Shishapangma
Shishapangma is an 8,027-meter mountain in Tibet, the 14th-highest peak in the world and the only eight-thousander entirely within China.
1964 Chinese Mountaineering Expedition to Shishapangma: The Chinese expedition that made the first confirmed ascent of Shishapangma in 1964. Its summit success established Shishapangma as the last of the fourteen eight-thousanders to be climbed.
Eight-thousander: A mountain summit higher than 8,000 meters above sea level. Shishapangma belongs to this group of fourteen exceptionally high mountains.
Tibetan Plateau: A vast, high-elevation region of Central Asia, bounded by major mountain ranges. Shishapangma rises on the plateau’s southern margin in Tibet.
Cho Oyu: An 8,188-meter Himalayan peak on the Nepal–China border and the sixth-highest mountain in the world. It is a neighboring eight-thousander and substantially higher than Shishapangma.
Shishapangma Normal Route: The standard climbing route on Shishapangma, approaching from the north and ascending its northwest ridge. This route is the usual line for expeditions seeking the main summit.
Death zone: The high-altitude region above roughly 8,000 meters, where humans cannot acclimatize indefinitely. The summit lies just above this threshold, where oxygen deprivation sharply limits time and performance.
Himalayas: A mountain range in Asia containing Earth’s highest peaks. Shishapangma stands in the Himalayan system, near the range’s western end.
Gasherbrum III: A 7,952-meter peak in the Karakoram, below the 8,000-meter threshold. Its prominence raises questions about how subsidiary summits are counted among the world’s highest peaks.
Shishapangma avalanche of 2014: An avalanche on Shishapangma in October 2014 that killed several climbers and guides. The disaster exposed the risks of climbing the mountain during the autumn season.
Altitude sickness: A set of illnesses caused by rapid exposure to high altitude and reduced oxygen pressure. Climbers must manage its risks while ascending Shishapangma’s high slopes.