Apart from the victims on the 8000ers, who are listed in the fatalities tables, several other climbers, who ascended 8000ers or high 7000ers before, died in 2009.

We had to say farewell to both first ascenders of K2 from Italy, to Achille Compagnoni (94) on May 13th and to Lino Lacedelli (83) on November 20th.

Also at home died Austrian climber Peter Fessler (48). He ascended Broad Peak in 1999, Gasherbrum I in 2004 and Manaslu in 2007. He was a member of Gerfried Göschl's Nanga Parbat expedition last summer, but sadly died on May 16th, before the expedition started.

The famous mountaineer and philosopher Arne Naess sr., who ascended Tirich Mir in 1950, died on January 12th also at home, aged 96.

On January 10th the young British climber Robert (Rob) Gauntlett, who ascended Everest in 2006, died in an avalanche in the French Alps, aged only 21!

Mick Parker (36) from Australia, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2003, Broad Peak in 2004, Gasherbrum I in 2007 and Makalu two weeks before, died in his hotel room in Kathmandu on June 4th.

Italian climber Giuliano de Marchi (62), who ascended Shisha Pangma in 1985 and Cho Oyu in 1988, died on June 5th on Antelao in the Dolomites.

Andrzej Marciniak (50) from Poland, who ascended Everest in 1989 and Annapurna I in 1996, died on August 7th on Posrednia Gran in the High Tatras.

Norwegian climber and adventurer Sven Gangdal (55), who ascended Everest in 1996, Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1999, Manaslu in 2002, Makalu in 2004 and Lhotse in 2006, died in a boat accident in Norway on September 13th.

Péter Csizmadia (37) from Hungary, who ascended Gasherbrum I in 2007, died together with three companions in an avalanche on Ren Zhong Feng (ca. 5820 m, South of the Minya Konka range) on October 22nd during a first ascent attempt. The mountain was thought to be 6079 m high, but during the successful first ascent from Danish climbers five weeks later the GPS measuring proved it wrong.

And last, but not least, Tomaž Humar (40), the strong climber from Slovenia, who ascended Annapurna I in 1995, Shisha Pangma in 2002 and Annapurna I East-Peak in 2007, died on Langtang Lirung on November 10th.

Hellmut Seitzl was the oldest Everest ascender from Germany since 1994 with 56 years and 333 days. In 2009 Alois Bogenschütz replaced him with 63 years and 339 days. Also the oldest British ascender of Everest was noted in 2009, when Ranulph Fiennes summited with the age of 65 years and 75 days. He replaced Hamish Fulton, who summited just two days earlier, aged 62 years and 302 days. Nikolai Cherni from Russia replaced his own record from 2005, when he already was the oldest Russian on top of Everest with 66 years and 176 days, on his ascent in 2009 he was 70 years and 167 days old.

Three new records on 8000er mountains were achieved in 2009. British climber Keith Kerr set a new record on Kangchenjunga with 57 years and six days, Taisuke Furukawa from Japan set a new record on Manaslu with 70 years and 246 days and finally Spanish climber Carlos Soria summited Gasherbrum I, aged 70 years and 179 days. Because the ascent from Boris Korshunov from Russia is disputed (he was 72 years and 32 days old then), possibly the oldest on Cho Oyu might be American climber Clifton Maloney (71 years, 344 days), who died sadly on descent of the mountain. 

The year 2009 was a year of many completions, as there were four climbers, who finished the fourteen Main-8000ers (Denis Urubko, Ralf Dujmovits, Veikka Gustafsson and Andrew Lock) and also three nations (Australia, Portugal and Finland). Apart from these national completions, also the first two nations finished with lady climbers, on May 18th Poland (Kinga Baranowska on Kangchenjunga, the first report about it here!) and on July 10th South Korea (Oh Eun-Sun on Nanga Parbat). Four other countries have twelve Main-8000ers so far, Spain (Annapurna I and Shisha Pangma left), Japan (Kangchenjunga and Annapurna I), Italy (Kangchenjunga and Annapurna I) and Austria (Everest and K2).

In addition also the Sherpa climbers finished finally the fourteen with Nanga Parbat last summer (Dawa Wangchuk). The only other Nepalese, who was on top of Nanga Parbat before, was a Tamang. Three other Nepalese tribes are on their way to collect all 8000ers as well, the Tamang have nine Main-8000ers plus Yalung Kang and Shisha Pangma Central-Peak, the Gurung have nine plus Shisha Pangma Central-Peak and the Bhutia (or Bhotia) have eight Main 8000ers.

New Year, new tables! There is a big difference between the five highest 8000ers and the nine lower 8000ers. On the Finnmaps Nr. 5, Makalu is 8485 m and Nr. 6, Cho Oyu, 8188 m. So the difference is 297 metres! The "Top 5" or the "Five Higher Giants" all were first ascended with bottled oxygen, with the exceptions of Manaslu and Gasherbrum I the lower ones not. So the statistics of the "TOP 5" is very interesting. In 2009 eight climbers finished them, this is a new record, and also the first three lady climbers finished. So Miss Oh was the first woman to achieve this remarkable feat. Here you can find all the 43 climbers! The three lady climbers used bottled oxygen, Edurne Pasaban on Everest and Kangchenjunga, Oh Eun-Sun on Everest and K2 and the late Go Mi-Sun on all five "Higher Giants", but she did it in unbelievable two years and two days only. From the 43 successful climbers only 15 did it without additional oxygen, you can download the list here!