31 May

Born on this day

1863 Francis Younghusband, British officer and researcher. He was the first European to cross the Karakorum. He died in 1942, aged 79.
1955 Dmitri Ibragim-Zade, Ukrainian climber, who ascended Kangchenjunga in 1993. He died on K2 in 1994, aged 39.
1955 Matjaž Veselko, Slovenian climber, who ascended Tirich Mir East-Peak (7692 m) in 1978.
1959 Peter Blank, German climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1987 and Cho Oyu in 1990.
1959 Jacques Dantal, French climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2012.
1960 Luis Arbues, Spanish Aragonese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in winter 1993.
1962 Børge Ousland, Norwegian extreme adventurer, whose first outstanding expedition was in 1986, when he crossed Greenland unsupported. In 1990 he was part of a planned unsupported expedition to the North Pole, which had an evacuation assistance. In 1994 he was the first in general and moreover solo, who did it completely unsupported to the North Pole. In 1995 he skied to the South Pole unsupported with the aid of parasails. In the season 1996/1997 he made the longest unsupported crossing of Antarctica, again with parasails. In 2001 he crossed the North Pole with re-supplies and parasails. He became the first adventurer, who crossed both Poles. In between in 1998 he ascended Cho Oyu. In 2003 he attempted Everest, but had to give up at the South Summit.
1962 José Luis Bolado, Spanish Cantabrian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1998.
1962 Rudolf (Rudi) Gsöllpointner, Austrian climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2002.
1964 Eric Fredrick Meyer, American climber, who ascended Everest twice (2004 and 2013).
1965 Karen Lundgren, American lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2010. She also finished the Carstensz- and Kosciuszko-versions of the Seven Summits in 2011.
1968 Anna Akinina, Russian lady climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1995, Cho Oyu in 1997 and Everest in 2001.
1968 John Christopher Gray, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2005, exactly on his 37th birthday.
1968 Liang Yang-Ping, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023.
1972 Pamela (Pam) Westgate, British lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1973 Nawang Wangchu, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1994 and Everest four times (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004).
1973 Tsheri, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twice (2004 and 2005).
1973 Pemba Tamang I, Nepalese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2011 and Everest seven times (2002, 2005, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019).
1974 James Bingham Webb, American climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2013.
1976 Abdul Nassar Peringodan Ayyappanthody, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1979 Phujung (Phuchung) Bhote, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest twice (2012 and 2013).
1979 Amin Dehghan, Iranian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2019 and Everest in 2021.
1979 Sonam VII, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1982 Dhenjung Bhote I, Nepalese Bhutia climber, who ascended Everest twice (2024 and 2025).
1983 Samduk Dorje Tamang, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest fourteen times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, twice in 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025), Cho Oyu in 2024 and Lhotse in 2025.
1984 Eun Song-Hoon, Korean climber, who ascended Makalu in 2011.
1984 Oleg Ivanchenko, Ukrainian climber, who ascended Everest twice (2023 and 2025) and Lhotse and Manaslu M in 2024.
1987 Veronika Zaripova, Russian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2022, Manaslu M in 2024 and Lhotse in 2025.
1987 Ngo Hai Son, Vietnamese climber, who ascended K2 in 2024.
1989 Svetlana Kotliar, Russian lady climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2022 and Everest in 2023.
1993 Ongdik Bhote, Nepalese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2014 and Everest in 2018.
1996 Narender Kumar, Indian climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2022 and Annapurna I and Manaslu M in 2025.

First ascents on this day

1962 Chamlang I (7319 m) by a Japanese party.
1978 Hardeol (7151 m) by an Indian party.
1978 Matri (6721 m) by another Indian party.
1988 Jichu Drake (6809 m) by an Indo-British team led by Doug Scott.

Gone on this day

1970 Czech climbers Arnošt Černík (44), Milan Černý (26), Vilém Heckel (52), Jiří Jech (38), Valerián Karoušek (41), Jaroslav Krecbach (24), Miloš Matras (37), Ladislav Mejsnar (34), Milan Náhlovský (26), Bohumil Nejedlo (38), Zdeněk Novotný (32), Jiří Rasl (34), Svatopluk Ulvr (32) and Václav Urban (35) all died in an avalanche at Base Camp under the North Face of Huascarán in Peru causing from the large earthquake, that destroyed the villages Yungay, Huaras and Aija killing thousands of people. The expedition leader Ivan Bortel (27) already died by a fall below Base Camp in light field on May 18th. In spite of that the party decided to continue.
1982 Carlo Mauri, Italian climber, who in 1958 made the first ascent of Gasherbrum IV with his companion Walter Bonatti and participated in expeditions to Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia, Africa, Greenland and the Himalayas, died, aged 52.
1985 Gaston Rébuffat, French pioneer, who participated in the first ascent expedition to Annapurna I in 1950, died, aged 64.
1999 Constantine Niarchos, Greek climber, who ascended Everest just eighteen days before he died, aged 37.
2005 Sirigereshiva Chaitanya, Indian climber, who ascended Kamet in 2004 and Everest in 2005 the day before, died on descent, aged 31.