The word "high" in different people causes various associations. For some, a nine-story house already seems tall. Others live quietly in some kind of skyscraper, in which more than a hundred floors. But this is all the little things compared to 8 thousand meters with a “tail” above sea level. And such heights are found on our planet. These are the highest mountains in the world. There are a total of 14. Their height exceeds the eight-thousandth mark. And all these peaks are located in the Himalayas and Karakorum, on the territory of such countries as Nepal, China, and the disputed region of Kashmir.
And the dream of many professional climbers is to reach each of these peaks. And people began to “fight” with them a long time ago, but only in the last century it was possible to conquer all these peaks. Annapurna Mountain is the first “eight-thousander”, which succumbed to two Frenchmen L. Lachenal and M. Erzog. And it happened in 1950. And today 22 people have already conquered all the highest mountains in the world. Moreover, the last 20 climbers "climbed" to these peaks after the mid-90s. And before that there were only two record holders. This is a climber from Italy Reinhold Messner, who spent 16 years (1970-1986) to achieve his record. The second conqueror was the Polish climber Jerzy Kukuchka. But the Pole spent only 8 years (from 1979 to 1987) on all 14 peaks and no one can still beat his record so far. And the first climber from the CIS to conquer all the highest mountains was Kazakh Denis Urubko. He did this in 2000-2009 and during his ascents he never used oxygen.
And the highest and most desirable mountain for climbers is undoubtedly Everest. The indigenous inhabitants of Tibet call this mountain in their own way - Chomolungma, and the Nepalese call it Sagarmatha. But people still have not been able to determine the exact height of this peak. And currently this height is between 8844 and 8852 meters. The first attempts to conquer Everest were made back in 1921, but they all ended in failure. The highest mountains of the world didn’t really want to obey a man. And over 50 years, more than two hundred people died on the slopes of this mountain. The cause of their death was cold, exhaustion and accidents. It was only in 1953 that the New Zealand climber Edmund Hilary reached the top of Mount Everest.
Chogori, Daspang, K2, Goduin-Osten - these are all the names of one peak, which in the category of the highest mountains in the world goes under the second number. The height of this peak is 8611 meters, and it is located in Kashmir. This peak is part of the Karakorum mountain range, which is located west of the Himalayas. And for the first time Chogori conquered the Italians Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli in 1954.
There is also a mountain range in the Himalayas located between India and Nepal. It consists of five peaks and the highest of them (8586 meters) is Kanchenjunga peak. And this mountain ranks third in the world ranking of peaks. And besides it, three more peaks from this array have a height exceeding the eight-thousandth mark. And the fifth, the "smallest" mountain does not reach only 8 meters to the "cherished" eight thousand. And until the mid-19th century, Kanchenjunga was considered the highest on the planet. But then, after more accurate calculations, she took third place. And for the first time this mountain was conquered by the British Joe Brown and George Bandon in 1955.
There are also mountains in other parts of the world. These, of course, are not the highest mountains in the world, but in their regions they occupy first places in height. So in the South American Andes, the highest peak is Mount Aconcagua (6962 meters). And in North America, such a peak is Mount McKinley (6194 meters). In Africa, the championship belongs, of course, to Kilimanjaro, with a height of 5895 meters. Well, in Russia, the highest peak is Elbrus. It rises 6642 meters above sea level and is also considered the highest peak in Europe. And every climber climbing Mount Elbrus sees in front of him boundless expanses of ice and snow. They say that this is an unforgettable sight.