#10 Annapurna I–26,545 ft
Location: Nepal
As the first 8,000-meter peak ever climbed, Annapurna is a very special feat. In 1950, the first summit was completed by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, members of a French team which included many other great climbers. Both suffered severe frostbite from the expedition.
#9 Nanga Parbat–26,658 ft
Location: Pakistan
The legendary Austrian climber Hermann Buhl completed the first ascent of Nanga Parbat in 1953. After his companions turned back, he continued up to summit where he had to bivouac standing up on a narrow ledge with one hand clasped to a handhold.
#7 Dhaulagiri I–26,795 ft
Location: Nepal
Four members of a Swiss-Austrian team and two sherpas climbed the normal route up the Northeast Ridge to complete the first ascent in 1960. The expedition was led by Max Eiselin and was successfully completed by Kurt Diemberger, P. Diener, E. Forrer, A. Schelbert, Sherpa Nyima Dorje, and Sherpa Nawang Dorje.
#4 Lhotse–27,940 ft (1956)
Location: Nepal and China Border
Lhotse Main was first climbed during a Swiss expedition in 1956 by Ernst Reiss and Fritz Luchsinger. It was first climbed as an alternative route towards Everest’s summit.
#3 Kangchenjunga–28,169 ft
Location: India and Nepal border
The first ascent completed in 1955 was by a famed British rock climber Joe Brown and George Band. Beginning a tradition that still lives on today, they stopped just below the sacred summit as a promise to the Maharaja of Sikkim to keep the summit undefiled by human feet.
#1 Mount Everest–29,035 ft
Location: Nepal and Tibet, China border
While some debate that George Mallory and Andrew Irvine should be credited the first to make the climb in 1924, the first official ascent was completed by Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary using the southeast ridge route in 1953.