Yamada was born in 1950 in
Numata City, Gunma Prefecture. He began climbing while a student and joined the Numata Mountaineering Club.
Himalayan expeditions Yamada began trekking in the Himalayas in the late 1970s. He would make 22 expeditions to the Himalayas over 15 years, and would make 16 attempts at climbing the region's 8,000m peaks. On October 19, 1978, Yamada summitted his first eight-thousander, Dhaulagiri I (8167 m). A member of an 18-member expedition party led by Seiko Tanaka, the expedition was perilous. Only five members would summit, and four members of the party would lose their lives in the attempt. Yamada would not return to the Himalayas until 1981. That year, he took part in three expeditions, a successful ascent of
Kangchenjunga on May 9, 1981 via
Yalung Kang. That fall, he returned to the Himalayas. On October 10, 1981, Yamada was part of a Japanese expedition team which made the
first successful ascent of
Langtang Ri in the
Langtang Himal. On October 18, 1982, Yamada, Kozu Komatsu and Yasuhira Saito made a successful first ascent of the
Pear Route up
Dhaulagiri. In December 1982, Yamada was leading a winter expedition up
Manaslu via the normal route when expedition member Takashi Sakuma fell to his death at 24,600 feet. The expedition gave up their summit attempt after Sakuma's death. In 1983, Yamada was part of a successful summit team that first climbed
Lhotse and then
Everest via the South Col. It was the second winter ascent of Mount Everest. In 1985, Yamada would climb three eight-thousanders, becoming the third person in the world to climb three of the world's highest peaks in the same year. In October 1985, Yamada made his second summit of Mount Everest, and his first ascent
without bottled oxygen as part of the crew filming a
movie about
Naomi Uemura. That December, he summited
Manaslu. In December 1986, Yamada and climbing partner Yasuhira Saito attempted an alpine-style ascent of Makalu during the winter season. The pair reached a high point of 7,500 before descending due to poor snow conditions. On 6 November 1988, Yamada successfully summited
Cho Oyu.
Winter ascent of Annapurna In the winter of 1984–1985, Yamada was part of a Gunma Mountaineering Association climbing expedition attempting the first winter ascent of the South face of Annapurna. The team reached a high point of 7200m, and were turned back due to heavy snowfall and inexperience on the mountain. Three years later, on 20 December 1987, Yamada, and climbing partners Yasuhira Saito, Teruo Saegusa and Toshiyuki Kobayashi returned to Annapurna where they successfully made the first winter summit of the south face of
Annapurna. It was also the first ascent of Annapurna in winter by a Japanese team, and marked Yamada's seventh eight-thousander. On the way down, two members of Yamada's climbing team fell to their deaths due to fatigue.
Final climb On February 16, 1989, Yamada flew into Kahiltna Basecamp to lead an expedition up Denali's West Buttress. Yamada was climbing
Denali in an attempt to complete the
Seven Summits. Prior to his attempt at Denali, Yamada had climbed Everest,
Mont Blanc,
Aconcagua and
Kilimanjaro in the previous 135 days. The Japanese team was last seen on February 22. On February 26, after the Japanese team was expected to return to basecamp, the team was suspected lost. On 13 March 1989, the bodies of Yamada, and Kozo Komatsu were sighted by an overhead aircraft. On 30 March 1989, the climbers bodies were found by a recovery team, who found them roped together. It is assumed the group attempted to reach the summit during a break in the weather, but fell on the ascent. == Legacy ==