15 Highest Mountains in the World: Heights, Ranges and First Ascents

Fourteen mountains on Earth rise above 8,000 metres, and every one of them stands in the Himalaya or the Karakoram of Asia. Add Gyachung Kang, the highest peak below that mark, and you have the fifteen highest mountains in the world: a line of ice and rock across Nepal, China, India and Pakistan that has drawn climbers for more than a century.

The 15 highest mountains at a glance

1. Everest – 8,848.86 m – Himalaya, Nepal/China
2. K2 – 8,611 m – Karakoram, Pakistan/China
3. Kangchenjunga – 8,586 m – Himalaya, Nepal/India
4. Lhotse – 8,516 m – Himalaya, Nepal/China
5. Makalu – 8,485 m – Himalaya, Nepal/China
6. Cho Oyu – 8,188 m – Himalaya, Nepal/China
7. Dhaulagiri I – 8,167 m – Himalaya, Nepal
8. Manaslu – 8,163 m – Himalaya, Nepal
9. Nanga Parbat – 8,125 m – Himalaya, Pakistan
10. Annapurna I – 8,091 m – Himalaya, Nepal
11. Gasherbrum I – 8,080 m – Karakoram, Pakistan/China
12. Broad Peak – 8,051 m – Karakoram, Pakistan/China
13. Gasherbrum II – 8,034 m – Karakoram, Pakistan/China
14. Shishapangma – 8,027 m – Himalaya, China (Tibet)
15. Gyachung Kang – 7,952 m – Himalaya, Nepal/China

The UIAA, the international climbing federation, recognises these fourteen as the classic 8,000-metre peaks. Figures for K2 through Shishapangma follow the 8000ers reference; Everest’s height is the figure Nepal and China announced together in 2020, reported by ABC News. Reinhold Messner became the first person to climb all fourteen, completing them on 16 October 1986 without supplementary oxygen.

1–3: Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga

1. Mount Everest (8,848.86 m). On the border of Nepal and Tibet, Everest is known in Nepali as Sagarmāthā and in Tibetan as Chomolungma; its English name honours the surveyor George Everest. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent on 29 May 1953. Today hundreds of climbers reach the top in a good season, and with them comes the problem covered in our piece on Everest’s trash. Base camp is a very different place from the summit, as our story of the dog who reached Everest Base Camp shows.

2. K2 (8,611 m). The second-highest mountain sits on the Pakistan–China border in the Karakoram. Its short name comes from the 19th-century survey label for Karakoram peak number two. Called the Savage Mountain for its steep faces and storms, it was first climbed on 31 July 1954 by the Italians Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli. See also A Musical Tribute to K2 by HipdeBop.

3. Kangchenjunga (8,586 m). The highest mountain in India, on its border with Nepal, Kangchenjunga’s name is usually translated as “five treasures of the snow”, after its five high summits. George Band and Joe Brown made the first ascent on 25 May 1955.

4–8: Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu

4. Lhotse (8,516 m). Its name means “south peak”, and it is joined to Everest by the South Col. The Swiss Fritz Luchsinger and Ernst Reiss reached the top on 18 May 1956.

5. Makalu (8,485 m). South-east of Everest, Makalu is a striking four-sided pyramid with sharp ridges. A French expedition put Jean Couzy and Lionel Terray on the summit on 15 May 1955.

6. Cho Oyu (8,188 m). West of Everest on the Nepal–Tibet border, the “Turquoise Goddess” is widely seen as the most approachable of the 8,000-metre peaks. Herbert Tichy, Josef Jöchler and Pasang Dawa Lama made the first ascent on 19 October 1954.

7. Dhaulagiri I (8,167 m). The name means “white mountain”. Dhaulagiri faces Annapurna across the deep Kali Gandaki gorge in Nepal. A Swiss-led team including Kurt Diemberger reached the top on 13 May 1960.

8. Manaslu (8,163 m). The “mountain of the spirit” stands in Nepal’s Mansiri Himal. Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu of a Japanese expedition climbed it on 9 May 1956, and the trek around its base is now one of Nepal’s classic routes.

9–13: Nanga Parbat, Annapurna and the Karakoram giants

9. Nanga Parbat (8,125 m). At the western end of the Himalaya in Pakistan, the “naked mountain” rises above the Indus. Its Rupal Face is one of the tallest mountain walls on Earth. Hermann Buhl reached the summit alone on 3 July 1953.

10. Annapurna I (8,091 m). Named after the Hindu goddess of food and nourishment, Annapurna was the first 8,000-metre peak ever climbed, by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal on 3 June 1950. It is also one of the most dangerous, because of avalanches on its main routes.

11. Gasherbrum I (8,080 m). Also called Hidden Peak, because it is screened by other mountains from the Baltoro Glacier approach. Americans Andrew Kauffman and Pete Schoening made the first ascent on 5 July 1958.

12. Broad Peak (8,051 m). Its long summit ridge gives it its name. An Austrian team of Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger and Hermann Buhl reached the top on 9 June 1957, without oxygen or porters above base camp.

13. Gasherbrum II (8,034 m). A separate summit of the same Gasherbrum group, first climbed on 7 July 1956 by the Austrians Fritz Moravec, Josef Larch and Hans Willenpart.

14–15: Shishapangma and Gyachung Kang

14. Shishapangma (8,027 m). The lowest of the fourteen, and the only one entirely inside China, in Tibet. It was the last to be climbed: a Chinese team led by Xu Jing reached the summit on 2 May 1964.

15. Gyachung Kang (7,952 m). Standing between Cho Oyu and Everest on the Nepal–China border, Gyachung Kang is the highest peak between those two giants and, with Gasherbrum III, the highest below 8,000 metres. A Japanese expedition made the first ascent on 10 April 1964 (see the Nepal Himal Peak Profile).

Related reading

• The Khumbu Icefall through Theodore Fairhurst’s Helmet Camera
• Everest’s Mountain Workers: The Sherpa’s Story
• K2: A Karakoram Mountain Film with Music by Hip de Bop
• Ines Papert and Friends Winter Climbing in Scotland
• Niseko Snowboarding: A Thirteen-Day GoPro Diary
• Baishuitai: White Water Terraces below the Haba Snow Mountains
• Tateyama’s Snow Corridor and the Alpine Route

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