May 22, 2021
Only 44 people have reached the summit of all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, according to the people who chronicle such things.
Or, they now say, maybe no one has.
The difference rides on a timeless question getting a fresh look:
What is a summit?
Ed Viesturs believes he knows. He is one of the 44, the fifth to do it without supplemental oxygen, the only American on the list. In 1993, climbing alone and without supplemental oxygen or ropes, Viesturs reached the “central summit” of Shishapangma, the world’s 14th-highest mountain. Most climbers turn around there, calling it good enough.