20 July

Born on this day

1304 Francesco Petrarca, the so called "Spiritual Father of Alpinism", as he was named after he ascended Mont Ventoux and wrote a report about it. He died one day before his 70th birthday.
1919 Edmund Percival Hillary, climber from New Zealand, who made first ascents of several 6000ers and 7000ers, but is best known for the first ascent of Everest in 1953 with his Indo-Tibetan companion Tenzing Norgay. He also drove a farm tractor to the South Pole in 1958 and had a flight with Neil Armstrong to the North Pole in 1985. He died in 2008, aged 88.
1940 Lhakpa Tenzing I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1970, Everest in 1973 and Cho Oyu twice (1987 and 2004).
1947 Nikolaus von Schumacher, Swiss climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1991.
1953 Aleksandr Gerasimov, Russian climber, who ascended Everest in 1992.
1953 Daniel Bruchez, Swiss climber, who ascended Lhotse Shar in 1981.
1956 Thomas McMillan, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2004.
1956 Cesar Vasquez, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2017.
1959 Neill Johanson, Australian climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1960 Takeshi Ono, Japanese climber, who ascended Makalu in 1995 and Nanga Parbat in 1997.
1963 Kamen Marinov Kolchev, Bulgarian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2007 and Everest in 2009.
1963 Serge Bernard Bazin, French climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2019 and Makalu in 2024.
1964 Linda LeBon, Belgian lady climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1992.
1964 Stefan Koch, German free-climber.
1965 Kim Byung-Seok, Korean climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1993.
1965 Sumito Takeda, Japanese climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1995.
1966 Chen Yong, Chinese climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2019.
1967 Kim Young-Il, Korean climber, who ascended Everest twice (2006 and 2012).
1970 Tshering Dorje I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest sixteen times (1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2016) and Cho Oyu six times (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 and 2013).
1971 Mingma Ngima, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2008.
1972 Ekaterina Klenova, Russian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1973 Christian Lemmerz, German climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2004.
1974 Aleš Kovelj, Slovenian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006.
1974 Lhakpa Gyalzen II, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest five times (2000, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2013).
1975 Deryl Kelly, Canadian climber, who ascended Everest in 2001.
1975 Kazuhiro Tada, Japanese climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2026.
1976 Ngima Tendi III, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1976 Cecilia Marisel Cordone, Argentinean lady climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2025.
1979 Gabriel Andres Becker, Chilean climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2006 and Everest in 2012.
1983 Nina Burgermeister, Swiss lady climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2007.
1983 Luo Biao, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest twice (2017 and 2023) and Manaslu RP in 2017.
1985 Nhiên Phan Thanh, Vietnamese climber, who ascended Everest in 2008.
1985 Phunjo Jhangmu Lama, Nepalese lady climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2016, Manaslu RP in 2017 and Everest three times (2018, 2024 and 2026).
1985 Ole Jakob Kjølvik, Norwegian climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1985 Thanh-Nhien Phan, Vietnamese climber, who ascended Everest in 2022.
1985 Xu Wei, Chinese climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023 and Everest in 2024.
1985 Sang Mingmar Tamang, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest twice (2024 and 2026).
1986 Arunima Sinha, Indian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1986 Hu Guo-Heng, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1987 Jangbu X, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest three times (2010, 2011 and 2012) and Cho Oyu twice (2011 and 2014).
1988 Ky Quan Quoc Phong, American climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2019.
1988 Christiaan Pieter de Jong, Dutch climber, who ascended Nuptse in 2023.
1990 Wangdu Tsering, Tibetan climber, who ascended Everest six times (2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2017).
1994 Aurimas Valujavicius, Lithuanian climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1995 Dukpa, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2019 and Manaslu RP in 2020.
1999 Rani Boddu, Indian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2017.
1999 Wangdang Bhote, Nepalese Bhutia climber, who ascended Everest twice (2025 and 2026) and Manaslu M in 2025.
2000 Kabita Nepali, Nepalese lady climber, who ascended Everest and Lhotse in 2025.

Event on this day

1985 First ascent of the "Shining Wall" on Gasherbrum IV by Wojciech Kurtyka and Robert Schauer.

First ascents on this day

1931 Kalindi Parbat (6102 m) by a British party.
1932 Huascarán Sur (6746 m) by an Austro-German party.
1948 Santa Cruz (6241 m) by a Swiss party.
1967 Tirich Mir NW I (7487 m) by a Czech/Slovak party.
1979 Skamri Sar (6745 m) by a Japanese party.

Gone on this day

1996 Han Dong-Keun (29) and Yang Jae-Mo (25) climbed Broad Peak Main, while Lim Sun-Taek (24) stopped at the Foresummit. On descent the weather turned bad and all three died the same day.
2007 Nima Nuru I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest six times (2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007) and Cho Oyu twice (2003 and 2006), died by a fall on K2, aged 33.
2013 After a successful ascent of Broad Peak four days earlier three Iranian climbers went missing. Their names are Aidin Bozorgi, Pouya Keivan and Mojtaba Jarahi.
2014 Beda Fuster, Swiss climber, who ascended Broad Peak and K2 in 1986 and Manaslu RP in 1988, died, aged 58.