Eight-thousander
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The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent[1] mountains on Earth that are more than 8,000 metres (26,427 feet) above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia.
The first attempt on an eight-thousander took place on the expedition by Albert F. Mummery, William Cecil Slingsby and J. Norman Collie to Nanga Parbat in 1895; this ended in failure, when Mummery and two Ghurkas, Ragobir and Goman Singh, were killed by an avalanche.
The first successful ascent of an eight-thousander was by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who reached the summit of Annapurna on June 3, 1950.
The first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders was Reinhold Messner. He completed this task on October 16, 1986. One year later, in 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka was the second man to do so, and as of 2005, a total of thirteen people have done the same. This is an extremely hazardous feat; at least four people have died while close to completing the full list.
[edit] List of eight-thousanders
| Peak | Height | Location | First Ascent | First ascensionist(s) | Ascents* | Deaths* | Death rate* | Death rate before 1990* | Death rate since 1990* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everest | 8850 m | China/Nepal | May 29, 1953 | Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay | 1924 | 179 | 9.30% | 37% | 4.4% |
| K2 | 8611 m | China/Pakistan[2] | July 31, 1954 | Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli | 198 | 53 | 26.77% | 41% | 19.7% |
| Kanchenjunga | 8586 m | India/Nepal | May 25, 1955 | George Band and Joe Brown | 185 | 40 | 21.62% | 21% | 22% |
| Lhotse | 8516 m | China/Nepal | May 18, 1956 | Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss | 243 | 11 | 4.53% | 14% | 2% |
| Makalu | 8463 m | China/Nepal | May 15, 1955 | Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray | 206 | 22 | 10.68% | 16% | 8.5% |
| Cho Oyu | 8201 m | China/Nepal | October 19, 1954 | Joseph Joechler, Pasang Dawa Lama, and Herbert Tichy | 1400 | 35 | 2.50% | 7% | 2% |
| Dhaulagiri | 8167 m | Nepal | May 13, 1960 | Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Nawang Dorje, Nima Dorje, Ernst Forrer, and Albin Schelbert | 313 | 56 | 17.89% | 31% | 11% |
| Manaslu | 8163 m | Nepal | May 9, 1956 | Toshia Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu | 240 | 52 | 21.67% | 35.16% | 13.42% |
| Nanga Parbat | 8125 m | Pakistan[2] | July 3, 1953 | Hermann Buhl | 216 | 61 | 28.24% | 77% | 5.5% |
| Annapurna | 8091 m | Nepal | June 3, 1950 | Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal | 130 | 53 | 40.77% | 66% | 19.71% |
| Gasherbrum I | 8068 m | China/Pakistan[2] | July 5, 1958 | Andrew Kauffman, Peter Schoening | 195 | 21 | 10.77% | 15.5% | 8.75% |
| Broad Peak | 8047 m | China/Pakistan[2] | June 9, 1957 | Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, Marcus Schmuck, and Fritz Wintersteller | 255 | 18 | 7.20% | 5% | 8.6% |
| Gasherbrum II | 8035 m | China/Pakistan[2] | July 8, 1956 | Josef Larch, Fritz Moravec, Hans Willenpart | 650 | 17 | 2.62% | 7.8% | 0.44% |
| Shishapangma | 8027 m | China | May 2, 1964 | Ten climbers led by Hsu Ching | 201 | 19 | 9.45% | 2% | 16.8% |
* As of September 2003, data from Chinese National Geography 2006.8, page 77.
[edit] Climbers who have reached the summit of all eight-thousanders
| Name | Period | Nationality | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reinhold Messner | 1970-1986 | Italian |
| 2 | Jerzy Kukuczka | 1979-1987 | Polish |
| 3 | Erhard Loretan | 1982-1995 | Swiss |
| 4 | Carlos Carsolio | 1985-1996 | Mexican |
| 5 | Krzysztof Wielicki | 1980-1996 | Polish |
| 6 | Juanito Oiarzabal | 1985-1999 | Spanish/Basque |
| 7 | Sergio Martini | 1976-2000 | Italian |
| 8 | Hong-Gil Um | 1988-2000 | Korean |
| 9 | Park Young Seok | 1993-2001 | Korean |
| 10 | Alberto Inurrategi | 1991-2002 | Spanish/Basque |
| 11 | Han Wang Yong | 1994-2003 | Korean |
| 12 | Ed Viesturs | 1989-2005 | American |
| 13 | Alan Hinkes | 1987-2005 | British |
[edit] Notes
- ^ In making any "highest mountains" list, one needs to use a criterion to exclude subpeaks and only list independent mountains. There is no universally agreed-upon such criterion. However the (generally accepted) list of fourteen eight-thousanders is obtained if one uses a topographic prominence cutoff of between 200 and 500 meters (610 and 1524 feet). Some eight-thousand meter subpeaks have been climbed as goals in themselves, for example Lhotse Middle, but this is quite rare.
- ^ a b c d e Note: The mountains mentioned lie in the disputed Northern Areas region. This region is also claimed by India along with Kashmir.
