12 October

Born on this day

1875 Edward Alexander (Aleister) Crowley, British pioneer, who participated in the first serious attempts on two of the highest mountains on Earth, Kangchenjunga and K2.
1906 Andreas (Anderl) Heckmair, German climber, who participated in the first ascent of the Eiger North Face in 1938. He died in 2005, aged 98.
1932 Yuichiro Miura, Japanese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2002 and Everest three times (2003, 2008 and 2013). His latest Everest ascent made him the oldest climber on top of the mountain.
1944 Hans Engl, German climber, who was the third person, who ascended Everest without bottled oxygen, in 1978. He also ascended Nanga Parbat in 1982 and Cho Oyu in 1988.
1948 Jean Hauser, Swiss climber, who ascended Lhotse Shar in 1981.
1953 Philippe Grenier, French climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1981 and Everest twice (1992 and 2003).
1955 Fumie Yoshida (born Kimura), Japanese lady climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1988, Dhaulagiri I in 1990, Cho Oyu in 1993 and Broad Peak in 1997.
1957 Igor Pokhvalin, Ukrainian climber, who ascended Everest in 2005. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2008.
1957 Ha Wen-Yi, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2012, where he died on descent, aged 54.
1958 Steven (Steve) Lem, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1958 Wang Wei, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1959 Klaus Albert Robert Grade, German climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2013.
1961 Robert Hochreiter, Austrian climber, who ascended Broad Peak Foresummit in 2013.
1962 Chuldin Temba, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twice (1991 and 1993) and Cho Oyu three times (1991, 1996 and 2002).
1964 Pratap Singh Bisht, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1965 Rohan Freeman, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1965 Rohan Ainsworth Freeman, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2026.
1966 Heidi Schott Sand, German lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2012, Cho Oyu in 2013 and Makalu in 2014.
1966 Horacio Luis Cunietti, Argentinean climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1968 Rune Snaprud, Norwegian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2005.
1968 Vladimír Štrba, Slovak climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1997. He died in 2017 on Everest, aged 48.
1970 Ralf Dieter Arnold, German climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 2008, Cho Oyu in 2010 and Everest in 2012, where he died on descent, aged 41.
1971 Matt Hing, British climber, who ascended Makalu in 2008.
1971 Benedicte Teigen Gude, Norwegian lady climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2014 and Everest in 2019.
1972 Lin Zhi-Yong, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest twice (2022 and 2023), Manaslu M in 2023 and Lhotse in 2025.
1973 James (Jimmy) Kuo-Wei Chin, American climber of Chinese origin, who ascended Everest twice (2004 and 2006).
1973 Christopher Anthony Burrows, British climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2020.
1974 Jonathon Darren Percival, British climber, who ascended Makalu in 2008.
1974 Alexander Chernykh, Canadian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2019.
1981 Tshering Dorje III (aka Tshiring Dorjee), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Makalu twice (2008 and 2009), Lhotse and Cho Oyu in 2008, Dhaulagiri I and Nanga Parbat in 2009, Everest twice (2010 and 2011) and Kangchenjunga South-Peak (8476 m, first winter ascent!) in 2011.
1992 Federico Secchi, Italian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2021 and K2 in 2024.
1993 Xu Hu, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2026.
1994 Manish Kashniyal, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2021.
1996 Pasang Rinji IV, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest four times (2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026), Cho Oyu three times (in 2024 twice and 2025) and Lhotse in 2025.
2003 Chyang Dorchi, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2024 and Makalu in 2026.

First ascents on this day

1986 Nangpai Gosum I (aka Jasamba or Pasang Lhamu Chuli, 7350 m) by a Japanese party.
1989 Nyanang Ri (7119 m) by a Slovenian party.
2003 Ulugh Muztagh II (6925 m) by a Finnish party.
2005 Lashar I (6842 m) by a Slovenian party.

Gone on this day

1973 Peter Aufschnaiter, Austrian pioneer, who was a member of two Kangchenjunga expeditions (1929 and 1931) and a Nanga Parbat expedition in 1939. During the retreat march the Second World War broke out. Together with Heinrich Harrer he was arrested in Dehra Dun (NW-India). After an adventurous escape in April 1944, crossing the Garhwal Himalaya they arrived in Lhasa January 15, 1946. Later he became a Tibetan government servant and lost his Austrian citizenship, which he got back one year before his death. He died on this day, aged 73.
2001 José Antonio (Pepe) Garcés, Spanish Aragonese climber, who ascended Everest in 1991, Cho Oyu in 1997, Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1998, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I in 1999, Manaslu RP in 2000 and K2 in 2001. He died by a fall on Dhaulagiri I, aged 44.
2018 Kim Chang-Ho, Korean climber, who ascended Nanga Parbat twice (2005 and 2010), Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I twice each (2006 and 2011), K2 and Broad Peak in 2007, Makalu and Lhotse in spring 2008, Batura II (7762 m, first ascent!) in summer 2008, Manaslu RP and Dhaulagiri I in 2009, Kangchenjunga and Shisha Pangma in 2010, Annapurna I (C0) and Cho Oyu in 2011 and Everest in 2013, where he became the first Korean without bottled oxygen on Everest. He died on this day in BC of Gurja Himal, aged 49.