20 January

Born on this day

1952 Hiroyuki Tani, Japanese climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1978.
1952 Juan Carlos González, Spanish Cantabrian climber, who ascended Everest in 2000 and Cho Oyu in 2007.
1955 Jože Rozman, Slovenian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1988 and Nanga Parbat in 1990. He died by a fall on Kangchenjunga together with Slovenian lady climber Marija Frantar in 1991, aged 36.
1958 Shigeto Tsukamoto, Japanese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1992.
1960 Apa (aka Appa), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twenty-one times (1990, 1991, 1992 twice, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011).
1960 Bidzina Gujabidze, Georgian climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1995, Everest twice (1999 and 2003), Lhotse in 2000, Cho Oyu in 2004 and Gasherbrum II in 2008.
1961 Ji Hyun-Ok, Korean lady climber, who ascended Everest in 1993, Gasherbrum I in 1997, Gasherbrum II in 1998 and Annapurna I in 1999, where she died by a fall on descent, aged 38.
1961 Pavel Shabalin, Russian climber, who ascended Everest in 2004 and K2 in 2007.
1961 Bruce Randall Terry, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1962 Debabrata Mukherjee, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2014.
1963 Aleksei Bolotov, Russian climber, who ascended Makalu in 1997, Everest twice (1998 and 2002), Lhotse Central-Peak in 2001, Dhaulagiri I in 2005, Cho Oyu in 2006, K2 in 2007, Annapurna I in 2008, Manaslu RP in 2009, Gasherbrum I and II in 2010 and Kangchenjunga and Broad Peak in 2011. He died in 2013 on Nuptse while attempting Everest, aged 50.
1963 Shigeki Imoto, Japanese climber, who ascended Himalchuli in 1986, Cho Oyu in 1994 and Everest twice (1995 and 2005).
1964 Tom Eric Zydenbos, Dutch climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2017.
1966 Jan van der Meer, Dutch climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2005.
1969 Min Kyoung-Tae, Korean climber, who ascended Cho Oyu and Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1993.
1969 Andrew Edmunds Davis, American climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2016.
1970 Phura Temba, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twice (2005 and 2007).
1971 Gerard McDonnell, Irish climber, who ascended Everest in 2003, Broad Peak Foresummit in 2006 and K2 in 2008, where he died on descent, aged 37.
1972 Richard John Beek, South African climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1973 Jeffrey James Glasbrenner, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2016.
1974 Garth Neal Miller, Australian climber, who ascended Everest and Lhotse in 2022.
1975 Pasang Tsheri I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2008.
1976 Mark Sheen, Australian climber, who ascended Everest in 2007.
1976 Christoph Hägele (aka Chris Myagar and Karl Herberger), German climber, who achieved several first ascents in the Indian Himalaya and who was an excellent geographical researcher. He died in an avalanche in the French Alps in 2015, aged 39.
1977 Mingma III, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest seven times (2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024), Cho Oyu in 2019 and Manaslu M in 2024.
1977 Dhan Kuber Rai, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1979 Kristine Ann Chalk, American lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2010.
1983 Pasang Temba IV, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest three times (2006, 2011 and 2016), Manaslu RP in 2010 and Kangchenjunga in 2014.
1984 Jake Julian Barrington Meyer, British climber, who ascended Everest twice (2005 and 2023), Manaslu RP in 2017 and K2 in 2018. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2005.
1985 Kirill Semeshkin, Russian climber, who ascended Everest in 2018 and K2 in 2021.
1986 Da Kalsang, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Manaslu RP three times (2012, 2014 and 2019), Everest five times (2013, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2022), Gasherbrum II in 2014 and Lhotse in 2022.
1989 Janatan Ginting, Indonesian climber, who ascended Everest in 2011, where he also finished the Carstensz-version of the Seven Summits.

Gone on this day

2008 Harish Chandra Singh Rawat, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 1965, died, aged 73.