Almanac

13 May



Born on this day

1938 Hans Zebrowski, German climber, who ascended Tirich Mir in 1975, Manaslu M in 1981 and Broad Peak Foresummit in 1984.
1940 Ruedi Homberger, Swiss climber and mountaineering photographer, who climbed the SW pillar of Fitz Roy in 1976.
1948 Juan Antonio Serrano, Spanish Valencian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1993.
1952 Keith Kerr, British climber, who ascended Everest in 1992, Lhotse in 1995, Cho Oyu in 1997 and Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1999, Makalu in 2004, Kangchenjunga in 2009 and Dhaulagiri I in 2016. He also finished the Carstensz-version of the Seven Summits in 1992.
1952 Rejean Audet, Canadian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006.
1956 Ivan Vozárik, Slovak climber, who ascended Kumbhakarna (aka Jannu) in 1981.
1958 Jordi Corominas, Spanish Catalan climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1991, K2 in 2004 and Gasherbrum II in 2006.
1959 Mario Castiglioni, Italian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2004 and Manaslu RP in 2010.
1960 Scott McKee, American climber, who ascended Broad Peak in 1992 and Kangchenjunga in 1997.
1962 Dmitri Moskalev, Russian climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2002, Everest in 2005, Cho Oyu in 2007, K2 in 2023 and Lhotse in 2024. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2005 and the Carstensz-version in 2008.
1962 Antonios Sykaris, Greek climber, who ascended Everest in 2017, Kangchenjunga and Manaslu RP in 2018, Lhotse in 2019, Annapurna I in 2021 and Dhaulagiri I in 2022, where he died on descent, aged 59.
1963 Valentin Giró, Spanish Catalan climber, who ascended Gurla Mandhata in 2002 and Broad Peak in 2007.
1963 Gordon Clark, British climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2006 and Everest in 2007.
1965 José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1998, Gasherbrum II in 2000, Everest in 2001 and Nanga Parbat in 2006, where he died on descent, aged 41.
1965 Lhakpa (aka La Ba), Tibetan climber, who ascended Everest four times (1999, 2004, 2005 and 2007) and Cho Oyu in 2002.
1967 J. Armand Musey, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2008.
1968 Scott Gaines Smith, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1969 Lee Jong-Yong, Korean climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 2000.
1969 Anandan Bala, Indian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2018 and Everest in 2019.
1973 Arne Vathamar, Danish climber, who ascended Everest in 2014.
1974 Shin Dong-Min, Korean climber, who ascended Everest in 2009. He died in 2011 on Annapurna I South Face, aged 37.
1974 Yevgeni Semenov, Russian climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2007.
1976 Yuri Gurgov, Russian climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1978 Miloš Ivačković, Serbian climber, who ascended Everest in 2007.
1980 Benjamin James (Ben) Thackwray, British climber, who ascended Everest in 2011.
1980 Olga Koroleva, Russian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2019, K2 in 2021 and Annapurna I in 2022.
1981 Jared Alan Harris, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.
1985 Tsering Wangmu, Tibetan lady climber, who ascended Everest twice (2006 and 2008) and Cho Oyu in 2006.
1990 Mingma Tendi, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest four times (2018, 2019, 2022 and 2024) and Manaslu M in 2024.
1992 Rustam Nabiev, Russian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2021.
2005 Henry Sheridan Horvath, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.

First ascents on this day

1960 Dhaulagiri I (8167 m) by an international party with Swiss, Austrian and German climbers. Max Eiselin from Switzerland was the leader.
1969 Khangsar Kang (aka Roc Noir, 7485 m, popular subsidiary peak on the long East Ridge of Annapurna I) by a German party.
1979 Everest via the Direct West Ridge by a Yugoslav team led by Tone Škarja.

Gone on this day

1979 Ruedi Schatz, Swiss pioneer, who participated in the first attempt on Dhaulagiri I. Together with his companion Peter Braun he reached ca. 7600 m on May 29, 1953, the day of the first ascent of Everest. He died in Switzerland on a canoe-trip, aged 54.
1992 Korean climbers Seo Seoung-Soo, Seo Yeong-Deok and Kim Baek-Gyoon and Nepalese climber Bhakta Bahadur Rai died in an avalanche on Pumori after climbing successfully the rarely climbed SW ridge.
1992 Wanda Rutkiewicz, Polish lady climber, who participated in the first ascent of Gasherbrum III (7952 m) in 1975. It was the highest first ascent by women. She also ascended Everest in 1978, Nanga Parbat in 1985, K2 in 1986, Shisha Pangma in 1987, Gasherbrum II in 1989, Gasherbrum I in 1990 and Cho Oyu and Annapurna I in 1991. She died on Kangchenjunga, aged 49.
1998 Gerald Rösner, German climber, who ascended Cho Oyu the day before and died on descent, aged 44.
1999 Michael Matthews, British climber, who ascended Everest on this day and died on descent, aged 22.
2007 Santiago Sagaste, Spanish Aragonese climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 2003 and Shisha Pangma in 2004, died on Dhaulagiri I, aged 33.
2007 Ricardo Valencia, Spanish Basque climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2000, Gasherbrum II in 2003, Makalu in 2004 and Nanga Parbat in 2005, died also on Dhaulagiri I, aged 47.
2008 Hasta Bahadur Gurung, Nepalese climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I twice (1995 and exactly 10 years later in 2005), died on Manaslu, aged 50.
2009 Achille Compagnoni, Italian pioneer, who made the first ascent of K2 in 1954 together with Lino Lacedelli, died, aged 94.
2022 Karl Zöll, German climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1986 and Cho Oyu in 1990, died on this day, aged 84.