UKC

I realise this is a matter of opinion, but does anyone know roughly the order of difficulty for these 14mountains
starting with the least difficult???
Also, how do you find out about future expeditions and getting involved in one???
Finally does anyone out there have aspirations of climbing all 14? Have you started already, how many have you done? Good luck if so. Do you think its possible to do in 10years?
thanks

In reply to neilgavin:

All by their easiest routes, I assume ?

In reply to neilgavin:

With or without oxygen ?

In reply to neilgavin:

I thought K2 was the hardest, and Cho Oyu was the most straight forward, some how I dont think climbing that high could ever be described as easy...

In reply to neilgavin:

shishapangma is meant to be one of the easier....and no i have no interest in doing any.

In reply to neilgavin:
Try http://www.jagged-globe.co.uk/exp/itinerary/gasherbrum+ii.html

In reply to neilgavin:

Something along these lines...?!

Cho Oyu, Shishapangma, Gasherbrum II, Everest, Broad Peak, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I, Makalu, Lhotse, Kanchenjunga, K2, Annapurna.

In reply to neilgavin:

Mad Korean Park Young Seok cleaned up all 14 in just over 8 years. He did 6 of them in a year, so I dunno why the rest of them took him so long.

I imagine he is at a loose end at the moment, maybe you could give him a call and ask him?

In reply to neilgavin:

1/4 of people who have climbed all 14 have done so in less than 10 years.

In reply to Tom, UKC News Editor:

Do you count objective danger as making something harder, or are you just talking technical difficulty ? Because the normal route on Annapurna is not technically difficult, but outrageously dangerous. Ditto Manaslu. Also, nearly everybody, esp on commercial expeds, who goes to Shishapangma does not climb it because they don't go to the main summit - to do that requires either a tricky and/or dangerous traverse from the central peak, if coming from the north, or to climb the south face, which is quite difficult. Plus some ABC's are higher than others eg. Nanga Parbat's is much lower than ChoOyu's, thus making a much longer route. Plus some routes have changed recently, mainly G2. Plus Everest has a disproportionate amount of Sherpa support and fixed rope on it, making it easier. So, counting only technical difficulty, via the normal routes, ignoring objective dangers, from easiest to hardest ...

Cho Oyu
Manaslu
G2
Annapurna
Broad Peak
Kangchenjunga
Everest
Lhotse
Shishapangma
Dhaulagiri
G1
Nanga Parbat
Makalu
K2

In reply to Damo:

How would you arrange them taking into consideration objective dangers on the normal routes?

In reply to Yyonnx:

From best down to worst, with obj danger indicated. Much variance depending on season etc. Middle 1/3 of the list debatable:

Cho Oyu (avo danger up high post-monsoon)
Broad Peak (avo danger beneath col)
Lhotse (icefall collapse)
Everest (possible avo on Lhotse face, icefall collapse)
Shishapangma (avo danger post-monsoon up hi)
G2 (huge avos cross lower cwm above C1)
Kangchenjunga (big low angle snow slopes, icefall lower down)
Dhaulagiri (bad snow slopes on ridge, history of avo, icefall down low)
G1 (huge avos cross lower cwm above C1, avo danger in upper Jap couloir)
Makalu
Nanga Parbat
Manaslu (massive seracs above route near lower camps)
K2 (rockfall down low, avo danger on snow slopes above C3)
Annapurna (many huge seracs above ALL of route up to C3)

In reply to neilgavin:

I would agree with Damo except I reckon Kanch should be higher up the list, probably a direct swap for Manaslu?

In reply to Damo:

Cheers for that!

In reply to Damo: Can you name any famous climbers who haven't topped out on Shishapangma. I'm assuming that Messner did.

In reply to Reds:

Benoit Chamoux, Pierre Royer and Alan Hinkes in 1990 (to the central summit);

Wojciech Kurtyka, Jean Troillet and Erhard Loretan during their ascent of the central couloir also in 1990 ( also to the central summit);

JC Lafaille's 1994 solo ascent to the central summit and two days later his new route on the right side of the north face reaching the west summit...(last year on Dec. 11 did he finally make the main summit because on his website he clearly states having summited in 1994 by a new route?)

Ed Viesturs' ascent in 1993 was only to the central summit but he went back and in 2001 touched the main summit. I wonder how he feels about all the claims of "summiting" the central summit, especially his frequent climbing partner, JC Lafaille's 1994 claims?


Most info out of On Top of The World: Climbing The World's 14 Highest Mountains by Richard Sale and John Cleare

In reply to Yyonnx:


Looking thru more of Ed's website I guess he doesn't feel too put off by their claims as his 1997 Broad Peak "summit" was 150 feet short of the top...and yet he felt compelled to go back for Shishapangma?!

Good on them all for reporting the truth to fellow climbers...but is Krzysztof Wielicki's argument not just?

In reply to Yyonnx:

Ed went back to BP, right to the top, in 03 or so, with Lafaille and Gustafsson. He went because people called him on his previous non-summit and he didn't want anything hanging over the project. The claims against Hinkes on ChoOyu are not so clear cut so slightly different. There have been very strong rumours that Carsolio didn't get right to the top of K2, but I don't know the details. Loretan also went back to Shisha to summit via the north, as he didn't in 1990 (as above). I thought Hinkes et al went to Shisha main summit in 88, via a new route on the N face ? but Lafaille was on a different route and did not, hence his return in 04. Lafaille and Asselin actually attempted an unauthorised winter ascent of Shisha, via Langtang, back in the mid90s but were stopped by deep snow at Hagens Col. Park Yeong Seok went to Shisha central at least three times before summiting main via the S face. The only person I know of who is going for the 14x8K and has claimed a 'summit' via the central peak of Shisha is Andrew Lock, in the media in Australia, but even he is planning to go back to the S face, so I spose in truth he doesn't really count it. I think all these people making the effort to go back to Shisha main sends a message that lots of people, esp guiding companies and their clients, are conveniently ignoring - the central peak is not the top, if you don't go to the top you haven't climbed the mountain and the top is the main summit, regardless of how inconvenient that may be.

In reply to Damo:

Thanks for clearing up that apparently contradictory position that Ed was taking. And yes, in the book I mention above it does say that some of the climbers mentioned above made subsequent ascents to the main summit in different years.

I agree with what you wrote at the end, which is what Krzysztof Wielicki arugued. And I know why but still it is highly misleading for the official height of the main summit to be stated on a website as having reached the summit when it was NOT the main summit that was reached. I've seen that on a climber's site I have respect for and that respect is beginning to wane...