Eight-thousander

First ascents region; six eight-thousanders are visible The first recorded attempt on an eight-thousander was 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. 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. 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. 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 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. On 17 May 2010, Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban became the first woman to summit all 14 eight-thousanders. In August 2011, Austrian 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, Nepali guide Kami Rita summited 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-Nepali 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 Lama Sherpa set a new speed record of 92 days for climbing all 14 eight-thousanders with supplementary oxygen. 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. Using consistent data from 1950 to 2012, mountaineering statistician Eberhard Jurgalski (see table) used this metric to show Annapurna is the deadliest mountain (31.9%), followed by K2 (26.5%), Nanga Parbat (20.3%), Dhaulagiri (15.4%) and Kangchenjunga (14.1%). Cho Oyu was the safest at 1.4%. • Narrow death rate: The drawback of the first metric is that it includes the deaths of any support climbers or climbing sherpas that went above base camp in assisting the climb; therefore, rather than being the probability that a climber will die attempting to summit an eight-thousander, it is more akin to the total human cost in getting a climber to the summit. In the Himalayan Database (HDB) tables, the climber (or member) "Death Rate" is the ratio of deaths above base camp, of all climbers who were hoping to summit and who went above base camp (calculated for 1950 to 2009), and is closer to a true probability of death (see table below). The data is only for the Nepalese Himalaya and therefore does not include K2 or Nanga Parbat. HDB estimates the probability of death for a climber attempting the summit of an eight-thousander is still highest for Annapurna I (4%), followed by Kangchenjunga (3%) and Dhaulagiri (3%); the safest is still Cho Oyu at 0.6%. 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. == 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). == List of climbers of all 14 ==

There is no single undisputed source or arbitrator for verified ascents of Himalayan eight-thousander peaks. 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. is considered as an important source for verified ascents for the Nepalese Himalayas. and the Eberhard Jurgalski List. Verified ascents The "No O2" column lists people who have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders without supplementary oxygen. 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). The Eberhard Jurgalski List is also another important source for independent verification of claims to have summited all 14 eight-thousanders. 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 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. The team has not formally published their work, and according to Popier, they had not decided about "the best respectful form to present it". ==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. In 2012, the UIAA initiated the ARUGA Project, with an aim to see if these six new -plus peaks could feasibly achieve international recognition. 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. ==Gallery==

Note: This gallery is arranged in order of height, from tallest to shortest, of the eight-thousanders. File:Everest kalapatthar crop.jpg|No. 1 – Mount Everest File:K2 2006b.jpg|No. 2 – K2 File:Kangchenjunga.JPG|No. 3 – Kangchenjunga File:Lhotse-fromChukhungRi.jpg|No. 4 – Lhotse File:Makalu from Island Peak.jpg|No. 5 – Makalu File:ChoOyu-fromGokyo.jpg|No. 6 – Cho Oyu File:DhaulagiriMountain.jos.500pix.jpg|No. 7 – Dhaulagiri File:Manaslu, from base camp trip.jpg|No. 8 – Manaslu File:Nanga parbat, Pakistan by gul791.jpg|No. 9 – Nanga Parbat File:AnnapurnaSouthMountain.jos.500pix.jpg|No. 10 – Annapurna File:HiddenPeak.jpg|No. 11 – Gasherbrum I File:7 15 BroadPeak.jpg|No. 12 – Broad Peak File:Gasherbrum2.jpg|No. 13 – Gasherbrum II File:Shishapangma.jpg|No. 14 – Shishapangma ==See also==