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The eight-thousanders are 14 recognized by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) with summits that exceed in elevation above sea level and are sufficiently independent of neighbouring peaks as measured by topographic prominence. There is no formally agreed-upon definition of prominence, however, and at times the UIAA has considered whether the list of 8,000-metre peaks should be expanded to 20 peaks by including the major satellite peaks of the canonical 14 eight-thousanders. All of the Earth's eight-thousanders are located in the Himalayas and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia, and their summits lie in the altitude range known as the death zone, where atmospheric oxygen pressure is insufficient to sustain human life for extended periods of time.
From 1950 to 1964, all 14 of the eight-thousanders were first summited by expedition climbers in the summer season (the first to be summited was Annapurna I in 1950, and the last was Shishapangma in 1964); from 1980 to 2021, all 14 were summited in the winter season (the first to be summited in winter was Mount Everest in 1980, and the last was K2 in 2021). As measured by a variety of statistical techniques, the deadliest eight-thousander is Annapurna I, with one death (climber or climber support) for every three summiters, followed by K2 and Nanga Parbat (each with one death for every four to five summiters), and then Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga (each with one death for every six to seven summiters).
The first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders was the Italian climber Reinhold Messner in 1986, who did not use any supplementary oxygen. In 2010, Edurne Pasaban, a Basque people Spanish people mountaineer, became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders, though with the aid of supplementary oxygen. In 2011, Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders without the aid of supplementary oxygen. In 2013, South Korean Kim Chang-ho set a speed record by climbing all 14 eight-thousanders in 7 years and 310 days, without the aid of supplementary oxygen. In July 2023, Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa set a speed record of 92 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, with supplementary oxygen. In July 2022, Sanu Sherpa became the first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders twice, which he did from 2006 to 2022.
The first successful ascent of an eight-thousander was by the French climbers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who reached the summit of Annapurna on 3 June 1950 using expedition climbing techniques as part of the 1950 French Annapurna expedition. Due to its location in Tibet, Shishapangma was the last eight-thousander to be ascended for the first time, which was completed by a Chinese team led by Xu Jing in 1964 (Tibet's mountains were closed by China to foreigners until 1978).
The first winter ascent of an eight-thousander was by a Polish team led by Andrzej Zawada on Mount Everest, with Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki reaching the summit on 17 February 1980; all-Polish teams would complete nine of the first fourteen winter ascents of eight-thousanders. The final eight-thousander to be climbed in winter was K2, whose summit was ascended by a 10-person Nepalese team on 16 January 2021.
Only two climbers have completed the first ascent of more than one eight-thousander, Hermann Buhl (Nanga Parbat and Broad Peak, in 1953 and 1957) and Kurt Diemberger (Broad Peak and Dhaulagiri, in 1957 and 1960). Buhl's summit of Nanga Parbat in 1953 is notable as being the only solo climbing first-ascent of an eight-thousander. The Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka is noted for creating over ten new routes on various eight-thousander mountains. Italian climber Simone Moro made the first winter ascent of four eight-thousanders (Shishapangma, Makalu, Gasherbrum II, and Nanga Parbat), while three Polish climbers have each made three first winter ascents of an eight-thousander, Maciej Berbeka (Cho Oyu, Manaslu, and Broad Peak), Krzysztof Wielicki (Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse) and Jerzy Kukuczka (Dhaulagiri I, Kangchenjunga, and Annapurna I).
On 17 May 2010, Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. In August 2011, climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to climb the 14 eight-thousanders without the use of supplementary oxygen.
The first couple and team to summit all 14 eight-thousanders were the Italians Nives Meroi (who was the second woman to accomplish this feat without supplementary oxygen), and her husband on 11 May 2017. The couple climbed alpine style, without the use of supplementary oxygen or other support.
On 22 May 2024, guide Kami Rita summitted Everest for the 30th time (a record for Everest), also becoming the first-ever person to climb an eight-thousander 41 times. In July 2022, Sanu Sherpa became the first person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders twice. He started with Cho Oyu in 2006, and completed the double by summiting Gasherbrum II in July 2022.
On 20 May 2013, South Korean climber Kim Chang-ho set a new speed record of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, without the use of supplementary oxygen, in 7 years and 310 days. On 29 October 2019, the British people-Nepali people climber Nirmal Purja set a speed record of 6 months and 6 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders with the use of supplementary oxygen. On 27 July 2023, Kristin Harila and Tenjen Sherpa set a new speed record of 92 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders with supplementary oxygen.
The eight-thousanders are some of the world's deadliest mountains. The extreme altitude and the fact that the summits of all eight-thousanders lie in the Death Zone mean that climber mortality (or death rate) is high. Two metrics are quoted to establish a death rate (i.e. broad and narrow) that are used to rank the eight-thousanders in order of deadliest.
The tables from the HDB for eight-thousanders also show that the death rate of climbers for the period 1990 to 2009 (e.g. modern expeditions), is roughly half that of the combined 1950 to 2009 period, i.e. climbing is becoming safer for the climbers attempting the summit.
Various mountaineering journals, including the Alpine Journal and the American Alpine Journal, also maintain extensive records and archives on expeditions to the eight-thousanders, but do not always opine on disputed ascents, and nor do they maintain registers or lists of verified ascents of the eight-thousanders.
Elizabeth Hawley's The Himalayan Database, is considered as an important source for verified ascents for the Nepalese Himalayas. Online databases of Himalayan ascents pay close regard to The Himalayan Database, including the website AdventureStats.com, and the Eberhard Jurgalski List.
Cho Oyu for example, is a recurrent problem eight-thousander as its true peak is a small hump about a thirty minutes walk into the large flat summit plateau that lies in the death zone. The true peak is often obscured in very poor weather, and this led to the disputed ascent (per the table above) of British climber, Alan Hinkes (who has refused to re-climb the peak).I have summited Cho Oyu 4 times and will be heading for my fifth this coming season. Each time I have watched the Koreans and Japanese go only to where they can see Everest, not the summit because they know this is what will be asked.Many people who climb Cho Oyu in Tibet stop at a set of prayer flags with views of Everest and believe they’ve reached the top, unaware they still have to walk for 15 minutes across the summit plateau until they can see the Gokyo Lakes in Nepal. Shishapangma is another problem peak because of its dual summits, which despite being close in height, are up to two hours climbing time apart and require the crossing of an exposed and dangerous snow ridge. When Hawley judged that Ed Viesturs had not reached the true summit of Shishapangma (which she deduced from his summit photos and interviews), he then re-climbed the mountain to definitively establish his ascent.
In a May 2021 interview with the New York Times, Jurgalski pointed out further issues with false summits on Annapurna I (a long ridge with multiple summits), Dhaulagiri (misleading false summit metal pole), and Manaslu (additional sharp and dangerous ridge to the true summit, like Shishapangma), noting that of the existing 44 accepted claims (as per the table earlier), at least 7 had serious question marks (these were in addition to the table of disputed ascents), and even noting that "It is possible that no one has ever been on the true summit of all 14 of the 8,000-meter peaks". In June 2021, Australian climber Damien Gildea wrote an article in the American Alpine Journal on the work that Jurgalski and a team of international experts were doing in this area, including publishing detailed surveys of the problem summits using data from the German Aerospace Center.
In July 2022, Jurgalski posted conclusions of the team's research (the wider team being of Rodolphe Popier and Tobias Pantel of The Himalayan Database, and Damien Gildea, Federico Bernardi, and Thaneswar Guragai). According to their analysis, only three climbers, Ed Viesturs, Veikka Gustafsson and Nirmal Purja have stood on the true summit of all 14 eight-thousanders, and no female climber had yet done so. Viesturs is also the first to have done so without the use of oxygen. Jurgalski allowed for the fact that they had deliberately not stood on the true summit of Kangchenjunga out of religious respect. The team has not formally published their work, and according to Popier, they had not decided about "the best respectful form to present it".
In 2012, the UIAA initiated the ARUGA Project, with an aim to see if these six new -plus peaks could feasibly achieve international recognition. The proposed six new eight-thousander peaks have a topographic prominence above , but none would meet the wider UIAA prominence threshold of (the lowest prominence of the existing 14 eight-thousanders is Lhotse, at ). Critics noted that of the six proposed, only Broad Peak Central, with a prominence of , would even meet the prominence threshold to be a British Isles Marilyn. The appeal noted the UIAA's 1994 reclassification of Alpine four-thousander peaks used a prominence threshold of , amongst other criteria; the logic being that if worked for summits, then is proportional for summits.
, there has been no conclusion by the UIAA and the proposals appear to have been set aside.
All 14
On 16 October 1986, Italian Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. In 1987, Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka became the second person to accomplish this feat. Messner summited each of the 14 peaks without the aid of bottled oxygen, a feat that was only repeated by the Swiss Erhard Loretan nine years later in 1995 (Kukuczka had used supplementary oxygen while summiting Everest but on no other eight-thousander).
Deadliest
+ Estimated sample death rates for the 14 eight-thousanders Mount Everest 1.52%
K2 –
Kangchenjunga 3.00%
Lhotse 1.03%
Makalu 1.63%
Cho Oyu 0.64%
Dhaulagiri 2.94%
Manaslu 2.77%
Nanga Parbat –
Annapurna I 4.05%
Gasherbrum I
(Hidden Peak)–
Broad Peak –
Gasherbrum II –
Shishapangma
List of first ascents
From 1950 to 1964, all 14 of the eight-thousanders were summited in the summer (the first was Annapurna I in 1950, and the last was Shishapangma in 1964), and from 1980 to 2021, all 14 were summited in the winter (the first being Everest in 1980, and the last being K2 in 2021).
+ First ascent and first winter ascent for each of the 14 eight-thousanders Mount Everest 29 May 1953
| style="text-align: right;" 17 February 1980
on British expedition
K2 31 July 1954
on Italian expedition16 January 2021 Nirmal Purja
Gelje Sherpa
Mingma David Sherpa
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa
Sona Sherpa
Mingma Tenzi Sherpa
Pem Chhiri Sherpa
Dawa Temba Sherpa
Kili Pemba Sherpa
Dawa Tenjing Sherpa
Kangchenjunga 25 May 1955
on British expedition11 January 1986
Lhotse 18 May 1956 31 December 1988 Makalu 15 May 1955 9 February 2009
Cho Oyu 19 October 1954 12 February 1985 Dhaulagiri 13 May 1960 21 January 1985
Manaslu 9 May 1956 12 January 1984
Nanga Parbat 3 July 1953
on German–Austrian expedition26 February 2016
Annapurna I 3 June 1950
on French expedition3 February 1987
Gasherbrum I
(Hidden Peak) 5 July 1958 9 March 2012
Broad Peak 9 June 1957 5 March 2013
Gasherbrum II 7 July 1956 2 February 2011
Shishapangma 2 May 1964
Doji
| style="text-align: right;" 14 January 2005
List of climbers of all 14
There is no single undisputed source or arbitrator for verified ascents of Himalayan eight-thousander peaks.
Verified ascents
The "No O2" column lists people who have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders without supplementary oxygen.
+List of climbers who have summited all 14 eight-thousanders
!Order
!Order
(No O2)
!Name
!Period climbing
eight-thousanders
!Born
!Age
!Nationality1 1 Reinhold Messner 1970–1986 1944 42 Italian 2 Jerzy Kukuczka 1979–1987 1948 39 Polish 3 2 Erhard Loretan 1982–1995 1959 36 Swiss 4 Carlos Carsolio required emergency oxygen on his descent from Makalu in 1988. Carlos Carsolio 1985–1996 1962 33 Mexican 5 Krzysztof Wielicki 1980–1996 1950 46 Polish 6 3 Juanito Oiarzabal 1985–1999 1956 43 Spanish 7 Sergio Martini 1983–2000 1949 51 Italian 8 Park Young-seok 1993–2001 1963 38 Korean 9 Um Hong-gil 1988–2001 1960 40 Korean 10 4 Alberto Iñurrategi 1991–2002 1968 33 Spanish 11 Han Wang-yong 1994–2003 1966 37 Korean 12 5 Ed Viesturs 1989–2005 1959 46 American 13 6
Silvio Mondinelli 1993–2007 1958 49 Italian 14 7 Iván Vallejo 1997–2008 1959 49 Ecuadorian 15 8
Denis Urubko 2000–2009 1973 35 Kazakhstani 16 Ralf Dujmovits 1990–2009 1961 47 German 17 9 Veikka Gustafsson 1993–2009 1968 41 Finnish 18 Andrew Lock 1993–2009 1961 48 Australian 19 10 João Garcia 1993–2010 1967 43 Portuguese 20 Piotr Pustelnik 1990–2010 1951 58 Polish 21 Edurne Pasaban 2001–2010 1973 36 Spanish 22 Abele Blanc 1992–2011 1954 56 Italian 23 Mingma Sherpa 2000–2011 1978 33 Nepali 24 11 Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner 1998–2011 1970 40 Austrian 25 2001–2011 1975 36 Kazakhstani 26 12 Maxut Zhumayev 2001–2011 1977 34 Kazakhstani 27 2000–2011 1961 50 Korean 28 13 Mario Panzeri 1988–2012 1964 48 Italian 29 Hirotaka Takeuchi 1995–2012 1971 41 Japanese 30 Chhang Dawa Sherpa 2001–2013 1982 30 Nepali 31 14 Kim Chang-ho 2005–2013 1970 43 Korean 32 2002–2014 1968 45 Spanish 33 15 Radek Jaroš 1998–2014 1964 50 Czech 34/35Nives Meroi and Romano Benet climbed all the Eight-thousanders together, it wasn't revealed if one of them climbed the last peak a few moments before the other, thus they share the same position 16/17 Nives Meroi 1998–2017 1961 55 Italian 34/35 16/17 1998–2017 1962 55 Italian / Slovenian 36 1998–2017 1964 52 Slovak 37 18 Azim Gheychisaz 2008–2017 1981 37 Iranian 38 Ferran Latorre 1999–2017 1970 46 Spanish 39 19 Òscar Cadiach 1984–2017 1952 64 Spanish 40 Kim Mi-gon 2000–2018 1973 45 Korean 41 Sanu Sherpa 2006–2019 1975 44 Nepali 42 Nirmal Purja 2014–2019 1983 36 British 43 Mingma Gyabu Sherpa 2010–2019 1989 30 Nepali 44 Kim Hong-bin 2006–2021 1964 57 Korean 45 Nima Gyalzen Sherpa 2004–2022 1985 37 Nepali 46 Dong Hong Juan 2015–2023 1981 42 Chinese 47 Kristin Harila 2021–2023 1986 37 Norwegian 48 2012–2023 1968 55 Swiss / French / Canadian 49 Tunç Fındık 2001–2023 1972 51 Turkish 50 Tenjen Sherpa 2016–2023 35 Nepali 51 Gelje Sherpa 2017–2023 1992 30 Nepali 52 Chris Warner 1999–2023 1965 58 American 53 20 Marco Camandona 2000–2024 1970 54 Italian 54 Naoki Ishikawa 2001–4 October 2024 1977 47 Japanese 54 Tracee Metcalfe 2016–4 October 2024 50 American 54 21 Sirbaz Khan 2017–4 October 2024 1987 37 Pakistani 54 Dawa Gyalje Sherpa ?–4 October 2024 Nepali 54 22
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa ?–4 October 2024 Nepali 59 23 1998–9 October 2024
1964 60 Italian 59 Naoko Watanabe 2006–9 October 2024 1981 42 Japanese 59 Adrian Laza 2016–9 October 2024 1963 60 Romanian 59 Pasang Nurbu Sherpa 2016-9 October 2024
/ref> Nepali 59 Shehroze Kashif 2019–9 October 2024 2002 22 Pakistani 59 2021–9 October 2024 Polish 59 Adriana Brownlee 2021–9 October 2024 2001 23 British 59 Nima Rinji Sherpa 2022–9 October 2024 2006 18 Nepali 59 Alasdair McKenzie 2022–9 October 2024 2004 20 French / British 59 Alina Pekova 2023–9 October 2024 Russian 59 Ko-Erh Tseng ?–9 October 2024 Taiwanese 70 Mingtemba Sherpa 2013-2024 Nepali
71 Tejan Gurung
/ref> Nepali / British 72 Pasang Tendi
/ref> Nepali 73 Uta Ibrahimi 2017-2025 1983 42 Kosovo 74 Saško Kedev 2009-2025 1962 63 Macedonian 75 Afsane Hesamifard 2021-2025
1976 49 Iranian 76 Chhiring Sherpa ?-2025
Nepali 75 Nikol Algerdos Kovalchuk
/ref>1983 42 Russian
Disputed ascents
Claims have been made for summiting all 14 peaks for which not enough evidence was provided to verify the ascent; the disputed ascent in each claim is shown in parentheses in the table below. In most cases, the Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley is considered a definitive source regarding the facts of the dispute. Her The Himalayan Database is the source for other online Himalayan ascent databases (e.g. AdventureStats.com).If a mountaineer wants worldwide recognition that they have reached the summit of some of the most formidable mountains in the world, they will need to get the approval of Elizabeth Hawley. The Eberhard Jurgalski List is also another important source for independent verification of claims to have summited all 14 eight-thousanders.
(Lhotse 1997) 1983–1998 1952 46 Italian Alan Hinkes (Cho Oyu 1990) 1987–2005 1954 53 British Vladislav Terzyul (Shishapangma (West) 2000, Broad Peak 1995)
1993–2004
(deceased)1953 49 Ukrainian Oh Eun-sun (Kangchenjunga 2009)What would appear to be the most serious blow to Miss Oh, on 26 August this year the Korean Alpine Federation, the nation's largest climbing association, concluded that Miss Oh had not reached the top of Kangchenjunga. 1997–2010 1966 44 Korean (Shishapangma 2012) 2001–2013 1963 50 Spanish Zhang Liang (Shishapangma 2018) 2000–2018 1964 54 Chinese
Verification issues
A recurrent problem with verification is the confirmation that the climber reached the true peak of the eight-thousander. Eight-thousanders present unique problems in this regard as they are so infrequently summited, their summits have not yet been exhaustively surveyed, and summiting climbers are often suffering the extreme altitude and weather effects of being in the death zone.
(2012). 9781927330159, Rocky Mountain Books. ISBN 9781927330159
Proposed expansion
In 2012, to relieve capacity pressure and overcrowding on the world's highest mountain, greater restrictions were placed on expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest. To address the growing capacity constraints, Nepal lobbied the International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation (or UIAA) to reclassify five subsidiary summits (two on Lhotse and three on Kanchenjunga), as standalone eight-thousanders, while Pakistan lobbied for a sixth subsidiary summit (on Broad Peak) as a standalone eight-thousander. See table below for list of all subsidiary summits of eight-thousanders.
+ List of the subsidiary peaks of the 14 eight-thousanders B2 C1 C2 C2 C2 C2 D1 D1 D1 D1 D1 D1 D1 D1 C2 D1 D2 D2 D2 D2 D2 D2
Gallery
See also
Notes
External links
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