Eight-thousander

The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than 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, and J. Norman Collie to Nanga Parbat in Pakistan 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. A year later, in 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka became the second climber to accomplish this feat. As of 2008, a total of fourteen people have followed through undisputed. This is an extremely hazardous feat; at least four people have died while in pursuit of this goal.

List of eight-thousanders

Peak	Height	Location	First ascent	First ascensionist(s)	First ascent in winter	First ascensionist(s) in winter	Ascents^*	Deaths^*	Death rate^*	Death rate before 1990^*	Death rate since 1990^*
Everest	8848 m	Nepal/China	May 29, 1953	Edmund Hillary Tenzing Norgay	February 17 1980	Krzysztof Wielicki Leszek Cichy	1924	179	9.30%	37%	4.4%
K2	8611 m	Pakistan	July 31, 1954	Achille Compagnoni Lino Lacedelli			198	53	26.77%	41%	19.7%
Kanchenjunga	8586 m	Nepal/India	May 25, 1955	George Band Joe Brown	January 11 1986	Krzysztof Wielicki Jerzy Kukuczka	185	40	21.62%	21%	22%
Lhotse	8516 m	Nepal/China	May 18, 1956	Fritz Luchsinger Ernst Reiss	December 31, 1988	Krzysztof Wielicki	243	11	4.53%	14%	2%
Makalu	8463 m	Nepal/China	May 15, 1955	Jean Couzy Lionel Terray			206	22	10.68%	16%	8.5%
Cho Oyu	8201 m	Nepal/China	October 19, 1954	Joseph Joechler Pasang Dawa Lama Herbert Tichy	February 12, 1985	Maciej Berbeka Maciej Pawlikowski
Dhaulagiri	8167 m	Nepal	May 13, 1960	Kurt Diemberger Peter Diener Nawang Dorje Nima Dorje Ernst Forrer Albin Schelbert	January 21, 1985	Andrzej Czok Jerzy Kukuczka	313	56	17.89%	31%	11%
Manaslu	8163 m	Nepal	May 9, 1956	Toshio Imanishi Gyalzen Norbu	January 14, 1984	Maciej Berbeka Ryszard Gajewski	240	52	21.67%	35.16%	13.42%
Nanga Parbat	8125 m	Pakistan	July 3, 1953	Hermann Buhl			216	61	28.24%	77%	5.5%
Annapurna	8091 m	Nepal	June 3, 1950	Maurice Herzog Louis Lachenal	February 3, 1987	Jerzy Kukuczka Artur Hajzer
Gasherbrum I	8068 m	Pakistan/China	July 5, 1958	Andrew Kauffman Pete Schoening			195	21	10.77%	15.5%	8.75%
Broad Peak	8047 m	Pakistan/China	June 9, 1957	Fritz Wintersteller Marcus Schmuck Kurt Diemberger Hermann Buhl			255	18	7.20%	5%	8.6%
Gasherbrum II	8035 m	Pakistan/China	July 8, 1956	Fritz Moravec Josef Larch Hans Willenpart			650	17	2.62%	7.8%	0.44%
Shishapangma	8027 m	China	May 2, 1964	Ten climbers led by Hsu Ching	January 14, 2005	Piotr Morawski Simone Moro	201	19	9.45%	2%	16.8%

^* As of September 2003, data from Chinese National Geography 2006.8, page 77.

Climbers who have reached the summit of all 14 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
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
11	Han Wang Yong	1994-2003	Korean
12	Ed Viesturs	1989-2005	American
13	Alan Hinkes(disputed)	1987-2005	English
14	Silvio Mondinelli	1993-2007	Italian
15	Ivan Vallejo	1997-2008	Ecuador

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