Gombu was a Sherpa mountaineer who was the first man in the world to have climbed Mount Everest twice.
The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making it the deadliest season on Mount Everest at the time and the third deadliest after the 23 fatalities resulting from avalanches caused by the April 2015 Nepal earthquake and the 16 fatalities of the 2014 Mount Everest avalanche. The 1996 disaster received widespread publicity and raised questions about the commercialization of Everest.
Kenton Edward Cool is an English climber and mountain guide. He is one of Britain's leading alpine and high altitude climbers and has reached the summit of Mount Everest 18 times, including leading Sir Ranulph Fiennes' 2008 and 2009 Expeditions.
David Allen Hahn is an American mountaineer, ski patroller and journalist. In May 2013, he reached the summit of Mount Everest for the 15th time—at the time, this was the most summits for a non-Sherpa climber, according to Outside Magazine contributor and climber Alan Arnette. His record was surpassed by Kenton Cool in 2022. Among Hahn’s other notable accomplishments are his 39 summits of Vinson Massif, Antarctica’s highest mountain. He has reached the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest peak, 25 times over the course of 37 expeditions.
Garrett Madison is an American mountaineer, guide and expedition leader. Madison began guiding professionally in 1999 on Mount Rainier and has climbed Mount Everest 14 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.
Ang Dorje (Chhuldim) Sherpa is a Nepalese sherpa mountaineering guide, climber, and porter from Pangboche, Nepal, who has reached the summit of Mount Everest 23 times. He was the climbing Sirdar for Rob Hall's Adventure Consultants expedition to Everest in spring 1996, when a freak storm led to the deaths of eight climbers from several expeditions, considered one of the worst disasters in the history of Everest mountaineering.
Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu is an Indian mountaineer who has climbed Mount Everest seven times.
Lydia Pounamu Bradey is a New Zealand mountaineer. She became the first woman to summit Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen in 1988. She has climbed Mount Everest a total of six times.
Tarun Saikia is a mountaineer and the first climber from Assam to scale Mount Everest. He reached its summit on 18 May 2013. A few days later, on 24 May, another Assamese, Manish Kumar Deka, also conquered Everest. Manipur mountaineering and trekking association had organised the expedition under the leadership of Dr L Surjit Singh. In the team there were thirteen members, of which eleven summited successfully.
Mountain Madness is a Seattle-based mountaineering and trekking company. The company specializes in mountain adventure travel and has a training school for mountain and rock climbing.
Kami Rita, Thame, Solukhumbu District, Nepal is a Nepali Sherpa guide who, since May 2018, has held the record for most ascents to the summit of Mount Everest. Most recently, he scaled the mountain for the 30th time on 22 May 2024, breaking his own record set on 12 May 2024. His father was among the first professional Sherpa guides after Everest was opened to foreign mountaineers in 1950. His brother Lakpa Rita, also a guide, scaled Everest 17 times.