17 December

Born on this day

1942 Wojciech Wróż, Polish climber, who ascended Kangchenjunga South-Peak in 1978, Yalung Kang in 1984 and K2 in 1986, where he died on descent, aged 43.
1942 Oreste Squinobal, Italian climber, who ascended Kangchenjunga in 1982. He died in 2004, aged 61.
1947 Tsutomu Saito, Japanese climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1998.
1947 Richard (Dick) Price, climber from New Zealand, who ascended Phola Gangchhen (aka Molamenqin, 7703 m) in 1981, Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1987 and Everest in 1997.
1956 Andrej Štremfelj, Slovenian climber, who ascended Gasherbrum I in 1977, Everest twice (1979 and 1990), Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II in 1986, Shisha Pangma in 1989, Kangchenjunga South-Peak in 1991, Cho Oyu in 1995, Gyachung Kang in 1999 and Dhaulagiri I in 2004.
1956 Tetsuo Honda, Japanese climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1958 Markus Becker, German climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2003.
1958 Valerie Anne Pitkethly, Canadian lady climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2005 and Manaslu RP in 2009.
1958 Peter Whittaker, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2009.
1960 Jan Jari Mikael Sinivaara, German climber (also Spanish, of Finnish origin), who ascended Everest in 2011.
1960 Nicholas John Gough, British climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1962 Lakpa Nuru, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest seven times (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2017), Manaslu RP three times (2006, 2009 and 2011) and Makalu in 2014.
1963 Long Jiang, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2013, Manaslu RP in 2017, Makalu in 2018 and Annapurna I in 2019.
1963 Brian Neil Freeman, Australian climber, who ascended Everest in 2016.
1967 Salavat Rachmetov, Russian free-climber.
1969 Patrick Wagnon, French climber, who ascended Broad Peak Foresummit in 2008 and Rakaposhi in 2021.
1970 Michael Anthony Tomordy, British climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1971 Zbigniew Bak, Polish climber, who ascended Everest in 2010 and Manaslu RP in 2019.
1972 Remco Berendsen, Dutch climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006.
1972 Dawa Wangchuk (aka Dawa Ongchu), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Kangchenjunga four times (2000, 2002, 2004 and 2022), Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak twice (both in 2003 and 2022), Everest seven times (2004, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2022, 2023 and 2024), Gasherbrum I four times (2005, 2008, 2009 and 2022), Dhaulagiri I WRFS in 2009, Nanga Parbat twice (2009 and 2022), Annapurna I three times (2010, 2021 and 2022), Makalu twice (2011 and 2022), Lhotse twice (2012 and 2022), Manaslu RP in 2021, Dhaulagiri I and K2 in 2022 and Manaslu M three times (2022, 2023 and 2024).
1973 Luis María Pikabea, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1999. He died in 2007 on Le Taillon (3144 m), aged 33.
1973 Waldemar Dominik Kowalewski, Polish climber, who ascended Everest in 2014, Lhotse and Broad Peak in 2017, K2 in 2019, Annapurna I and Dhaulagiri I in 2021, Kangchenjunga and Nanga Parbat in 2023 and Makalu in 2024.
1973 Enrico Zappa, Italian climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023.
1975 Manuel Benito, Spanish Madrilian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006.
1977 Evaggelos Georgios Scholin Voglis, Swedish climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1978 Chatter Singh, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1983 Pema Chhiring (aka Pema Chhiri), Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twenty times (2001, twice in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, twice in 2021, 2022, 2024 and 2025), Lhotse in 2003, Cho Oyu three times (2003, 2006 and 2009), Manaslu RP five times (2011, 2012, 2017, 2019 and 2021), K2 twice (2022 and 2023), Gasherbrum II in 2022 and Manaslu M twice (2023 and 2024).
1983 Xu Fei-Yue, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2017.
1985 Bertrand George Snarr, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.
1989 Scott Donald Webster, British climber, who ascended Everest in 2023.
1990 Alexander (Alex) Holt, British climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2010, Lhotse in 2011 and Everest in 2022.

First ascent on this day

1943 San Lorenzo (3706 m) by an Argentinean party.