77 articles
Erik Weihenmayer
Erik Weihenmayer, American blind adventurer and No Barriers co-founder; first blind person to summit Everest (May 25, 2001) and to complete the Seven Summits (2008), also first blind climber up El Capitan in a day (2016).
Erin McNeice
Erin McNeice, nicknamed Erin McBeast, is a British competition climber from Chesterfield in boulder and lead. She was fifth at Paris 2024, won boulder World Cup gold at Bern 2025 and Madrid 2026, lead golds at Wujiang and Bali 2025, and European lead gold at Laval 2026.
Francys Arsentiev
Francys Arsentiev (1958-1998), American mountaineer, first American woman to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen, 22 May 1998, with husband Sergei; both died on descent; known as Everest's Sleeping Beauty.
George Mallory
George Leigh Mallory (1886-1924), English mountaineer of the 1921, 1922, and 1924 British Everest expeditions; vanished with Sandy Irvine on 8 June 1924 near the summit, which they may or may not have reached; body found 1999.
Göran Kropp
Göran Kropp, full name Lars Olof Göran Kropp, was a Swedish mountaineer who in 1996 bicycled from Stockholm to Nepal, climbed Everest without bottled oxygen, and cycled home.
Hannelore Schmatz
Hannelore Schmatz (née Ledermann, 1940–1979), German mountaineer, fourth woman and first German woman to summit Everest (2 Oct 1979); died of exposure on descent, first woman to die on Everest.
Hazel Findlay
Hazel Findlay (born 1989) is a British professional climber and Strong Mind mental-training coach; first British woman to climb E9 trad, 8c sport, and free El Capitan, with Greenland first ascents alongside Alex Honnold.
Heinrich Harrer
Heinrich Harrer (1912–2006), Austrian mountaineer of the 1938 Eiger North Face first ascent, escaped a British POW camp to Tibet, tutored the 14th Dalai Lama, wrote Seven Years in Tibet, and was revealed in 1997 to have been an SA, SS, and Nazi Party member.
Janja Garnbret
Janja Garnbret (born 1999) is a Slovenian sport climber, two-time Olympic gold medallist (Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024), 10-time world champion, and winner of 51 World Cup events; first woman to climb Bibliographie 9b+.
Jeff Lowe
Jeff Lowe (1950–2018), American alpinist and ice climber from Ogden, Utah; Bridalveil Falls first ascent 1974, Latok I 1978, Eiger solo Metanoia 1991, Octopussy dry tooling, M-grading inventor, 2017 Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement.
Jerzy Kukuczka
Jerzy Kukuczka (1948–1989), Polish Himalayan climber, second person after Messner to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, 1979–1987, with 11 new routes and 4 winter firsts; died on Lhotse's south face.
Jim Morrison (mountaineer)
Jim Morrison (James Morrison) is an American ski mountaineer, not the Doors singer, who made the first ski descent of Everest's Hornbein Couloir in October 2025 and, with Hilaree Nelson, the first from Lhotse's summit in 2018.
Jimmy Chin
Jimmy Chin is an American mountaineer, photographer, and filmmaker who made the first ascent of Meru's Shark's Fin in 2011 and co-directed the Academy Award-winning Free Solo.
Joe Simpson (mountaineer)
Joe Simpson, British mountaineer and author; with Simon Yates made the 1985 first ascent of Siula Grande's west face, survived a broken leg, a cut rope, and a three-day solo crawl, and wrote Touching the Void.
John Bachar
John Bachar (1957–2009), American rock climber and Stonemasters legend, famous for free soloing Yosemite routes up to 5.13, the Bachar-Yerian, the $10,000 challenge, and the Bachar Ladder.
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer, American journalist and mountaineer, author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, his bestselling 1997 account of the 1996 Everest disaster, which he survived as a client of guide Rob Hall.
Jordan Romero
Jordan Romero, American climber born July 12, youngest person to summit Everest (May 22, 2010, age 13 years, 10 months, 10 days) and to complete the Seven Summits (December 2011, age 15), climbing from Tibet because Nepal bars under-16 climbers.
Junko Tabei (田部井 淳子)
Junko Tabei (田部井 淳子, 1939–2016), Japanese mountaineer, founder of the Joshi-Tohan women's climbing club, first woman on Everest (May 16, 1975) and first woman to complete the Seven Summits in 1992.
Kili Pemba Sherpa
Kili Pemba Sherpa, also called Kilu Pemba Sherpa, was a Nepali Sherpa mountaineer and guide from Beding, Rolwaling, who climbed all 14 eight-thousanders, summited Everest 15 times, joined the 2021 first winter K2 ascent, and died in the 2026 Broad Peak avalanche.
Krzysztof Wielicki
Krzysztof Wielicki (born 1950) is a Polish mountaineer, fifth person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, first winter ascender of Everest, Kangchenjunga, and Lhotse, and Piolet d'Or Carrière laureate.
Lincoln Hall (climber)
Lincoln Ross Hall (1955-2012), Australian mountaineer and author, summited Everest 25 May 2006, survived a night alone at 8,600 m after cerebral oedema, and was rescued by Dan Mazur's team; also first Australian Everest expedition 1984.
Marc-André Leclerc
Marc-André Leclerc (1992–2018) was a Canadian climber celebrated for solo alpinism, including the first winter solo of Torre Egger and the first solo of Mount Robson's Emperor Face.
Marco Siffredi
Marco Siffredi, French snowboarder (1979–2002) from Chamonix, made the first complete snowboard descent of Everest via the Norton Couloir in 2001 and died attempting the Hornbein Couloir in 2002.
Michael Groom (climber)
Michael Graeme Groom (born 1959) is an Australian mountaineer from Brisbane who climbed the five highest mountains, Everest, K2, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, without oxygen despite losing the front third of both feet, and guided in the 1996 Everest disaster.
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa
Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), born 1987 in Rolwaling, Nepal, is an IFMGA guide and Imagine Nepal founder; one of ten Nepali climbers on the first winter ascent of K2, January 16, 2021.
Nadhira Al Harthy
Nadhira Al Harthy (نظيرة بنت أحمد عبد الله الحارثي), Omani mountaineer and educator, first Omani woman to summit Everest (May 23, 2019), later climbed K2, Nanga Parbat, and Manaslu; died in the July 2026 Broad Peak avalanche.
Nando Parrado
Nando Parrado (Fernando Parrado, b. 1949, Montevideo), Uruguayan businessman and author, survived the 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 Andes crash and walked 10 days with Roberto Canessa to rescue 14 survivors; wrote Miracle in the Andes.
Nima Rinji Sherpa (निमा रिन्जी शेर्पा)
Nima Rinji Sherpa (निमा रिन्जी शेर्पा), Nepali Sherpa mountaineer, became the youngest person to summit all 14 eight-thousanders on 9 October 2024 at 18, on Shishapangma, breaking uncle Mingma Gyabu Sherpa's record; leads #SherpaPower and the 14 Peaks Mountaineering Institute.
Nirmal Purja (निर्मल पुर्जा)
Nirmal Purja (निर्मल पुर्जा), aka Nims or Nimsdai, Nepali-British mountaineer (1983–2026) who climbed all 14 8,000m peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, joined the first winter K2 ascent, and died in the 2026 Broad Peak avalanche.
Pur Bahadur Gurung
Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as Yukta, was a Nepali IFMGA mountain guide from Laprak, Gorkha, first Gurung climber with ten Everest summits and 12 of 14 eight-thousanders; he died in the 30 July 2026 Broad Peak avalanche.