Czech climbers Radek Jaroš and Jan (Honza) Trávníček summited Annapurna I today. For Radek it is his 13th Main-8000er (all without bottled oxygen!), he only needs K2 to finish the 14. Honza ascended his third 8000er after Gasherbrum I in 2009 and Manaslu in 2011.

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A new reference book for activities on the 8000ers was published this month named "On Top of the World - The New Millennium".

For further details and book order contact Richard Sale (0044/(0)1242 870245 or Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt, Du musst JavaScript aktivieren, damit Du sie sehen kannst. ). 

Look and read the synopsis: 

Update October 2013:

In the meantime the Seven Second Summits "case" is finished. Check the updated table here!
It is confirmed now by Guinness World Records, that the first climber, who achieved the Seven Second Summits, the Seven Third Summits and the Triple Seven Summits is Austrian climber Christian Stangl! For details see later publications. 

When Hans Kammerlander ascended Mount Tyree on January 3rd, 2012, he claimed to be the first person, who finished the so-called "Seven Second Summits". Two days later a German journalist contacted 8000ers.com and asked for facts about Mount Logan’s summits. After several climbers and experts compared Kammerlander's summit photo with the ones from some other mountaineers (one example), who were on the Main-Peak before and after his ascent it appeared that he only climbed the about 2,35 km (1,46 miles) distant and 34 metres lower West-Peak.

Since March 9th Austrian climber Gerfried Göschl (39), Swiss climber Cedric Hählen (30) and Pakistani climber Nisar Hussain (36) are missing on Gasherbrum I. It would be the loss of three great climbers indeed! Gerfried ascended seven different 8000ers, one of them was Everest without supplementary oxygen. Cedric summited K2, Kangchenjunga and Broad Peak Foresummit and also Gasherbrum II East from China. And Nisar climbed all five Pakistani 8000ers plus three repetitions of Gasherbrum II and two repetitions of Gasherbrum I. While Gerfried's home team gave up hope two weeks ago, Cedric's home team is still hoping for a miracle.

In the beginning of March there already was a big tragedy on Elbrus. Ukrainian lady climber Maria (Masha) Khitrikova died there only 21 years young. Last year she was only the fifth lady climber and also the youngest person, who summited Gasherbrums II and I in a single season (GII 22.07. and GI 04.08.).

On March 20th Lincoln Hall died in Australia, aged 56. In 1983 he summited a rarely ascended high mountain, Annapurna II (7937 m) and in 2006 he survived Everest after he was in trouble on descent and was already declared dead.

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The only cheerful note on the 8000ers in March 2012 is the first winter ascent of Gasherbrum I by Polish climbers Adam Bielecki and Janusz Gołąb on March 9th.