Ralf Dujmovits (born 5 December 1961 (age 55)) is a German mountaineer. In May 2009 he became the 16th person, and the first German, to climb the 14 eight-thousanders.

Dujmovits was born in 1961 in Bühl, Baden-Württemberg. After completing his Abitur (final school exams) in 1981 he spent a year traveling around South America and climbing in the Andes before commencing his degree in medicine at the University of Heidelberg. He left the university after eight semesters and in 1985 began his training to become a certified mountain guide instead.

Dujmovits' mountaineering career began with the German Alpine Club, where he worked as a guide and led clients on international expeditions including highest mountains on six of the seven continents.  He also climbed extensively in the Alps, with and without clients, making successful ascents of the

Samuli Mansikka (28 July 1978 – 24 March 2015), was a Finnish mountaineer, trekking guide and expedition leader. He was president of the Finnish Alpine Club and a member of The Explorers Club. He was best known for climbing the world's 8000m peaks, many of them solo and without supplementary oxygen. He died in a fall while descending from Annapurna, his tenth 8000m summit.

Mansikka climbed ten of the world's fourteen 8000m peaks. All of these climbs, with the exception of Everest and Lhotse, were completed without supplementary oxygen. He also reached the top of an eleventh, Shishapangma, but in poor visibility could not be sure whether he had reached the Main Summit or the slightly lower

Maciej Berbeka (17 October 1954, Zakopane, Poland – 6 March 2013, Broad Peak, Baltistan) was a Polish mountaineer, mountain guide UIAGM and member of TOPR. He and his teammate Tomasz Kowalski went missing on 6 March 2013 as they were descending from Broad Peak. They were declared dead two days later.

Berbeka's accomplishments include making the first winter ascent of the eight-thousanders Manaslu, on 12 January 1984, with Ryszard Gajewski; of Cho Oyu, on 12 February 1985, with Maciej Pawlikowski (the only winter ascent on eight-thousander made along a new route); and of Broad Peak, on 5 March 2013 with Adam Bielecki, Tomasz Kowalski and Artur Małek. He also climbed and summited Annapurna and Mount Evereast. He was also the first person in the world to have

George Irving Bell (August 4, 1926 – May 28, 2000) was an American physicist, biologist and mountaineer, and a grandson of John Joseph Seerley. He died from complications of leukemia after surgery. Bell received a bachelor's degree in physics from Harvard University in 1947. He studied theoretical physics with Hans Bethe at Cornell University, obtaining his doctorate in 1951.

Immediately after receiving his PhD, Bell came to the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory and joined the "T Division." At the time, this division was primarily occupied in the design of the first thermonuclear weapon. Bell contributed by solving problems of neutron transport.

Robert Hicks Bates (January 14, 1911 – September 13, 2007) was an American mountaineer, author and teacher, who is best remembered for his parts in the first ascent of Mount Lucania and the American expeditions to K2 in 1938 and 1953.

Early life

Bates was born in Philadelphia and was the son of William Bates, a classical scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. He briefly attended the William Penn Charter School, and then Phillips Exeter Academy. He attended Harvard University from 1929 to 1935. At Harvard he was a member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club and with Charles Houston, Adams Carter, Bradford Washburn and Terris Moore was part of the group of climbers later known as the

Liliane Barrard (1948 - June 24, 1986) and Maurice Barrard (1941? – June 24, 1986) were a French couple who gained fame climbing at high altitude, mainly in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, and emphasising 'Alpine'-style 'fast and light' ascents.

Early life

The couple met while climbing in South America, having previously worked mainly in teaching. Billing themselves as the 'World's Highest Couple', they successfully climbed Gasherbrum II (8,035 m/26,360 ft) in 1982 with Liliane's brother, Alain Bontemps, and Nanga Parbat (8,126 m/26,658 ft) in 1984 (first

THE BIOGRAPHY OF A DREAMER
"I am a dreamer in love with the mountains"

Born in Bolzano in 1986, daughter of a well-known Italian ski-mountaineer, she has lived all her life among the mountains. Maybe it is for this reason that inevitably the mountains had such a strong influence in her life, so much so that it became her passion. In 2014 she reached the summit of K2 and became the second Italian woman to do so in the history of alpinism.

"Each moment I spend in the mountains helps me to be increasingly aware of who I am as well as being more grateful towards life."

Born in Lemoa (Bizkaia, Basque Country), on 12th of December 1981, Alex Txikon is the youngest of 13 brothers and sisters. When he was no more than 3 years old, his brother Javi, the one who taught him to love mountaineering, took Alex to the top of Gorbea mountain, one of the most emblematic peaks in Basque Country. He joined Ganzabal Mountain Club at teenage and could try himslelf in Pyrenees, Picos de Europa and Alps for the first time. In his 17 travelled to Pamir Mountains and he was just 21 when reached the summit of his first +8.000m mountain: Broad Peak (8.051m) in Pakistan.

Alex Txikon’s taken part in more than 30 expeditions so far, has climed up to the summit of 10 of the 14 highest mountains and, chiefly, has lived the most

Simone Moro (born 27 October 1967) is an Italian alpinist. He is the only mountaineer to have made the first winter ascent of four of the eight-thousanders: Shisha Pangma in 2005, Makalu in 2009, Gasherbrum II in 2011, and Nanga Parbat in 2016. Moro is also an experienced helicopter pilot. In 2013, Moro and two other rescue experts carried out the world's highest long-line rescue operation on a helicopter, on Lhotse, at 7800m. On 12 November 2015, he made the flight altitude world record for a turbine helicopter (6705m).

Early life

Born in Bergamo (Italy) to middle-class parents, he grew up in the borough of Valtesse and was strongly supported by his father in his passion for the