Eight Thousanders

[Skill]

The tallest 14 mountains on earth are collectively referred to as the eight-thousanders because each stands at over 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) tall.
All of the eight-thousanders are found in Asia -- in the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain ranges. The Karakoram range separates India, China, and Pakistan.
[h=3]The Official List of Eight-Thousanders[/h]While in 2012 China suggested additions to the list of eight-thousanders, these peaks over 26,247 feet are officially recognized by the world community.
In order by height:

• Mount Everest: 8,848 meters (29,029 feet). Located between China and Nepal.
• K2: 8,611 meters (28,251 feet). Located between Pakistan and China.
• Kangchenjunga: 8,586 meters (28,169 feet). Located between Nepal and India.
• Lhotse: 8,516 meters (27,940 feet). Located between China and Nepal.
• Makalu: 8,485 meters (27,838 feet). Located between China and Nepal.
• Cho Oyu: 8,201 meters (26,906 feet). Located between China and Nepal.
• Dhaulagiri I: 8,167 meters (26,795 feet). Located in Nepal.
• Manaslu: 8,163 meters (26,781 feet). Located in Nepal.
• Nanga Parbat: 8,126 meters (26,660 feet). Located in Pakistan.
• Annapurna I: 8,091 meters (26,545 feet). Located in Nepal.
• Gasherbrum I: 8,080 meters (26,444 feet). Located between China and Pakistan.
• Broad Peak: 8,051 meters (26,414 feet). Located between China and Pakistan.
• Gasherbrum II: 8,034 meters (26,358 feet). Located between China and Pakistan.
• Shishapangma: 8,027 meters (26,335 feet). Located in China.

[h=3]The Himalayas[/h]Asia's monster mountain range is the highest on earth by a long shot. The Himalayas span or border six countries: China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. With Mount Everest, the eight-thousanders, and over 100 mountains above 7,200 meters (23,600 feet), the Himalayas are a wonderland for mountaineers.
The highest peak outside of Asia is Aconcagua in Argentina with a peak of 6,960 meters (22,837 feet).
[h=3]Mount Everest[/h]King of the eight-thousanders, perhaps no other mountain on earth receives as much press as the notorious Mount Everest. Oddly enough, Mount Everest may be the tallest mountain in the world based on measurement to sea level, however, it is not the most difficult to climb.
To date, more than 200 people have died trying to summit Mount Everest. While the fatality rate is only around 4.3 deaths per 100 climbers -- relatively low when compared to the 38% fatality rate on Annapurna1 the popularity of the mountain and volume of summit attempts have given it the reputation as being the deadliest.
Mount Everest stands in the Himalayas between Tibet (China) and Nepal.
[h=3]Climbing the Eight-Thousanders[/h]An amazingly dangerous feat, credit is given to Italian Reinhold Messner for being the first person to successfully summit all 14 of the eight-thousanders; he did so without the aid of oxygen bottles. He was also the first climber to ascend Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messner published, among many other books, his memoirs in All 14 Eight-Thousanders.
As of 2011, only 26 people have successfully climbed all 14 eight-thousanders, although a few other climbers have made disputed claims.
If climbing the earth's tallest 14 mountains wasn't enough of a feat, mountaineers are raising the bar by attempting the summits without oxygen or joining the elite who climb in winter. So far, only K2 and Broad Peak have not been summited in the winter months.
With a fatality rate of around 38% (more than one in three climbers perish), Annapurna I holds the ominous title as being the most dangerous of the eight-thousanders. K2 is second-most dangerous with a fatality rate of around 23% (more than one in five climbers perish).
[h=3]Trekking Around the Eight-Thousanders[/h]While actually climbing the world's tallest peaks may be out of reach for many of us, the trekking near the mountains offers incredible views without the danger of a summit attempt. Treks can be organized either before you leave home or once on the ground at various agencies in the country.
The stunning Annapurna circuit in Nepal can be broken into segments or completed in two to three weeks. The famous trek to Everest Base Camp in Nepal can be completed by anyone reasonably fit without gear or technical training.

[BILAL3538]

Very nice Info Aamir Bhai

[Skill]

Elevation: 29,035 feet (8,850 meters)
Prominence: 29,035 feet (8,850 meters); most prominent mountain in the world.
Location: On the border of Nepal and Tibet/China, Asia
Coordinates: 27?59′17″ N / 86?55′31″ E
First Ascent: Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (Nepal)on May 29, 1953.
Fast Facts

• Mount Everest is also called Chomolangma, meaning ?Goddess Mother of Snows? in Tibetan and Sagarmatha, meaning "Mother of the Universe" in Nepalese. The mountain is sacred to the native people.
• British surveyors named the peak for George Everest (properly pronounced ?I-ver-ist?) a Surveyor General of India in the mid-nineteenth century.
• Everest's current elevation is based on a GPS device implanted on the highest rock point under ice and snow in 1999 by an American expedition.
• Mount Everest was once surveyed at exactly 29,000 feet but the surveyors didn't think people would believe that so they added two feet to its elevation, making it 29,002 feet.
• Mount Everest is rising from 3 to 6 millimeters or about 1/3 inch a year. Everest is also moving northeastward about 3 inches a year.
• Mount Everest was dissected by glaciers into a huge pyramid with three faces and three major ridges on the north, south, and west sides of the mountain. Five major glaciers continue to chisel Mount Everest?Kangshung Glacier on the east; East Rongbuk Glacier on the northeast; Rongbuk Glacier on the north; and Khumbu Glacier on the west and southwest.
• Mount Everest has an extreme climate. The summit temperature never rises above freezing or 32? F (0? C). Its summit temperatures in January average -33? F (-36? C) and can drop to -76? F (-60? C). In July, the average summit temperature is -2? F (-19? C).
• The best time to climb Everest is in early May before the monsoon season.
• The Southeast Ridge from Nepal, called the South Col Route, and the Northeast Ridge or the North Col Route from Tibet are the usual climbing routes.
• In 1978 Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler were the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen. Messner later described his summit experience: "In my state of spiritual abstraction, I no longer belong to myself and to my eyesight. I am nothing more than a single narrow gasping lung, floating over the mists and summits." In 1980 Messner made the first solo ascent, which was via a new route on the mountain's north side.
• The largest expedition to climb Mount Everest was a 410-climber Chinese team in 1975.
• The most climbers to reach the summit in a single day were 40 on May 10, 1993.
• The safest year on Mount Everest was 1993 when 129 climbers reached the summit and only 8 died.
• The least safe year on Mount Everest was 1996 when 98 climbers summitted and 15 died.
• Sherpa Babu Chiri stayed on the summit of Everest for 21 hours and 30 minutes.
• Stacey Allison from Portland, Oregon made the first ascent by an American woman on September 29, 1988.
• The country with the most deaths on Mount Everest is Nepal with 47
• Jean-Marc Boivin of France made the fastest descent from the summit of Mount Everest to the base by swiftly paragliding down in 11 minutes.
• Davo Kamicar of Slovenia made the first ski descent of Mount Everest on October 10, 2000.
• Over 150 bodies of dead climbers are on the peak.
• A jumping spider lives up to 22,000 feet on Mount Everest.
• A helicopter piloted by a Frenchman supposedly made a hover landing on the summit in 2005.

[Skill]

Elevation: 28,253 feet (8,612 meters)
Prominence: 13,179 feet (4,017 meters)
Location: Pakistan/China, Asia
Coordinates: 35?52′57″ N 76?30′48″ E
First Ascent: Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli (Italy), July 31, 1954
Fast Facts:

• K2, located on the Pakistan-Chinese border, is the 2nd highest mountain in the world; Pakistan's highest mountain; and the world's 22nd most prominent mountain.
• The name K2 was given in 1852 by British surveyor T.G. Montgomerie with "K" designating the Karakoram Range and "2" since it was the 2nd peak listed. During his survey, Montgomerie, standing on Mt. Haramukh 125 miles to the south, noted two prominent peaks to the north, calling them K1 and K2. While he kept native names, he found that K2 did not have a known name. Later the peak was named Mount Godwin-Austen for an early explorer but it was never recognized.
• A name for K2 is Chogori, derived from Balti wordschhogo ri, meaning "large mountain." The Chinese call the mountain Qogir meaning "Great Mountain," while Balti locals call it Kechu.
• K2 is nicknamed the "Savage Mountain" for its severe weather. It is typically climbed in June, July, or August. K2 has never been climbed in winter.
• British climbers Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), an occultist and hedonist, and Oscar Eckenstein (1859-1921) led an expedition of six climbers that made the first attempt to climb K2, from March to June, 1902. The party spent 68 days on the mountain, with only 8 clear days, attempting the northeast ridge. Spending two months at high altitude, the party made 5 summit attempts. The last one began on June 8 but 8 days of bad weather defeated them and they retreated after a high point of 21,407 feet (6,525 meters). Scraps of expedition clothing were later found below K2 and are displayed at Neptune Mountaineering in Boulder, Colorado.
• Italian climber Prince Luigi Amedeo (1873-1933), the Duke of Abruzzi, led an expedition to K2 in 1909. His party attempted the southeast ridge, the Abruzzi Spur, reaching an elevation of 20,505 feet (6,250 meters) before deciding that the climb was too difficult. The ridge is now the usual way that most climbers ascend K2. Before departing, the Duke said that the mountain would never be climbed.
• Fritz Wiessner, a great German climber transplanted to the US, led a 1939 American expedition that set a new world altitude record by reaching 27,500 feet on the Abruzzi Spur. The party was 656 feet from the summit before turning around. Four team members were killed.
• One of the most famous events in American climbing history occurred during a 1953 expedition led by Charles Houston. A 10-day storm trapped the team at 25,592 feet. Abandoning a summit attempt, the climbers attempted to save 27-year-old Art Gilkey, who had developed altitude sickness, by descending to a lower altitude. At one point during their desperate descent, Pete Schoening saved five falling climbers by arresting their fall with the rope and his ice axe plunged behind a boulder. The axe is displayed at the Bradford Washburn American mountaineering Museum in Golden, Colorado.
• The peak's 2nd ascent came on August 9, 1977, 23 years after K2's first ascent, by a Japanese team led by Ichiro Yoshizawa. The team also included Ashraf Aman, the first Pakistani climber to summit K2.
• The first American ascent was in 1978. A strong team led by James Whittaker ascended a new route up the peak's Northeast Ridge.
• K2 is one of the most difficult 8,000ers with technical climbing, severe weather conditions, and high avalanche danger. As of early 2009, 305 climbers have reached K2's summit, while at least 76 have died.
• 1986 was a tragic year on K2 with 13 climbers dying. Five climbers died in a severe storm between August 6 and August 10. Eight other climbers died in the preceding 6 weeks. Deaths were by avalanche, falling, and rockfall. The climbers killed by the storm were part of a group cobbled together from several failed expeditions. Three of the climbers reached the top on August 4. During the descent they met up with 4 other climbers and stayed at 26,000 feet where they were trapped in a storm. Five climbers died while only two survived.
• As of 2009, 11 women have summitted K2, but four died on the descent.
• In August 2008, 11 climbers died on the upper slopes of K2 after an avalanche caused by a fallen ice serac either killed them outright or isolated them above The Bottleneck, a steep ice couloir.
• The fatality rate on K2 is 27%. If you attempt K2 you have a 1 in 4 chance of dying. Prior to the 2008 tragedy, of the 198 climbers who summitted the peak, 53 died on K2. That is three times the 9% fatality rate on Mount Everest. K2 is, next to Annapurna, the second most dangerous 8,000-meter peak.
• First Attempt: 1902. Aliester crowley and Oscar Eckenstein led a team of six climbers and tried to climb K2's Northeast Ridge. They failed after 68 days and lots of bad weather but made it to 21,400 feet (6,525 meters). A very audacious attempt when high-altitude climbing was in its infancy.
• First Attempt of Abruzzi Spur: 1909. Another great try for the time. An expedition led by the Duke of Abruzzi, Luigi Amedeo (IT), attempted the Southeast Ridge, now called abruzzi spur. Twelve members of the party reached 20,500 feet. The ridge was the first ascent route 45 years later.
• First Ascent: July 31, 1954. Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni with a large Italian expedition reached the summit at 6 p.m. after running out of oxygen below the top. They rapidly descended in dangerous avalanche conditions.
• First American Ascent: After five attempts by previous American expeditions, in 1978 American climbers Louis Reichardt and Jim Wickwire on September 6, and John Roskelley and Rick Ridgeway on September 7 stood atop K2 for its 3rd ascent. The team spent 67 days on the mountain, mostly above 18,000 feet, while climbing the Northeast Ridge. In a survival test, Wickwire spent a night in the open below the summit at 27,000 feet without food, oxygen, or shelter in temperatures of -40 degrees.
• First Female Ascent: June 23, 1986. Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz (1943-1992) was the first woman to successfully climb and descend K2. On August 4 that year, Julie Tullis (UK) also reached the summit but she died high on the mountain on the night of August 6 and 7. Rutkiewicz, who undoubtedly would have been the first woman to climb all the 8k meter peaks, died on her ninth one, Kangchenjunga, in 1992.
• First Ski Descent: 2009. On August 4, American skier Dave Watson became the first person to successfully ski K2, although he didn't ski from the summit. Instead Watson climbed Abruzzi spur until he was above The Bottleneck. He skied the first 60-degree slopes to The Shoulder and continued to Camp 3 at 24,000 feet. Then he rappelled 2,000 feet to Camp 2 where he put skis on and skied 4,500 feet to the base--a 10,000-foot descent.
• First Climbing Death: 1939. K2's first victim was Dudley Wolfe, a rich adventurer on an American expedition led by Fritz Weissner. From a high camp, Weissner and Sherpa Pasang Lama attempted the summit, climbing to 27,500 feet, 800 feet from the top. Wolfe and deputy leader Jack Durrance were at camp, but Durrance fell ill and descended. When Weissner returned, he found no supplies and Wolfe, incapacitated by altitude sickness. The trio descended but found the next camp stripped of supplies. Weissner and Lama left Wolfe at 25,000 feet and continued down. At Base Camp, Weissner sent 3 Sherpas to rescue Wolfe but none were seen again?until 63 years later in 2002 when Wolfe's remains, including bones, bits of a tent, a cooking pot, trousers, and a mitten with his name were found. The 3 Sherpas were killed trying to rescue Wolfe.
• The most common climbing route that climbers take to ascend K2 is the Abruzzi Spur or the Southeast Ridge. The ridge and route looms menacingly above Base Camp on the Godwin-Austen Glacier on the south side of the mountain. The Abruzzi Spur route climbs steep snow and ice slopes broken by rock ribs and a couple cliff bands that are surmounted with technical climbing.

[ifoo_786]

Good info . . . . . .

[Skill]

Elevation: 28,169 feet (8,586 meters)
Location: Nepal/India, Asia
First Ascent: George Band, Joe Brown (UK), May 25, 1955
Fast Facts

• The name translates ?Five Treasures of Snow,? referring to Kangchenjunga?s five peaks. The Tibetan words are: Kang(Snow) chen (Big) dz? (Treasury) nga (Five). The five treasures are Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Grain, and Holy Scriptures.
• Four of Kangchenjunga?s five summits top 8,000 meters.
• Kangchenjunga is the highest mountain in India and second highest in Nepal and is the easternmost 8,000-meter peak.
• The first attempt to climb Kangchenjunga was in 1905 by a party led by Aleister Crowley and Dr. Jules Jacot-Guillarmod on the southwest side of the mountain.
• The 1955 first ascent party included famed British rock ace Joe Brown, who climbed a 5.8 rock section on the ridge just below the summit.
• The first ascent party and most subsequent parties stop just below the summit to respect the Sikkemese belief that the top is sacred space.
• The 2nd ascent was by an Indian Army team up the difficult northeast spur in 1977.
• In 1998 Ginette Harrison became the first woman to summit. Kangchenjunga was the last 8,000-meter peak to be climbed by a woman.
• Mark Twain traveled to Darjeeling in 1896 and later wrote in Following the Equator: ?I was told by a resident that the summit of Kinchinjunga is often hidden in the clouds, and that sometimes a tourist has waited twenty-two days and then been obliged to go away without a sight of it. And yet was not disappointed; for when he got his hotel bill he recognized that he was now seeing the highest thing in the Himalayas.?

[Skill]

Elevation: 27,890 feet 8,501 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss (Switzerland), May 18, 1956
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• Peak adjoins Mt. Everest, rising 2,000 feet above the South Col.
• The huge South Face is one of steepest in world, rising 1.9 miles in 1.4 miles.
• The summit is very sharp with no place to sit down.
• Lhotse has three summits: Lhotse Main (8,516 meters), Lhotse Shar (8,383 meters), and Lhotse East (8,413 meters).
• The first ascent was made during the Swiss Mt. Everest/Lhotse Expedition in 1956, during which the Swiss made the second ascent of Mt. Everest.
• Tomo Cesan claimed he climbed the massive South Face in 1990. Most climbers didn?t believe that a solo climber could ascend this difficult wall that had defeated many strong parties. He later recanted saying he only reached the summit ridge, but most don?t believe that either.
• A Russian expedition climbed the South Face later in 1990 and said a solo ascent was impossible.
• Lhotse is the least climbed 8,000-meter peak in Nepal.

[nomi700]

nice sharing

[Skill]

Elevation: 27,765 feet (8,462 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray (France), May 15, 1955
Fast Facts:

• The name is derived from the Sanskrit Maha Kala, a name for the Hindu god Shiva that translates Big Black
• Makula is in Nepal's Makalu-Barun National Park and Conservation Area.
• Located 14 miles (22 kilometers) east of Mount Everest.
• Makula is a double peak with its twin subsidiary peak Chomolonzo (25,650 feet) to the north.
• The summit ridge is the border between Nepal and Tibet.
• One of the most challenging 8,000-meter peaks, with steep climbing, exposed ridges, and rock climbing on the summit pyramid.
• Only five of the first 16 attempts successfully reached Makalu's summit.
• The French team that did the first ascent in 1955 climbed the north face and northeast ridge, today's standard route, and placed nine climbers, including one Sherpa, on the summit.
• Jean-Christophe Lafaille, one of France?s best climbers, disappeared near the top of the peak on January 26, 2006 while attempting to make the first winter ascent of Makalu solo.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,906 feet (8,201 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
Coordinates: 28?06′00″ N 86?39′00″ E
First Ascent: Joseph Joechler, Herbert Tichy (Italy), Pasang Dawa Lama (Nepal), October 19, 1954
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• Cho Oyu (pronounced ?choy-Oh-you?) is Tibetan for ?Turquoise God,? cho god yuturquoise.
• It is 30 miles west of Mount Everest on the Tibet/China and Nepal border.
• Cho Oyu was the fifth 8,000-meter peak climbed.
• West of Cho Oyo is Nangpa La, a major pass and trade route between Nepal and Tibet. Yak caravans often carry black market goods over it. In 2006 Chinese soldiers shot Tibetan refugees here to world outrage.
• First ascent in 1954 by an illegal Austrian expedition that crossed over Nangpa La to access it. First ascent climbers were Herbert Tichy, Joseph J?chler and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama.
• Cho Oyu is the easiest 8,000-meter peak to climb, via its Northwest Ridge, with no technical climbing, big snowfields, and little objective danger. It is easily accessed by 4-wheel-drive vehicle, often guided, and is the first 8,000-meter peak for most climbers.
• Most of the climbing is on ice and snow slopes up to 50 degrees with a few very short sections of steeper rock and ice. The highest technical section is 25 feet high and safely climbed with fixed ropes.
• Now popular with skiers and snowboarders.
• An ascent takes 6 weeks round-trip from Kathmandu.
• It?s often crowded and has over 1,200 ascents.
• On October 2, 2006, Slovenian Pavle Kozjek speed-climbed a new route on the Southwest Face in a single solo ascent from advanced base camp. The crux was a vertical icefall, which was bypassed with 5.6 rock climbing. He reached the summit in 14 hours.
• The first American ski descent of an 8,000-meter peak was on October 1, 2002, when Montana ski mountaineer Kristoffer Erickson reached the summit of Cho Oyu and then skied down.
• As of 2009, 43 climbers have died on Cho Oyu.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,794 feet (8,167 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Albin Schelbert (Austria), Nawang Dorje, Nima Dorje (Nepal), May 13, 1960
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• The Sanskrit name Dhavali giri means ?White Mountain.?
• It was thought to be the world?s highest mountain after its 1808 discovery, replacing Mt. Chimborazo in Ecuador.
• Opposite from Annapurna, Dhaulagiri rises over 7,000 meters above the Kali Gandaki Gorge.
• The first ascent was May 13, 1960 by four members of a Swiss-Austrian team and two sherpas. They climbed the Northeast Ridge, today?s normal route.
• In 1969 a 11-man US expedition led by Boyd Everett attempted the unclimbed knife-edge Southeast Ridge of Dhaulagiri, despite none of the team having Himalayan experience. At 17,000 feet six Americans and two Sherpas were bridging a 10-foot-wide crevasse when a massive avalanche swept down, sweeping away all but Louis Reichardt. At that time it was the worst disaster in Nepalese climbing history.
• The normal route is considered a reasonable climb with moderate avalanche danger and only short technical climbing sections.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,758 feet (8,156 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Toshia Imanishi (Japan) and Gyalzen Norbu (Nepal), May 9, 1956
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• The name Manaslu comes from the Sanskrit word Manasa, translated as ?Mountain of the Spirit.? Manasa means "soul" or "spirit."
• Manaslu is a very steep, sharp peak that dominates the landscape 40 miles east of Annapurna in the Manaslu Himal in northern Nepal.
• Manaslu is the centerpiece of the 642-square-mile Manaslu Conservation Area, a conservation area intended to "To conserve and for sustainable management of the natural resources and rich cultural heritage and to promote ecotourism to improve livelihood of the local people in the MCA region."
• Japanese climbers have owned Manaslu since the early 1950s. Four Japanese expeditions explored and attempted to climb Manaslu?s north and east faces between 1950 and 1955. The 1954 expedition was aborted after local villagers along the trek into the mountain exhibited hostility, blaming the previous expedition in 1952 for upsetting the mountain gods. The gods then caused avalanches which erased the Pung-gyen Monastery and killed 18 people. The team donated money to rebuild the monastery and appease some of the anger.
• A Japanese expedition, led by Yuko Maki, in 1956 successfully climbed Manaslu, with Toshia Imanishi from Japan and Sherpa Gyalzen Norbu reach the summit on May 9.
• After the first ascent, Manaslu was unclimbed until 1971 when another Japanese expedition placed two climbers, Kazuharu Kohara and Motoki, on the summit after successfully ascending the Northwest Spur.
• In 1972 a Korean expedition attempted the Northeast Face, but on April 10 a huge avalanche killed 15 climbers, including 10 Sherpas, at their high camp at 21,300 feet (6,500 meters). Among the dead was expedition leader Kim Ho-sup.
• In 1974 an all-women Japanese team became the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.
• First American ascent was in 1997 by Charlie Mace. Another American expedition placed five climbers on the summit in 2002.
• Manaslu is the fourth most dangerous 8,000-meter peaks to climb, behind K2, Nanga Parbet, and Annapurna, with 59 deaths since 1950.
• Manaslu is a dangerous peak with a high fatality rate, high avalanche danger on the lower slopes, but easier non-technical climbing up high.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,658 feet (8,125 meters)
Location: Pakistan, Asia
First Ascent: Hermann Buhl (Austria), July 3, 1953
Fast Facts:

• Nanga Parbet means ?Naked Mountain? in Urdu.
• The Rupal Face on its south flank is the world?s tallest face, rising 15,000 feet from base to summit.
• First attempt was in 1895 by Alfred Mummery?s group, which reached 6,100 meters up the Diamir Face.
• First ascent was solo by legendary Austrian climber Hermann Buhl in 1953, who, after his companions turned back, reached the summit in the evening and was forced to bivouac standing up. He also climbed without extra oxygen and is the only person to make the first ascent of an 8,000-meter peak solo. His route has been repeated only once.
• The Rupal Face was climbed by brothers Reinhold and G?nther Messner in 1970, but descending the back side G?nther was killed by avalanche.
• In 1978 Reinhold Messner solo-climbed the Diamir Face?the first complete solo ascent of the mountain (Buhl only soloed the upper part of his route).
• In 1984 French climber Lilliane Barrard is the first woman to summit Nanga Parbet.
• In 2005 Americans Vince Anderson and Steve House climb the Central Pillar of the Rupal Face in five days and then two days to descend. Their alpine-style ascent is one the boldest Himalayan ascents to date.
• It?s the 2nd hardest 8,000-meter peak after K2. After 31 people died attempting to climb Nanga Parbet, it was nicknamed the ?Killer Mountain?.
• ?Summit day was physically one of the hardest days I have ever had in the mountains. We had climbed for five days with very limited chance for recovery. Fortunately the weather was perfect. But I was not sure that we would succeed until we arrived just below the south summit at over 8,000 meters and could see the last easy meters to the top.? Steve House on the first ascent of the Rupal Face Central Pillar in 2005.

[familyoffroaders]

This is a very informative topic, thanks for taking the initiative.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,545 feet (8,091 meters)
Location: Nepal, Asia
First Ascent: Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal (France), June 3, 1950
Fast Facts:

• Annapurna is a Sanskrit word that literally means full of food but translates to Goddess of the Harvest. Annapurna is a Hindu fertility goddess.
• Annapurna I is the highest point of a 34-mile-long range, which is east of the Kali Gandaki River's deep gorge.
• Annapurna was the first 8,000-meter peak climbed and the first climbed without supplemental oxygen.
• Maurice Herzon and Louis Lachenal, the first to summit Annapurna in 1950, were part of a French team that included other great climbers including Gaston Rbuffat and Lionel Terray.
• Herzog and Lachenal both suffered severe frostbite on their feet and Herzog on his hands after losing his gloves. Gangrene set in afterward, forcing the expedition doctor to amputate fingers and toes in the field without anesthetic.
• Maurice Herzog wrote the bookAnnapurna about the 1950 expedition, which has sold over 11 million copies, making it the best-selling climbing book of all time.
• In 1970 the South Face of Annapurna was first climbed by Don Whillans and Dougal Haston, part of a British expedition led by Sir Chris Bonington. This was also the second ascent of the mountain along with a British Army expedition on the north face.
• The 1978 American Women's Annapurna Expedition, composed only of women, made the first American ascent of the mountain.
• Annapurna is the most dangerous 8000-meter peak with an expedition fatality rate of 40%.
• The Annapurna trek around the range is one of the most popular high-altitude treks in Nepal.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,470 feet (8,068 meters)
Location: Pakistan/China, Asia
First Ascent: Andrew Kauffman and Pete Schoening (United States), July 3, 1958
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• Gasherbrum is Balti for ?Beautiful Mountain;? rgasha beautiful brum mountain. It?s also called Hidden Peak. It was first named K5 by T.G. Montgomerie on an 1856 survey.
• Located in Pakistan?s Karakoram Range, one of the world?s most remote regions, and almost 1,000 miles west of the Himalayas.
• Gasherbrum I is one of 6 Gasherbrum peaks in the Karakoram Range.
• First ascent was in 1958 by Americans Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman, part of an eight-man expedition. They used mirrors on the summit to signal their success to team members below.
• Gasherbrum I was the first 8,000-meter peak climbed alpine style when Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler ascended it bottom to top with no set camps, porters, siege tactics, or supplemental oxygen in 1975.
• In 1982 French climber Marie-Jos? Valen?ot is the first woman to summit. Sylvain Saudan, her Swiss husband, becomes the first to ski from an 8,000-meter summit to base camp.
• In 1984, Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander made the first traverse of two 8,000-meter peaks by climbing Gasherbrum II, descending to a pass, and then climbing Gasherbrum I in eight days.
• It?s the least climbed 8,000-meter peak and has the lowest fatality rate, since most climbers tackling it are experienced.

[asifcae]

lovely info sir g

i have had the honour to see some of the big ones close at hand. there include K2, Nanga parbat and Gashebrum series and broadpeak

here r some of the shots...

Broad Peak | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
K2 ka Pakistan | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
K2 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
K2 upclose | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Nanga Parbat-serene terror | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Concordia | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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[Skill]

Elevation: 26,400 feet (8,047 meters)
Location: Pakistan/China, Asia
First Ascent: Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger, Marcus Schmuck, and Fritz Wintersteller (Austria), June 9, 1957
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• Broad Peak has no known local name. Some who wanted an indigenous name, translated Broad Peak from English into Balti, naming it P'alchan Kangri Ri.
• T.G. Montgomerie named it K3 during an 1856 survey. Later explorer W.M. Conway called it Broad Peak for its mile-long summit ridge.
• Broad Peak is located above the Baltoro Glacier in the remote Karakoram Range of northwestern Pakistan. It?s five miles from k2
• It?s debated if Broad Peak has two 8,000-meter summits or one; many climbers stop at the lower 8,015-meter summit rather than the higher 8,047 feet one. Did they really climb it?
• In 1997 American Ed Viesturs, in his quest for all 8,000-meter peaks, climbed only to the lower summit of Broad Peak. The next day climbers noticed his tracks ended there and he admitted not reaching the actual summit. He didn?t reach the upper summit until 2003. On that climb he reached the middle summit and found a party of South Koreans celebrating Han ****-Yong becoming the first Korean to climb all 8,000-meter peaks. Viesturs pointed out that their party was premature, that the real summit was thataway! So they accompanied him over and had a real party.
• The 1957 first ascent was by a four-person Austrian expedition. All four reached the summit and eschewed the use of oxygen and high-altitude porters.
• In 1984 Polish climber Krzysztof Wielicki soloed it from base camp to summit and back down in only 22 hours.
• In 1994 Swedish mountaineer G?ran Kropp, later killed sport climbing in the US, soloed Broad Peak in 18? hours.
• Geographers say that global warming will eventually melt the snow between the central and main summits, making the central summit the 15th 8,000-meter peak.
• Broad Peak, a moderate climb, has a death rate of only 7%, making it statistically very safe.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,360 feet (8,035 meters)
Location: Pakistan, Asia
First Ascent: Josef Larch, Fritz Moravec, and Hans Willenpart (Austria), July 8, 1956
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• Gasherbrum is Balti for ?Beautiful Mountain;? rgasha beautifulbrum mountain. It was first named K4 by T.G. Montgomerie on an 1856 survey.
• Located in the remote Karakoram Range in northwestern Pakistan.
• Gasherbrum II is not visible from any inhabited place.
• The second ascent was in 1975, 19 years after the first, by a French team.
• In 2006 a German expedition climbed GII and then skied down it in a mere 17 hours. It usually takes most climbers five days to simply climb it.
• In 2007 Italians Karl Unterkircher and Daniele Bernasconi solved one of the great unclimbed Asian walls by climbing the impressive North Face of Gasherbrum II in quick alpine style.
• The standard route up the Southwest Ridge is straight-forward, safe from avalanches, and one of the easier 8,000-meter peak routes.
• It?s often the first 8,000-meter peak to be climbed by prospective high-altitude mountaineers.

[Skill]

Elevation: 26,289 feet (8,013 meters)
Location: Tibet/China, Asia
First Ascent: Hsu Jing and 9 other climbers (China) May 2, 1964
[h=3]Fast Facts:[/h]

• The Tibetan name Shi sha sbang ma means "Crest above the Grassy Plains." The Sanskrit name is Gosainthan, which means "Place of the Saint" or "The Holy Place."
• Shishapangma was the last 8,000-meter peak climbed because of its remoteness and Chinese restrictions on climbing.
• Shishapangma is the only 8,000-meter peak wholly in Tibet/China.
• It's of the easier high peaks, with vehicle access to base camp.
• Most only climb to the lower central summit, not crossing a long sharp ridge to the main summit. They technically have not climbed the peak.
• The first ascent of Shishapangma was in 1964 by a Chinese expedition, led by Hsu Jing. Ten climbers summited the peak on May 2.
• The first ascent of the steep 6,000-foot-high South Face was by Brits Doug Scott, Roger Baxter-Jones and Alex MacIntyre in 1982.
• In 1983 the first American ascent was by Mike Browning, Chris Pizzo and Glenn Porzak on the Northeast Face.
• In 1999 expert American mountaineer Alex Lowe was killed in an avalanche while on an expedition to be the first Americans to ski down an 8,000-meter peak.