The 14 Eight-Thousanders: Complete Guide to Every 8,000m Peak on Earth

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain on earth, rising 8,849 meters above sea level on the border between Nepal and Tibet. It was first summited on May 29, 1953, by Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, members of a British expedition led by John Hunt. Their success — achieved after decades of British attempts going back to 1921 — remains one of the defining moments in exploration history.

Despite being the highest peak in the world, Everest is not the hardest of the 14 eight-thousanders. Its standard routes — the South Col from Nepal and the North Col from Tibet — have been so heavily developed by commercial expeditions that fixed ropes now run from base camp to summit. Supplemental oxygen is near-universal among clients. The result is a historical death rate of approximately 1%, among the lowest of the 8,000-meter peaks, though absolute fatality numbers remain significant due to sheer climber volume.

What Everest lacks in technical difficulty it makes up for in altitude, crowding, and objective hazard. The Khumbu Icefall — a shifting maze of seracs and crevasses climbers cross multiple times on the Nepal side — killed 16 Sherpas in a single serac collapse in 2014. The summit ridge’s “Hillary Step” regularly becomes bottlenecked during peak seasons, leaving climbers queued in the Death Zone.

K2 is the second-highest mountain in the world and, by most serious climbers’ assessment, the hardest of the 14 eight-thousanders to climb. Located deep in Pakistan’s Karakoram range along the Chinese border, K2 rises as a near-perfect pyramid from the upper Baltoro Glacier. It was first climbed on July 31, 1954, by Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli on an expedition led by Ardito Desio — a historically controversial ascent involving Walter Bonatti’s forced bivouac at 8,100 meters.

The K2 death rate of approximately 22% makes it one of the three deadliest eight-thousanders. Every route on K2 is technical from the base of the mountain to the summit. The standard Abruzzi Spur requires sustained climbing on rock, ice, and mixed terrain through features including House’s Chimney, the Black Pyramid, and the infamous Bottleneck — a narrow couloir at 8,200 meters passing directly beneath an overhanging serac that can release at any time.

K2’s nickname, the “Savage Mountain,” comes from a 1953 American expedition during which Art Gilkey died. The 2008 K2 disaster, in which 11 climbers died when a serac collapse in the Bottleneck cut fixed ropes, remains one of the deadliest single events in modern Himalayan climbing. K2 receives fewer attempts than Everest each year and has no commercial guide infrastructure to match — it remains, firmly, an expert-only objective.

Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain on earth and the easternmost of the major Nepali peaks, straddling the border between Nepal’s Taplejung district and India’s Sikkim state. Its name means “Five Treasures of the High Snow” in Tibetan, referring to its five distinct summits. It was first climbed on May 25, 1955, by George Band and Joe Brown of a British expedition led by Charles Evans — by tradition, the climbers stopped a few feet short of the true summit out of respect for local beliefs that the peak is sacred.

Kangchenjunga has a death rate of approximately 20%, making it the fourth-deadliest eight-thousander. It is a serious, technical, and remote mountain that sees far fewer attempts than Everest or even K2. The standard routes — the southwest face from Nepal and the northeast spur from the Yalung Glacier — involve sustained climbing on steep snow and ice with significant objective hazard from serac fall and avalanche.

What distinguishes Kangchenjunga from its more famous neighbors is isolation. There is no commercial guide infrastructure on the mountain, no fixed ropes run to the summit by default, and base camp requires a multi-week approach trek through the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area. Weather in the far eastern Himalaya is notoriously difficult to predict, and summit windows are often shorter than on peaks further west.

Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain in the world and Everest’s immediate southern neighbor, connected to Everest by the South Col. Its name means “South Peak” in Tibetan, reflecting its position in the Everest massif. Lhotse was first climbed on May 18, 1956, by Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss of a Swiss expedition that also put the second ascent on Everest via the South Col.

Because Lhotse shares its standard approach with Everest — the Khumbu Icefall, Western Cwm, and Lhotse Face are common to both climbs — it is often attempted by climbers who have already summited Everest or by those seeking a logistically easier “second 8000er.” The death rate is relatively low at approximately 2%, reflecting the well-developed route and commercial expedition support.

The true technical challenge of Lhotse lies on its dramatic south face, a 3,500-meter wall of rock and ice that remained unclimbed until Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander’s attempts and was ultimately first ascended by a Soviet expedition in 1990. Lhotse Middle — a subsidiary summit along the main ridge — was not climbed until 2001 and remains one of the most obscure true 8,000-meter summits.

Makalu is the fifth-highest mountain on earth, located just 19 kilometers southeast of Mount Everest in the Mahalangur Himal. Its striking four-sided pyramid shape makes it one of the most aesthetic summits in the Himalaya. The mountain was first climbed on May 15, 1955, by Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray of a French expedition that ultimately put the entire climbing team on the summit across two days — an exceptional achievement for the era.

Makalu is technically challenging by eight-thousander standards, with a death rate of approximately 8%. The standard northwest ridge route involves sustained climbing on steep snow and ice, with a notorious summit headwall that demands precise movement at altitudes where judgment and strength are both compromised. Unlike Everest or Cho Oyu, Makalu does not have fixed ropes installed to the summit on every expedition, and climbers must be genuinely prepared for technical high-altitude climbing.

The remote Makalu Barun National Park approach — a multi-week trek through some of Nepal’s least-developed mountain country — adds logistical complexity to any expedition. For climbers working through the 14 Peaks, Makalu is often cited as the point where the challenge transitions from “very hard” to “genuinely expert.”

Cho Oyu is the sixth-highest mountain in the world and by wide consensus the easiest of the 14 eight-thousanders to climb. Located in the Mahalangur Himal approximately 30 kilometers west of Everest, Cho Oyu sits on the Nepal-Tibet border with its standard route approached from the Tibetan side. The mountain was first climbed on October 19, 1954, by an Austrian expedition of Herbert Tichy, Joseph Jöchler, and Sherpa Pasang Dawa Lama.

The Cho Oyu standard route is essentially a high-altitude walk-up with one short technical section near 7,000 meters. There are no icefalls, no exposed ridgelines, and no mandatory technical climbing above the camps. This accessibility, combined with a historical death rate of approximately 1%, has made Cho Oyu the classic “first 8000er” objective for climbers progressing toward harder Himalayan peaks.

Access has been the primary complication in recent years. Because the standard route runs from Tibet, Chinese government policy on Tibet permit issuance affects expedition viability year to year. When the Tibetan side is closed, climbers attempt Cho Oyu from Nepal via more technical routes that dramatically change the mountain’s character.

Dhaulagiri I is the seventh-highest mountain in the world and one of the most isolated of the eight-thousanders. Its name comes from the Sanskrit “Dhawala Giri,” meaning “White Mountain,” and from the Kali Gandaki valley it appears as a massive ice-plastered wall that dominates the skyline. Dhaulagiri was first climbed on May 13, 1960, by a Swiss-Austrian expedition that used a Pilatus Porter aircraft to shuttle supplies and climbers — the first time a small aircraft had been used for Himalayan logistical support at that altitude.

Dhaulagiri has a death rate of approximately 15%, placing it firmly in the dangerous category. The standard northeast ridge route involves sustained climbing on exposed terrain with significant avalanche hazard, particularly at the base of the upper mountain where climbers traverse beneath serac-hung slopes. The mountain is notorious for sudden weather changes, as storms building in the Himalayan foothills tend to funnel directly into the Kali Gandaki valley.

Historically Dhaulagiri was considered the tallest mountain in the world for about thirty years in the early 19th century, before surveying established Everest’s priority. Today it receives modest expedition traffic — far less than Everest, Cho Oyu, or Manaslu — and retains more of the expeditionary feel that has been largely lost on more commercialized peaks.

Manaslu is the eighth-highest mountain in the world, located in the Mansiri Himal of west-central Nepal. Its name comes from the Sanskrit “Manasa,” meaning “mountain of the spirit.” Manaslu was first climbed on May 9, 1956, by Toshio Imanishi of Japan and Gyalzen Norbu — a Japanese expedition that succeeded after two prior attempts had been blocked by local villagers who associated Japanese climbing activity with earlier misfortunes in the region.

Manaslu has emerged in the past two decades as the second most commercially climbed eight-thousander after Everest, in part because of its designation as a “safer Everest alternative” for aspiring high-altitude climbers. That reputation is partially deserved and partially dangerous. The death rate runs around 10%, driven primarily by avalanches — the 2012 season saw 11 climbers die in a single slab avalanche at Camp III.

The standard northeast face route involves classic Himalayan climbing: glacier travel through the lower mountain, fixed rope sections through the upper icefall, and a long summit ridge that has become controversial because many commercial expeditions turn around at a “fore-summit” well short of the true top. Climbers pursuing the 14 Peaks specifically need to confirm true-summit ascents.

Nanga Parbat is the ninth-highest mountain in the world and the western anchor of the Himalaya, rising 4,600 meters from the Indus Valley floor in a single dramatic face — the Rupal Face, the tallest mountain face on earth. The mountain earned its nickname, the “Killer Mountain,” long before its first successful ascent: more than 30 climbers died on its slopes during German and Austrian attempts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Nanga Parbat was finally climbed on July 3, 1953, by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl in one of mountaineering’s most extraordinary feats — a solo, unsupported push from 6,900 meters to the summit and back, during which Buhl bivouacked standing up without a tent at roughly 8,000 meters and survived only because the night was unusually still. Buhl’s achievement remains unmatched in the history of the 14 eight-thousanders.

The modern Nanga Parbat death rate is approximately 21%, driven by avalanches, weather, and the mountain’s profound isolation. The 2013 terrorist attack on base camp, in which ten climbers were murdered, added political complexity to an already serious objective. Nanga Parbat remains firmly in the expert-only category.

Annapurna I is the tenth-highest mountain in the world and holds the grim distinction of being the first eight-thousander ever climbed. On June 3, 1950, French climbers Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached the summit — a breakthrough that ushered in the golden age of Himalayan mountaineering but came at terrible cost. Both men suffered severe frostbite on the descent; Herzog lost all his fingers and toes, while Lachenal lost all his toes. Their epic descent, chronicled in Herzog’s book Annapurna, became one of the foundational narratives of modern mountaineering literature.

Annapurna holds the highest death rate of any 8,000-meter peak on earth — approximately 32%, meaning roughly one fatality for every three successful summits. The primary killer is avalanche. The mountain’s south face is among the most avalanche-prone alpine terrain anywhere, and the standard north-side routes are not significantly safer.

What makes Annapurna particularly feared among elite climbers is that its hazards are not primarily a question of skill. K2 demands technical expertise; Annapurna demands luck. Climbers who die on Annapurna are often doing nothing wrong — they happen to be crossing the wrong slope at the wrong moment.

Gasherbrum I, also known as Hidden Peak or K5, is the eleventh-highest mountain in the world and one of the six peaks of the Gasherbrum massif in Pakistan’s Karakoram range. The nickname “Hidden Peak” was coined by early British explorer Martin Conway because the mountain cannot be seen from most approach routes — it is hidden behind other summits until climbers round the lower Baltoro Glacier. Gasherbrum I was first climbed on July 5, 1958, by American climbers Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman.

Gasherbrum I has a death rate of approximately 8%, making it a serious but manageable objective for experienced high-altitude climbers. The standard Japanese Couloir route on the northwest face involves sustained climbing on steep snow and ice, with a mixed rock-and-ice section near the summit that can be challenging in poor conditions. Like all Karakoram peaks, Gasherbrum I suffers from highly variable weather, and summit windows are often short.

Historically, Gasherbrum I is significant as the site of Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler’s 1975 ascent — the first alpine-style ascent of an eight-thousander, completed without fixed ropes, high camps, or supplemental oxygen. This revolutionary approach fundamentally changed expedition mountaineering.

Broad Peak is the twelfth-highest mountain in the world and one of the closest to K2 — the two summits stand just nine kilometers apart across the upper Baltoro Glacier. Its name comes from its distinctive 1.5-kilometer-long summit ridge, which appears unusually wide when seen from most directions. Broad Peak was first climbed on June 9, 1957, by an Austrian expedition including Hermann Buhl (of Nanga Parbat fame), Kurt Diemberger, Marcus Schmuck, and Fritz Wintersteller, using a lightweight, oxygen-free approach that was revolutionary for the era.

Broad Peak has a death rate of approximately 5%, making it one of the less dangerous eight-thousanders — though “less dangerous” in this context still means serious expeditionary mountaineering with real mortality risk. The standard west spur route involves sustained climbing on glaciated terrain with a long summit ridge that can be time-consuming in poor visibility. Several climbers have died after reaching a “fore-summit” and mistakenly believing they had topped out.

For climbers pursuing the 14 Peaks, Broad Peak is often attempted as part of a combined Karakoram expedition with K2, taking advantage of shared base camp logistics and acclimatization. The mountain offers some of the best views of K2 available from any established climb.

Gasherbrum II is the thirteenth-highest mountain in the world and, along with Cho Oyu, one of the most commonly climbed eight-thousanders due to its relatively non-technical standard route. Located in Pakistan’s Karakoram range adjacent to its sister peak Gasherbrum I, the mountain was first climbed on July 7, 1956, by an Austrian expedition of Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch, and Hans Willenpart.

Gasherbrum II has a death rate of approximately 2%, among the lowest of the Karakoram eight-thousanders. The standard southwest ridge route involves glacier travel through the lower mountain, a well-defined fixed-rope section in the mid-mountain couloirs, and a moderate summit snow slope. In 2011, Simone Moro, Denis Urubko, and Cory Richards completed the first winter ascent — a significant achievement given that before their climb, no eight-thousander in Pakistan had been summited in winter.

For climbers working through the 14 Peaks, Gasherbrum II serves a similar role to Cho Oyu — an accessible but still serious 8,000-meter summit that builds experience for harder objectives. Commercial expeditions often combine it with attempts on Gasherbrum I or Broad Peak, making efficient use of the long Baltoro approach.

Shishapangma is the fourteenth-highest mountain in the world and the only eight-thousander located entirely within Tibet (China). It was the last of the 14 eight-thousanders to be climbed, first summited on May 2, 1964, by a Chinese expedition led by Xu Jing — a delay caused not by climbing difficulty but by Chinese government restrictions that closed Tibet to foreign expeditions until the 1980s.

Shishapangma has a death rate of approximately 5%. The standard north face route is among the more straightforward eight-thousander ascents, though the mountain’s summit geography has generated the most persistent controversy on the 14 Peaks list. Shishapangma has a “central summit” at roughly 8,008 meters that many expeditions historically treated as the true summit; the actual main summit at 8,027 meters requires an additional exposed traverse along a corniced ridge.

The 2023 Shishapangma season saw multiple avalanche fatalities on summit day, reminding climbers that even the “easier” eight-thousanders remain serious objectives. For those pursuing the 14 Peaks, Shishapangma is typically one of the final peaks attempted, both because of its relative accessibility and because Tibetan access arrangements require careful timing.