Mountaineers

Rob Hall was a New Zealand mountaineer and the head guide of a Mount Everest expedition in 1996, during which he died along with two clients and a fellow guide. The ill-fated expedition was dramatized in the film Everest where Rob Hall was played by actor Jason Clarke.

Known as the ultimate American mountain man, Jim Bridger is remembered for his exploration of the Western United States. It is believed, the illiterate fur trader was the first white man to explore the Great Salt Lake and one of the first to visit Yellowstone. He also worked as a forest guide.

Best known for his bestselling novels such as Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer is not just an author who writes about the outdoors but is also a mountaineer himself. He was part of the 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest which witnessed 4 of the team members dying in a storm.

Italian mountaineer and explorer Reinhold Messner teamed up with Austrian mountaineer Peter Habeler to be the first to climb Mount Everest without using oxygen cylinders. He is also the first to complete a solo ascent of Everest and the first to climb all the 14 mountain peaks that stand above 8000m.

Austrian mountaineer, sportsman, geographer, and author Heinrich Harrer was part of the climbing team that made the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. He took part in expeditions to Alaska, the Andes, and the Mountains of the Moon in central Africa in his later years. As a writer, he published Seven Years in Tibet. 

American mountaineer Scott Fischer was known for scaling the highest peaks of the world, including Mt. Everest and K2, without using oxygen cans. He later became a mountain guide and co-launched his own adventure travel company Mountain Madness. He died in a blizzard while guiding a group of clients to Mt. Everest.

A passionate mountaineer and rock climber, Conrad Anker led The North Face for 26 years. He almost died of a heart attack while climbing the Lunag Ri on the borders of the Nepalese Himalayas. He is now also associated with various charitable trusts, such as the Rowell Fund for Tibet.

Nepali-Indian Sherpa mountaineer, Tenzing Norgay, was one of the first two individuals known to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the other being Edmund Hillary. He was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century by Time magazine. In his later years, he became the first Director of Field Training of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.

At 13, Jordan Romero became the youngest person to scale the Mt. Everest and had to opt for the Tibetan side, as he wasn’t old enough to get a permit in Nepal. At 15, he became the youngest to scale the Seven Summits. He has also penned a book on his experiences.

Born to a white man and a mulatto slave woman, Jim Beckwourth was practically born into slavery. While he looked like an American Indian, he was known as a “free Negro” after being released. Known as Bloody Arm, he is credited with exploring the Beckwourth Pass.

Trapper-explorer John Colter, who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, is remembered as the first white man to visit and describe the Yellowstone National Park. He had a brush with death on three occasions, when he came face-to-face with Indian tribes. He later settled in a Missouri farm.

Peter Wessel Zapffe was a Norwegian metaphysician, mountaineer, artist, author, and lawyer. He is best remembered for his 1933 essay The Last Messiah which was later included in his 1941 treatise On the Tragic. The essay reflects Peter Wessel Zapffe's philosophically pessimistic view of human existence.

Walter Bonatti was an Italian explorer, mountain climber, and journalist. He made a solo climb of a new route on the southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955, among other achievements. He retired from mountaineering at the age of 35 and pursued a career as a reporter. He also wrote several books on mountaineering.    

Sir Leslie Stephen was an English historian, biographer, author, critic, and mountaineer. Leslie Stephen also took an active part in the organized humanist movement, serving as the president of the West London Ethical Society on multiple occasions. He was the father of famous author, Virginia Woolf, and painter, Vanessa Bell.