Who was first to climb Everest and the other eight-thousanders? All fourteen of the highest mountains were climbed for the first time within fourteen years — from Annapurna in 1950 to Shishapangma in 1964. Behind the dry table lie different eras: post-war national expeditions, oxygen sets and ascents without them, big caravans, new routes, a halt below a sacred summit and tragic descents.
What counts as a first ascent. It takes the highest point reached, or a summit accepted by historians, a return with a report that can be checked, and recognition by the specialist archives. On Kangchenjunga the climbers deliberately stopped a few steps below the summit out of respect for local tradition; the result is recognised as a first ascent.
A table of the first ascents of the eight-thousanders
| Peak | Height | Date | First ascensionists | Expedition’s country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annapurna I | 8091 m | 03.06.1950 | Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal | France |
| Everest | 8849 m | 29.05.1953 | Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay | British expedition |
| Nanga Parbat | 8126 m | 03.07.1953 | Hermann Buhl | German-Austrian |
| K2 | 8611 m | 31.07.1954 | Achille Compagnoni, Lino Lacedelli | Italy |
| Cho Oyu | 8188 m | 19.10.1954 | Herbert Tichy, Josef Jöchler, Pasang Dawa Lama | Austria |
| Makalu | 8485 m | 15.05.1955 | Lionel Terray, Jean Couzy | France |
| Kangchenjunga | 8586 m | 25.05.1955 | Joe Brown, George Band | United Kingdom |
| Manaslu | 8163 m | 09.05.1956 | Toshio Imanishi, Gyalzen Norbu | Japan |
| Lhotse | 8516 m | 18.05.1956 | Ernst Reiss, Fritz Luchsinger | Switzerland |
| Gasherbrum II | 8035 m | 07.07.1956 | Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch, Hans Willenpart | Austria |
| Broad Peak | 8051 m | 09.06.1957 | Marcus Schmuck, Fritz Wintersteller, Hermann Buhl, Kurt Diemberger | Austria |
| Gasherbrum I | 8080 m | 05.07.1958 | Pete Schoening, Andy Kauffman | USA |
| Dhaulagiri I | 8167 m | 13.05.1960 | Kurt Diemberger, Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Nima Dorje, Nawang Dorje | Swiss international |
| Shishapangma | 8027 m | 02.05.1964 | Ten members of the Chinese expedition | China |
The heights are given in the form now in common use and may differ by a few metres in older reports. After the joint Nepali and Chinese survey, Everest is officially given as 8848.86 m, usually rounded to 8849 m.
Annapurna, Everest and Nanga Parbat
Annapurna I in 1950
The French team arrived without an accurate map of the approaches and at first looked for a way to Dhaulagiri. After changing objective, Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal climbed Annapurna on 3 June without supplementary oxygen. The peak became the first eight-thousander, but the descent came close to ending in death: severe frostbite, lost gloves, an avalanche and surgery all attended the return. Herzog’s official book created a heroic myth that later testimony filled out with the parts played by Lachenal, Gaston Rébuffat, Lionel Terray and the whole team.
Everest in 1953
John Hunt’s British expedition was a large, carefully organised system. After the first summit pair turned back, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set out from the South Col and reached the summit on 29 May with supplementary oxygen. Hillary found the way through the step that now carries his name. They spent about fifteen minutes on top. The success belongs to the rope of two and to the whole infrastructure, and both men held the argument about „who stepped first“ to be the wrong question.
Nanga Parbat in 1953
Hermann Buhl made one of the greatest solo pushes of the early era. After the leadership decided to break off the attempt he carried on to the summit, reached it without supplementary oxygen and spent the night standing on a narrow ledge with no proper bivouac equipment. The return took about forty hours from the last camp. The achievement was outstanding, but the conflict shows the cost of a gap between one person’s decision and an expedition’s plan.
K2 and Cho Oyu in 1954
The Italian expedition to K2 was a national project under Ardito Desio. Compagnoni and Lacedelli reached the summit on 31 July with oxygen. For decades the official account played down the parts of Walter Bonatti and the high-altitude porter Amir Mehdi, who brought the oxygen up and were forced to spend a night without a tent. Later documents confirmed substantial distortions. The K2 story became a lesson: a summit does not entitle a leadership to rewrite what its partners did.
Cho Oyu was climbed by Herbert Tichy’s small Austrian team. With Josef Jöchler and Pasang Dawa Lama he reached the summit without supplementary oxygen and without a large siege system. Set beside the national expeditions on Everest and K2, it was an early example of the light approach.
Makalu, Kangchenjunga, Manaslu, Lhotse and Gasherbrum II
On Makalu the French achieved a rare team success. Lionel Terray and Jean Couzy were first to the top on 15 May 1955; over the following days other members and the sirdar Gyalzen Norbu reached it too. The route by the Makalu La became the classic one, though even today the mountain remains technically and physically serious.
On Kangchenjunga, Joe Brown and George Band stopped a little below the highest point, keeping a promise not to set foot on the sacred summit. The next day a second pair went up. Historians recognise the ascent as complete: respect for local tradition takes nothing away from the route climbed.
The Japanese expedition to Manaslu met resistance from local people after an avalanche that was linked to an earlier attempt. In 1956 Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu reached the summit. Gyalzen had by then already climbed Makalu the year before with the French team, which underlines what Himalayan specialists contributed to national successes.
The Swiss used a single expedition for Everest and Lhotse. Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger were the first up Lhotse on 18 May 1956, and a few days later other members repeated Everest. Gasherbrum II was climbed in the summer of the same year by the Austrians Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart.
Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Dhaulagiri
Broad Peak was a milestone for lightweight Himalayan climbing. Four Austrians — Schmuck, Wintersteller, Buhl and Diemberger — reached the summit without oxygen and without high-altitude porters. They did not move as a single summit party: each answered for his own pace, but the whole team stood on top on the same day. Buhl later died on Chogolisa during the same trip.
Gasherbrum I, or Hidden Peak, was first climbed by the Americans Pete Schoening and Andy Kauffman in 1958. The expedition used high camps, but the final pair went up without supplementary oxygen. Schoening was the same man who, five years earlier, had held a falling rope team on K2 with his famous ice-axe belay.
Dhaulagiri remained one of the last great problems. The international Swiss expedition of 1960 used a Pilatus Porter aircraft to supply a high-altitude landing site, until a crash destroyed the machine. The first six reached the summit on 13 May, two more on 23 May. Kurt Diemberger became the second person after Hermann Buhl with first ascents of two eight-thousanders.
Why Shishapangma was left until last
Shishapangma is the only eight-thousander lying entirely inside China. Restricted access to Tibet long kept foreign expeditions off the mountain. In 1964 a large Chinese team completed the route on the northern side; ten members reached the summit on 2 May.
In older sources the names are transliterated in different ways, so short lists often disagree. It is safer to record that the result was a collective one and to turn to the Chinese expedition report for biographical detail. It is the closed nature of the region, rather than any exceptional technical difficulty on the standard route, that explains the late date.
Supplementary oxygen, support and different scales of success
The first ascents cannot be ranked by height alone. Everest and K2 called for large national systems and for oxygen. Annapurna, Nanga Parbat, Cho Oyu and Broad Peak were climbed without it. But on some mountains a line had already been reconnoitred, while on others the team had no accurate map.
The historical value differs too. A first route opens a mountain, but a later new line in alpine style can be far harder technically. That is why the page on the fourteen eight-thousanders programme treats the modern set separately from the first ascents, and the piece on the styles explains the conditions of comparison.
Finally, an expedition’s national label should not hide the local members. Tenzing, Pasang Dawa Lama, Gyalzen Norbu, Nima Dorje, Nawang Dorje and hundreds of unnamed workers were not a backdrop. The problem is set out in more detail in the article on the Sherpas and the profession of high-altitude guide.
From history to a modern expedition
Look through all fourteen eight-thousanders, compare our current high-altitude programmes and start with a route that matches your experience.
Questions and answers
Which eight-thousander was climbed first
Annapurna I. Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal reached the summit on 3 June 1950.
Which eight-thousander was climbed last
Shishapangma. Ten members of the Chinese expedition reached the summit on 2 May 1964.
Who was the first to climb two eight-thousanders
Hermann Buhl: Nanga Parbat in 1953 and Broad Peak in 1957. Both were first ascents of those mountains.
Were all the first ascents made with oxygen
No. Many of them, including Annapurna, Nanga Parbat, Cho Oyu and Broad Peak, were climbed without supplementary oxygen.
Sources
The dates and the parties were checked against the expedition reports in American Alpine Journal, the Himalayan Database and the historical material of national mountaineering clubs. The variant heights and name transliterations are given in the form most widely used today.