15 January

Born on this day

1918 Mario Puchoz, Italian pioneer, who was a member of the successful K2 expedition in 1954. He died there, aged 36.
1919 Maurice Herzog, French pioneer, who achieved the first ascent of Annapurna I with his companion Louis Lachenal in 1950. He died in 2012, aged 93.
1924 Wallace George Lowe, pioneer from New Zealand, who participated in the first ascent expedition of Everest. He died in 2013, aged 89.
1937 Tone Škarja, Slovenian climber and expedition leader. He died in 2020, aged 83.
1938 Ashraf Aman, Pakistani climber, who ascended K2 in 1977. He was the first from his country with this achievement.
1938 Autar Singh Cheema, Indian pioneer, who ascended Everest in 1965. He died in 1989, aged 51.
1944 Claudio Benedetti, Italian climber, who ascended Everest in 1973.
1944 Bernard Constantin, French climber, who ascended Nanga Parbat in 2005. Three months after this ascent he died in an avalanche on Kang Guru (6981 m), aged 61.
1946 Susumu Nakamura, Japanese adventurer, who travelled to the North Pole in 1978, ascended Everest in 1988 and travelled to the South Pole in the season 1994/1995. He died in 2008 in an avalanche on Kula Kangri (7538 m), aged 62.
1951 Makoto Arai, Japanese climber, who ascended Everest in 2009 and Manaslu RP in 2013.
1952 Matthew Comotto, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2003.
1955 Juan Carlos Llamas, Spanish Castilian climber, who ascended Gasherbrum II in 1994.
1956 Jürgen Michael Mecke, German climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 1981.
1959 Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian climber, who ascended Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II in 1986, Shisha Pangma in 1989, Everest in 1997 and Cho Oyu in 2006. He died in 2008 by a fall on Muztagh Tower (7273 m), aged 49.
1959 Peter Fichtner, German climber, who ascended Everest in 2005.
1962 Christian Kuntner, South Tyrolean climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1991, Manaslu RP in 1992, Broad Peak in 1993, Dhaulagiri I in 1994, Everest in 1995, K2 in 1996, Shisha Pangma in 1998, Gasherbrum I and II in 1999, Makalu in 2000, Nanga Parbat in 2001, Kangchenjunga in 2003 and Lhotse in 2004. He died on Annapurna I in 2005, aged 43.
1962 Masashige Takai, Japanese climber, who ascended Shisha Pangma Central-Peak in 1990.
1963 Erling Kagge, Norwegian adventurer, who travelled to the North Pole in 1990, to the South Pole in the season 1992/1993 and ascended Everest in 1994.
1963 Luo Shen, Chinese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2002 and Everest twice (2003 and 2008).
1964 Angelo Sousa, Portuguese climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 2009 and Everest in 2010.
1965 Lee Se-Jung, Korean climber, who ascended Everest in 2006.
1969 Farkhondeh Sadegh, Iranian lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2005.
1970 Sonam Gurmey, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2008.
1971 Tshering Angchok, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2007.
1971 Antonio Jesús Vélez, Spanish Andaluisian climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2014.
1971 Colin James Briggs, Australian climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023.
1972 Keiji Ueda, Japanese climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 1995.
1972 Rajeev Saumitra, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2013.
1973 Mohan Singh Rawat, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1975 Thupten Lobsang, Indian climber, who ascended Everest twice (2008 and 2012).
1976 Pasang Nuri II, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.
1977 Michael Andrew Amstein, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.
1979 Pasang Tenzing, Indian Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest twice (2006 and 2012).
1980 Mark Pfetzer, American climber, who ascended Cho Oyu in 1996.
1980 Christopher (Chris) Grubb, American climber, who ascended Everest in 2009. He also finished the Kosciuszko-version of the Seven Summits in 2010.
1980 Zhang Ying, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Everest in 2021.
1981 Dhaniram (Dhani) Rai, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest in 2017.
1981 Hem Singh, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
1981 Joanna Całka, Polish lady climber, who ascended Manaslu RP in 2017.
1982 Joshua Philip Gates, American climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023 and Everest in 2024.
1983 Sonam Targais, Indian climber, who ascended Dhaulagiri I in 2009.
1983 Michael Anthony Fortune, Irish climber, who ascended Everest in 2024.
1985 Furtemba, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
1986 Damber Gurung, Nepalese climber, who ascended Everest and Manaslu M in 2025.
1988 Ngang Dorchi Bhote, Nepalese Bhutia climber, who ascended Everest twice (2019 and 2023).
1990 Xiao Jing, Chinese lady climber, who ascended Manaslu M in 2023 and K2 in 2024.
1996 Yong Ren, Chinese climber, who ascended Everest in 2025.
1998 Karsang Namgya, Nepalese Sherpa climber, who ascended Everest in 2019.
2000 Kavidas Pandurang Katmode, Indian climber, who ascended Everest in 2018.
2000 Prem Bahadur Tamang, Nepalese climber, who ascended Lhotse in 2023 and Everest in 2024.

Gone on this day

1985 Chris Chandler, American climber, who ascended Everest in 1976, died on Kangchenjunga, aged 36.