The World's Tallest Mountains

Anyone here climb the really big boys? Bravo to you if you've done so!

http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/244-wor ... mmits.html
The World's Tallest Mountains
Remy Melina
Aug 09, 2010

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station snapped this image of the Himalayas. Makalu is to the left and Mount Everest is to the right. Credit: NASA

Scientists are now able to pinpoint exactly how tall every mountain on Earth is, thanks to NASA's use of the Earth Observing System series of satellites.

Measuring each mountain's summit, or tallest point, by their height above sea level, the 10 tallest mountains in the world all turn out be located in the Himalayas. Each of these mountains belongs to the "eight-thousanders" club, a list that consists of the 14 mountains on Earth that are 8,000 meters (about 26,250 feet) tall or more.

Meet the "eight-thousanders" and the brutal challenges they pose to the people who try to climb them.

The first mountain they talk about, Annapurna I, was first summitted by two French mountaineers in 1950. This sentence summed up their dedication (obsession?): "During the perilous journey, frostbite and gangrene forced the expedition doctor to perform emergency amputations, removing both of the explorers' toes and most of Herzog's fingers without anesthetic." :VeryScared:

Nanga Parbat – Pakistan. It looks too beautiful to be so deadly...

Credit: stock.xchng

Climbing Nanga Parbat is in fact so dangerous that while over 1,800 people have reached Everest's summit, only about 216 people have successfully gotten to the top of Nanga Parbat.

Website for the 8000ers climbers