19 January

Born on this day

1943 Bertold Zedrosser, Austrian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1995.
1955 Hizuru Nakamura, Japanese climber, who ascended Himalchuli in 1986 and died on descent, aged 31.
1961 Viktor Bobok, Russian climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2002 and Everest five times (2004, 2009, 2011, 2016 and 2017). He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2005.
1963 Helga Söll, German lady climber, who ascended Nanga Parbat in 2008, Dhaulagiri I in 2009 and Gasherbrum II in 2013.
1966 Xabier Rozas, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Broad Peak in 1999.
1966 Ulrich Schneider, Swiss climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2009.
1970 Toru Hattori, Japanese climber, who ascended Broad Peak Central and Main in 1995.
1972 Jean-Christophe Boillat, Swiss climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2002.
1972 Pem Lhakpa, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2012.
1973 Satish Man Pati, Nepalese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2014, Everest in 2016 and Lhotse in 2021.
1976 Larry Calvin Daugherty, American climber, who ascended Everest and Lhotse in 2022.
1978 Robin Michelle Moore, American lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1980 Mingma Temba I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest nine times (2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023), Cho Oyu twice (2009 and 2014), Manaslu RP four times (2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021), Annapurna I in 2021. K2 in 2022, Manaslu M in 2023 and Lhotse in 2025.
1980 Wongchukal (aka Onjukal), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest four times (2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012).
1981 Jean Aurouze, French climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2003.
1982 Glenn Johnson, Australian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2013.
1984 Pasang Dukpa, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Manaslu RP twice (2017 and 2019), Everest six times (2018, 2019, in 2021 twice, 2022 and 2024), Gasherbrum I twice (2023 and 2024), Manaslu M in 2023, Gasherbrum II and Cho Oyu in 2024 and Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat in 2025.
1984 Zolzaya Baast, Mongolian climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2023.
1985 Jonatan García, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Annapurna I in 2017 and Manaslu RP in 2018.
1988 Mingma Gyalbu, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2011 and Everest in 2012.
1992 Mingma Chhiri III, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 2011, Everest eight times (2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025), Manaslu RP twice (2017 and 2019) and Manaslu M three times (2023, 2024 and 2025).
1992 Arbindra Khadka, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest twice (2022 and 2025).
1995 Pemba Gelu (a), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023.
1996 Ang Rita (a), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Annapurna I in 2021.

Gone on this day

2020 Dee Molenaar, American pioneer, who was a member of the 1953 K2 expedition. In 1965 he participated in the first ascent of Mount Kennedy (4238 m, Yukon, Canada, named after JFK) led by James W. (Jim) Whittaker along with Robert Francis (Bobby) Kennedy and five other climbers. He died on this day, aged 101.
2021 Cesare Maestri, Italian climber, who became famous for climbing Cerro Torre (3128 m) in 1970 with a gas compressor and rock drill and was widely criticised for this method. Already in 1959 he claimed to have climbed the mountain, but it was and is reasonably very disputed. Because of his many earlier new routes of the hardest difficulty in the Dolomites, he was nicknamed the "Spider of the Dolomites". He died on this day, aged 91.