15 July

Born on this day

1933 Ivan Gálfy, Slovak climber and expedition leader, who ascended Tirich Mir in 1967. He also led the expeditions to Nanga Parbat in 1969 and 1971, to Makalu in 1973 and 1976, to Jannu in 1979 and 1981, to Kangchenjunga in 1981, to Lhotse Shar in 1984 and to Everest in 1987. He died in 2011, aged 78.
1949 Rolf Bleiker, Swiss climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1980.
1952 Monika Kumpf, German lady climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1991.
1952 Dennis Richard Kellner, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2006.
1953 Thomas Klösch, Austrian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1999.
1955 Jeff Shea, American climber, who ascended Everest in 1995. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 1997.
1957 Ang Phurba I, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 1979.
1961 Gebhard Riedmann, Austrian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006.
1962 Marco (Zaffa) Zaffaroni, Italian climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2005 and Cho Oyu in 2009.
1963 Juan Fernando Azcona, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Annapurna I in 1988.
1965 Noriyasu Kunori, Japanese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2001 and Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2003.
1965 Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2005.
1967 Jesús María (Txetxu) Lete, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Gasherbrum I in 1995, Cho Oyu in 1998 and Gasherbrum II in 2001.
1967 Kambiz Bolouri, Iranian climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2025.
1969 Kim Dong-Sik, Korean climber, who ascended Everest in 2010.
1969 Wilco Dekker, Dutch climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1970 Henrik Andre Olsen, Danish climber, who ascended Everest in 2006. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2006 and the Carstensz-version in 2007.
1970 Ryoo Bo-Hyun, Korean climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2003.
1971 François "Baba" Lombard, French free-climber.
1971 Mary Mills Davis, American lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2004.
1971 Wang Lei, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2010, where she also finished the Carstensz-version of the Seven Summits.
1971 Son Byung-Woo, Korean climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 2010 and Annapurna I and Cho Oyu in 2011.
1973 Pemba Chhuti (Pemba Chhoti), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest six times (2000, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2016), Kangchenjunga in 2011, Annapurna I in 2012 (disputed), Makalu in 2014 and Manaslu RP in 2015.
1975 Daniel Andrada, Spanish free-climber.
1976 Dashrat Singh Rawat, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1977 An Chi-Young, Korean climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1977 Pan Ru-Wei, Chinese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2023 and Everest in 2024.
1978 Carina Dayondon, Philippine lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2007.
1978 Karim Bigdeli Nazargholi, Iranian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2011.
1983 Surendra Ravindra Jalihal, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2012.
1987 Charles Page, Canadian climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023, Everest and Lhotse in 2024, Makalu and K2 in 2025 and Annapurna I and Kangchenjunga in 2026.
1987 Gu Dan, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2023.
1988 Zhu Jiang, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2018.
1992 Angelo Lobina, Italian climber, who ascended Everest in 2017.
1993 Purevsuren Lkhagvajav, Mongolian climber, who ascended Everest in 2024 and died on descent, aged 30.
1996 Subash Ghimire, Nepalese climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023 and Everest in 2024.
2002 Gustavo Azzolini Cordoni, Brazilian climber, who ascended Everest and Lhotse in 2026.

First ascents on this day

1974 P. 6444 m (SE of Sella Saddle) by a Japanese party.
1979 Pumari Chhish (7492 m) by another Japanese party.
1979 Latok III (6949 m) by another Japanese party.
1985 Doab (6045 m) by an Indo-British party.

Gone on this day

2003 Vladimir Pestrikov, Ukrainian climber, who ascended Lhotse and Dhaulagiri I in 2002, died on Gasherbrum I, aged 39.
2008 Karl Unterkircher, Italian (South Tyrolean) climber, who ascended Everest and K2 within 63 days in 2004, both without bottled oxygen, which is a world record. In 2007 he ascended Gasherbrum II by a new route from the North. In an attempt to climb a new route on the Rakhiot Face of Nanga Parbat, he died in a crevasse, aged 37.