What are Eight-thousander peaks?
According to Wikipedia, the Eight-thousanders are the 14 independent mountains on Earth that are more than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet) high above sea level. All these mountains are in death zone i.e. above 8000 meters, where it is extremely difficult for humans to survive.
This is how 8000ers are located. Credits: MountainSprings
And the Eight-thousanders are,
1. Mount Everest(8848 m)
2. K2 (8611 m)
3. Kangchenjunga(8586 m)
4. Lhotse (8516 m)
5. Makalu (8463 m)
6. Cho Oyu (8201 m)
7. Dhaulagiri (8167 m)
8. Manaslu (8163 m)
9. Nanga Parbat(8125 m)
10. Annapurna I (8091 m)
11. Gasherbrum I(8068 m)
12. Broad Peak (8047 m)
13. Gasherbrum II(8035 m)
14. Shishapangma(8027 m)
Since the inception of mountaineering, people always tried to achieve extraordinary feats by trying something new and significantly difficult at the same. 8000ers are is considered one such feat. We Indians are not behind in that league, we are set to unflur India's flag on all these peaks.
1. Giripremi the Pune based Organization is on its way to summit the Eight-thousander, with 5 of them already scaled.
2. Arjun Vajpai, a Noida based mountaineer, has a vision to summit the Eight-thousanders. He will be attempting Kanchenjunga in May 2018, solo without the use of supplemental oxygen.
3. Harshad Rao from Pune will attempt his 2nd Eight-thousander, Kanchenjunga in May 2018.
This is how it all began,
1. The first known attempt on an eight-thousander was when Albert F. Mummery and J. Norman Collie tried to climb Pakistan's Nanga Parbat in 1895. The attempt was unsuccessful due to an avalanche.
2. The first recorded successful ascent of an eight-thousander was by the French Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who reached the summit of Annapurna on 3 June 1950. This successful attempt shook the entire world by literally breaking the ice. This feat received as much attention as the first summit on Everest in 1953.
3. The highest peak amongst the thousanders, the Everest saw its first successful summit in 1953, by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
4. The first winter ascent of an eight-thousander was done by Polish team lead by Andrzej Zawadaon Mount Everest. Two climbers Leszek Cichyand and Krzysztof Wielicki reached the summit on 17 February 1980.
5. The first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders was the Italian Reinhold Messner, who completed this feat on 16 October 1986. He made this feat without use of supplemental oxygen.
6. In 1987, Polish climber Jerzy Kukuczka became the second person to accomplish this feat. Kukuczka is also the man who established the most (9) new routes on the main eight-thousanders.
7. The first woman who summited all 14 eight-thousanders was the Spanish Edurne Pasaban, in 2010.
8. In August 2011, Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner became the first woman to climb the 14 eight-thousanders without the use of supplementary oxygen.
9. The first couple and team who summited all 14 eight-thousanders together were the Italians Nives Meroi (second woman without supplementary oxygen), and her husband Romano Benet in 2017. They climbed in alpine style, without the use of supplementary oxygen.