Field Notes · Summits
The 14 Eight-Thousanders
Every mountain on Earth with a summit above 8,000 metres — all 14 of them, all in the Himalaya or Karakoram, all first climbed within a 14-year window last century. Ranked here by verified elevation.
By Louis, PeakSeeker · Sep 9, 2026
"Eight-thousander" isn't a loose nickname — it's the actual name mountaineers use for this exact list: the fourteen independent peaks on Earth whose summits sit above 8,000 metres (26,247ft), all of them in the Himalaya or the Karakoram range straddling Nepal, China, India, and Pakistan. There is no fifteenth. Completing all fourteen without supplemental oxygen is one of the sport's defining benchmarks, first done by Reinhold Messner in 1986.
Every figure below is the same elevation and prominence PeakSeeker has on file for that summit's own page — nothing here is a separate, unchecked claim.
| # | Peak | Elevation | Prominence | First ascent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Everest Mahalangur Himal, Nepal / China | 8,848.9 m · 29,032 ft | 8,848.9 m | 1953 — Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay |
| 2 | K2 Karakoram, Pakistan / China | 8,611 m · 28,251 ft | 4,020 m | 1954 — Lino Lacedelli, Achille Compagnoni |
| 3 | Kangchenjunga Nepal / Sikkim, India | 8,586 m · 28,169 ft | 3,922 m | 1955 — Joe Brown, George Band (British Kangchenjunga Expedition) |
| 4 | Lhotse Khumbu, Nepal / Tibet, China | 8,516 m · 27,940 ft | 610 m | 1956 — Ernst Reiss, Fritz Luchsinger |
| 5 | Makalu Mahalangur Himalaya, Nepal / China | 8,485 m · 27,838 ft | 2,386 m | 1955 — Lionel Terray, Jean Couzy |
| 6 | Cho Oyu Mahalangur Himalaya, Nepal / China | 8,188 m · 26,864 ft | 2,340 m | 1954 — Herbert Tichy, Joseph Jöchler, Pasang Dawa Lama |
| 7 | Dhaulagiri Dhaulagiri Himal, Nepal | 8,167 m · 26,795 ft | 3,357 m | 1960 — Kurt Diemberger and party (6 climbers) |
| 8 | Manaslu Mansiri Himal, Nepal | 8,163 m · 26,781 ft | 3,092 m | 1956 — Toshio Imanishi, Gyalzen Norbu |
| 9 | Nanga Parbat Himalaya (Diamir), Pakistan | 8,126 m · 26,660 ft | 4,608 m | 1953 — Hermann Buhl, solo push to the summit |
| 10 | Annapurna I Annapurna Himal, Nepal | 8,091 m · 26,545 ft | 2,984 m | 1950 — Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal |
| 11 | Gasherbrum I Karakoram, Pakistan / China | 8,080 m · 26,510 ft | 2,155 m | 1958 — Pete Schoening, Andy Kauffman |
| 12 | Broad Peak Karakoram, Pakistan / China | 8,051 m · 26,414 ft | 1,871 m | 1957 — Wintersteller, Schmuck, Diemberger, Buhl |
| 13 | Gasherbrum II Karakoram, Pakistan / China | 8,035 m · 26,362 ft | 1,524 m | 1956 — Moravec, Larch, Willenpart |
| 14 | Shishapangma Jugal Himal, Tibet, China | 8,027 m · 26,335 ft | 2,906 m | 1964 — Xu Jing, Wang Fuzhou, and 8 others |
What "prominence" is telling you here
Elevation ranks the fourteen; prominence tells a different story. Everest's prominence equals its elevation because there's no higher ground anywhere on the planet to measure it against. Lhotse, by contrast, sits fourth by elevation but has the lowest prominence on this list at just 610m — because it's really a shoulder of Everest itself, connected by a high col rather than standing as its own independent massif in any meaningful topographic sense. Nanga Parbat, at the other extreme, rises 4,608m above its surroundings with almost nothing else nearby to share the credit — one of the most isolated, dramatic single masses of rock and ice on Earth.
Every summit above links to its full PeakSeeker page, with the same elevation, prominence, and first-ascent data plus routes, access notes, and nearby resorts where we have them.
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