The lucky climbers of Eight Thousanders

There are fourteen peaks around the world which are above 8,000 metres. Five of these are located in Pakistan in areas adjoining Pakistan and China. Four of these five peaks are located in the Karakoram Range, while the Nanga Parbat is located in the Himalayan Range.

The list of fourteen peaks is as under:

• Everest – 8,848m – Nepal/China
• K2 (also called Mt Godwin Austen or Chogori in local language) – 8,611m – Pakistan  
• Kanchenjunga – 8,586m – Nepal/India
• Lhotse – 8,516m – Nepal/China
• Makalu – 8,485m – Nepal/China
• Cho Oyu – 8,188m – Nepal/China
• Dhaulagiri 1 – 8,167m – Nepal
• Manaslu – 8,163m – Nepal
• Nanga Parbat – 8,126m – Pakistan
• Annapurna 1 – 8,091m – Nepal
• Gasherbrum 1 (also called the Hidden Peak) – 8,080m – Pakistan
• Broad Peak – 8,051m – Pakistan
• Gasherbrum II – 8,034m – Pakistan
• Shishapangma – 8,027m – China

So far only 18 lucky men have climbed all 14 peaks without oxygen. Reinhold Messne (above left), an Italian mountaineer, was the mountaineer to have scaled all the fourteen peaks. His last peak was scaled in 1986. Next year Jerzy Kukuczka (above centre) from Poland became the second luckiest to receive this honour. Juanito Oiarzabal (above right), a Spanish mountaineer, holds the record for climbing these mountains the most times – a total of 23 times between 1985 and 2009. He was the sixth man to reach these 14 summits, and the fourth in reaching them without artificial oxygen.

As for the women, no woman has so far completed the 14. Although Oh Eun-Sun (above left) of South Korea claimed to have scaled all fourteen, but her claim for the scaling the Kanchenjunga was not accepted due to some technical reasons. So for the time being she is one short to become the first woman mountain climber to bag the all 14 peaks. Following her is Edurne Pasaban (above right), from Spain, who has so far scaled 12 out of the 14. She is closely followed by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Nives Meroi who have both climbed 11.

We keep our fingers crossed for the first lucky woman to receive the honour of scaling all fourteen eight thousanders and wish Oh Eun Sun and Edurne Pasaban the very best of luck.