Eight-thousander
The eight-thousanders are 14 mountains recognised by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation (UIAA) with summits that exceed 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) 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 Himalayan 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 (of a climber or climbing-support member) for every three summiteers, followed by K2 and Nanga Parbat (each with one death for every four to five summiteers), and then Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga (each with one death for every six to seven summiteers).
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 Spanish 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 Lama 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 achieved from 2006 to 2022.
Climbing history
[edit]First ascents
[edit]
The first recorded attempt on an eight-thousander occurred when Albert F. Mummery, Geoffrey Hastings and J. Norman Collie tried to climb Nanga Parbat in 1895. The attempt failed when Mummery and two Gurkhas, Ragobir Thapa and Goman Singh, died in an avalanche.[1]
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.[2] Due to its location in Tibet, Shishapangma was the last eight-thousander to be ascended for the first time; a Chinese team led by Xu Jing completed the ascent in 1964 (Tibet's mountains were closed by China to foreigners until 1978).[3]
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;[4] all-Polish teams would complete nine of the first fourteen winter ascents of eight-thousanders.[5] 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.[6]
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 first-ascent of an eight-thousander.[7] The Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka is noted for creating over ten new routes on various eight-thousander mountains.[5] Italian climber Simone Moro made the first winter ascent of four eight-thousanders (Shishapangma, Makalu, Gasherbrum II, and Nanga Parbat),[8] 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).[5]
All 14
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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.