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Tourism & Mountains · The high Himalaya

Nepal's Eight-Thousanders नेपालका ८,००० मिटरमाथिका हिमालहरू

Eight of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 m stand wholly or partly in Nepal — from Everest, fixed at 8,848.86 m by the 2020 Nepal–China joint survey, to Annapurna I, the first eight-thousander ever climbed and statistically still the most dangerous. This page profiles all eight: an interactive skyline, a topographic map, every first ascent of the golden decade 1950–1960, the records, tragedies and rule changes since, and what a permit costs today. Ascent and fatality figures follow the Himalayan Database, compiled through December 2025.

Eight-thousanders

8 of 14

of the world's 8,000 m peaks are wholly or partly in Nepal

Everest height

8,848.86 m

2020 Nepal–China joint survey

Everest summits

13,737

and 339 deaths through Dec 2025 (Himalayan Database)

Spring permit

USD 15,000

for foreigners since 1 Sep 2025 — was USD 11,000

The skyline

All eight peaks, side by side

Triangles scaled from an 8,000 m baseline: less than 760 m separates Everest (8,848.86 m) from Annapurna I (8,091 m), the lowest of the eight — and the first ever climbed. Click any peak for its full profile.

8,0008,2008,4008,6008,8008,848.86Everest#1 · FA 19538,586Kanchenjunga#3 · FA 19558,516Lhotse#4 · FA 19568,485Makalu#5 · FA 19558,188Cho Oyu#6 · FA 19548,167Dhaulagiri#7 · FA 19608,163Manaslu#8 · FA 19568,091Annapurna#10 · FA 1950Vertical axis starts at 8,000 m to show relative height differences · FA = first ascent · click a peak for its profile
Where they stand

Peak map

Five of the eight rise in Koshi Province along the eastern border — Everest, Lhotse and Cho Oyu in Solukhumbu, Makalu in Sankhuwasabha, Kanchenjunga in Taplejung. The other three — Dhaulagiri I, Manaslu and Annapurna I — stand entirely within Nepal, in Gandaki Province.

Reference table

Every eight-thousander at a glance

PeakHeight (m)World rankFirst ascentBorderDistrict
Mount Everestसगरमाथा8,848.86#129 May 1953Edmund Hillary (NZ) & Tenzing Norgay Sherpa (Nepal)Nepal–China (Tibet) borderSolukhumbu
Kanchenjungaकञ्चनजङ्घा8,586#325 May 1955George Band & Joe Brown (UK); Norman Hardie & Tony Streather the next dayNepal–India (Sikkim) borderTaplejung
Lhotseल्होत्से8,516#418 May 1956Fritz Luchsinger & Ernst Reiss (Switzerland)Nepal–China (Tibet) borderSolukhumbu
Makaluमकालु8,485#515 May 1955Jean Couzy & Lionel Terray (France)Nepal–China (Tibet) borderSankhuwasabha
Cho Oyuचोयु8,188#619 October 1954Herbert Tichy, Josef Jöchler (Austria) & Pasang Dawa Lama (Nepal)Nepal–China (Tibet) borderSolukhumbu
Dhaulagiri Iधौलागिरी8,167#713 May 1960Kurt Diemberger (Austria), Peter Diener (Germany), Ernst Forrer & Albin Schelbert (Switzerland), Nawang Dorje & Nima Dorje Sherpa (Nepal)Entirely in NepalMyagdi
Manasluमनास्लु8,163#89 May 1956Toshio Imanishi (Japan) & Gyalzen Norbu Sherpa (Nepal)Entirely in NepalGorkha
Annapurna Iअन्नपूर्ण8,091#103 June 1950Maurice Herzog & Louis Lachenal (France)Entirely in NepalKaski / Myagdi
Interactive timeline

Mountaineering history, 1949 to today

From the year Nepal opened its borders to foreign expeditions through the golden decade of first ascents, the record-breaking and the reckonings — filter by first ascents, records, tragedies, or the rules and fees that followed.

  1. 1949–50Rules & fees

    Nepal opens to foreign expeditions

    After two centuries of isolation, Nepal admits foreign mountaineers — shifting Himalayan climbing from Tibet to the southern approaches.

  2. 3 Jun 1950First ascents

    Annapurna — the first 8,000er climbed

    Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal summit Annapurna I without oxygen: the first ascent of any eight-thousander.

  3. 29 May 1953First ascents

    Everest climbed

    Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reach the summit via the South Col on John Hunt's British expedition.

  4. 19 Oct 1954First ascents

    Cho Oyu — lightweight landmark

    Tichy, Jöchler and Pasang Dawa Lama climb Cho Oyu without oxygen — the first autumn 8,000er ascent, by a three-man team.

  5. May 1955First ascents

    Makalu & Kanchenjunga in ten days

    France's entire team summits Makalu (15 May); a British team stops respectfully short of Kanchenjunga's sacred top (25 May).

  6. May 1956First ascents

    Lhotse & Manaslu

    Swiss climbers take Lhotse (18 May); Toshio Imanishi and Gyalzen Norbu summit Manaslu (9 May) for Japan.

  7. 13 May 1960First ascents

    Dhaulagiri — the last of Nepal's classic 8000ers

    A Swiss–Austrian team supported by the glacier plane 'Yeti' completes the set of Nepal's eight-thousander first ascents.

  8. 16 May 1975Records

    Junko Tabei — first woman on Everest

    The Japanese climber summits via the South Col twelve days after being injured in an avalanche.

  9. 8 May 1978Records

    Everest without oxygen

    Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler prove the 'death zone' can be climbed unaided.

  10. 16 Oct 1986Records

    Messner completes all fourteen 8000ers

    With Lhotse, Reinhold Messner becomes the first person to climb every eight-thousander — all without supplemental oxygen.

  11. 22 Apr 1993Records

    Pasang Lhamu Sherpa

    The first Nepali woman to summit Everest dies on descent; she remains a national icon, honoured on stamps and peak names.

  12. 10–11 May 1996Tragedies

    The 1996 Everest disaster

    A storm kills eight climbers in a night (15 that season), chronicled in 'Into Thin Air' — the dawn of the commercial-era reckoning.

  13. 18 Apr 2014Tragedies

    Khumbu Icefall serac collapse

    Sixteen Nepali high-altitude workers die in a single ice release — then the deadliest day on Everest; the season is abandoned.

  14. 25 Apr 2015Tragedies

    Earthquake avalanche at Base Camp

    The Gorkha earthquake sends an avalanche off Pumori through Everest Base Camp, killing at least 19 — the mountain's deadliest day.

  15. May 2019Records

    The queue photograph

    Nirmal Purja's image of ~300 climbers strung along the summit ridge defines the overcrowding debate; 11 die that season. Purja then climbs all 14 8000ers in 6 months 6 days.

  16. 16 Jan 2021Records

    K2 in winter — a Nepali triumph

    Ten Nepali climbers led by Nirmal Purja and Mingma G make the last great first: the only 8,000er never climbed in winter falls to an all-Nepali team.

  17. Spring 2023Records

    Record 478 permits; 18 deaths

    Everest's 70th-anniversary season is its busiest and among its deadliest; Kami Rita Sherpa reaches summit number 28.

  18. 1 Sep 2025Rules & fees

    Permit fee rises to USD 15,000

    Nepal's first royalty increase in a decade (+36% for spring), plus a mandatory Nepali guide, no solo climbs, and a 7,000 m Nepal-summit prerequisite under the April 2025 law.

  19. 17 May 2026Records

    Records on a single morning

    Kami Rita Sherpa logs Everest summit 32 and Lhakpa Sherpa her 11th — both all-time records — in a season of ~492 permits, the most ever.

Permits & economics

What a climb costs — and what climbing earns Nepal

Royalties for Everest's normal route under the Department of Tourism schedule effective 1 September 2025 — the first rise in a decade — alongside what the mountains contribute to the wider economy.

SeasonRoyalty (USD)Note
Spring (Mar–May)15,000Was USD 11,000 (2015–Aug 2025); +36%
Autumn (Sep–Nov)7,500Half the spring royalty
Winter/Monsoon3,750Quarter of the spring royalty

The 2025 rules also ban solo climbs, require a certified Nepali guide and — under the April 2025 law — proof of a prior 7,000 m summit in Nepal.

The mountaineering economy

  • 2023: ≈NPR 999 million (~USD 7.5 m) in climbing royalties in 2023; Everest alone USD 5.09 m from 47 teams.
  • 2024: USD 5.78 million from 297 expedition permits and 2,366 climbers across all peaks (Department of Tourism).
  • 2026: Spring 2026 Everest royalties alone exceeded USD 6 million on ~492 permits; royalties across ~30 open peaks totalled ≈NPR 1.24 billion.

Trekking and mountaineering account for roughly 15% of Nepal's ~1.1 million annual tourist arrivals; tourism earned NPR 88.66 billion in FY 2024/25.

Common questions

Nepal eight-thousander FAQ

How many eight-thousanders are in Nepal?

Eight of the world's 14 peaks above 8,000 m stand wholly or partly in Nepal: Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri I, Manaslu and Annapurna I. In February 2025 Nepal's Department of Tourism began counting six subsidiary summits as separate 8,000ers, raising its official tally to 14 — but the UIAA has not adopted that designation, so this page covers the eight classic peaks.

How tall is Mount Everest?

8,848.86 m — announced in December 2020 by a joint Nepal–China geodetic survey. The figure settled decades of competing measurements: 8,848 m from the Survey of India (1954) and China's 2005 rock height of 8,844.43 m.

Who has climbed Everest the most times?

Kami Rita Sherpa holds the all-time record with 32 summits, the latest on 17 May 2026. Lhakpa Sherpa holds the women's record with 11, reached the same day.

Which eight-thousander is the deadliest?

Annapurna I. Historical fatality rates exceeded 30% of summits; with the surge in guided ascents the ratio fell to roughly 13–14% by early 2025 (559 summits against 75 deaths) — still the highest of the fourteen eight-thousanders.

How much does an Everest climbing permit cost?

USD 15,000 for the spring season for foreign climbers, raised from USD 11,000 on 1 September 2025 — Nepal's first increase in a decade. Autumn costs USD 7,500 and winter or monsoon USD 3,750. The same rules ban solo climbs, require a certified Nepali guide and, under the April 2025 law, proof of a prior 7,000 m summit in Nepal.

Keep exploring

Trekking routes →Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna & Manaslu circuits — the trails beneath these summits.UNESCO heritage →Sagarmatha National Park, which Everest crowns, among Nepal's listed sites.Earthquakes →The 2015 quake sent an avalanche through Everest Base Camp — the mountain's deadliest day.

Sources & data note

Heights follow UIAA-accepted surveys (Everest per the 2020 Nepal–China joint survey). Ascent and fatality statistics derive from the Himalayan Database, compiled through December 2025 via Alan Arnette's annual analysis; fatality 'rates' are summits-to-deaths ratios and shift as traffic grows — the year of each figure is stated. Nepal's February 2025 expansion of its official 8000er list to 14 (adding six subsidiary summits) is noted but UIAA recognition is still pending, so this page covers the eight classic peaks.