To provide context for his and Maria Cardell’s feat on Nanga Parbat last July, Denis Urubko has compiled a historical list of all routes first climbed alpine style on 8,000m peaks. His first draft includes 20 such routes.
Cardell’s is currently the only woman on the list, but climbers and aficionados of mountaineering history lovers have already suggested additions.
In any case, Urubko’s list is a highly interesting initiative and includes many epic climbs.
First alpinists at 8,000m
The first alpine-style ascent of an 8,000m peak was achieved by — who else? — Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler on Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum I) in July 1976. This was the first time that local authorities gave climbers permission to attempt an 8,000’er in alpine style. Urubko cites the “NWN rib” as their ascent route, although the American Alpine Journal describes it as the Northwest Face.
Noticeably, in the 49 years since Messner/Habeler’s climb, Urubko marked only 11 other successful routes opened in that style on an 8,000m peak. He also noted seven failed attempts. In fact, there have been even more, often with tragic endings, including Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima’s ultimately fatal attempt on the West Face of K2 in 2023.
Record numbers
Urubko himself appears five times, more than anyone else. He mentions his climbs on the south side of Broad Peak and the north side of Manaslu with Serguey Samoilov, the route up the South Face of Cho Oyu with Boris Dedeshko, his new route (solo) on Gasherbrum II, and this year’s climb with Cardell on Nanga Parbat.
Denis Urubko in the bivy tent on the South Face of Cho Oyu. Photo: Boris Dedeshko/AAJ
The next in line, Jerzy Kukuczka of Poland, has opened four alpine-style 8,000m lines. However, Kukuczka’s total varies with the source. According to Wikipedia, he climbed six new alpine-style routes on 8,000’ers, plus a semi-alpine-style new route on K2.
Here, “semi-alpine” refers to the route on K2’s South Face, which Kukuczka opened in 1986 with Tadeusz Piotrowski, who died on the way down. The climbers had joined a big international expedition, and some members worked on the lower part of the route before the two Poles launched the final summit push. That route has never been repeated.
Jerzy Kukuczka. Photo: Wspinanie.pl
As for the female mentions, a second woman has taken part in a listed ascent: Natalia Beliankina was a member of the team that opened a new line on the SW Face of Manaslu this past fall, although the list only names the team leader, Andrei Vasiliev.
Natalia Belyankina at the base of the SW Face of Manaslu. Photo: Andrei Vasiliev
Additions welcome
Urubko has presented the list as a first draft. He welcomes corrections. Some readers have already suggested additions in the Comments section of his Instagram post.
Among these proposed additions are Reinhold Messner and Hans Kammerlander’s ascent of the Northwest Face of Annapurna in 1985. There is also Catalans Nil Bohigas and Enric Lucas‘s direct line up the South Face of Annapurna one year earlier. Another reader cited U.S. climbers Steve House and Vince Anderson’s 2005 route on the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat.
Nil Bohigas on the South Face of Annapurna. Photo: Enric Lucas/Desnivel
