Ask which is the deadliest mountain to climb and most answers say Annapurna, with “1 in 3 climbers die”. That number divides deaths by summits. Count every climber who tried, and the ranking of the most dangerous mountains changes, and so do the numbers. Here are all 14 mountains above 8,000 m, ranked the honest way where the records allow it.
Two ways to count, and why it matters
- Per climber: deaths divided by everyone who went above base camp. This is your real odds when you try. The Himalayan Database records it for the Nepal and Tibet peaks.
- Per summit: deaths divided by successful summits. It always reads higher, because it leaves out everyone who turned around alive. Pakistan keeps no per-climber register, so for the Karakoram this is the only number available (1950 to March 2012).
The two are not comparable. A per-summit figure for K2 cannot be set side by side with a per-climber figure for Everest.
Ranked per climber (Himalayan Database)
| # | Mountain | Height | Deaths ÷ climbers | Death rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annapurna I | 8,091 m | 75 ÷ 2,059 | 3.64% |
| 2 | Kangchenjunga | 8,586 m | 54 ÷ 1,749 | 3.09% |
| 3 | Dhaulagiri I | 8,167 m | 92 ÷ 3,055 | 3.01% |
| 4 | Makalu | 8,485 m | 53 ÷ 2,905 | 1.82% |
| 5 | Everest | 8,849 m | 344 ÷ 26,345 | 1.31% |
| 6 | Manaslu | 8,163 m | 90 ÷ 7,808 | 1.15% |
| 7 | Lhotse | 8,516 m | 25 ÷ 3,477 | 0.72% |
| 8 | Cho Oyu | 8,188 m | 52 ÷ 9,281 | 0.56% |
Annapurna I is the most dangerous mountain to climb on this list, but at about 1 in 28, not 1 in 3. Cho Oyu, next to the Nangpa La trade pass, is the gentlest 8,000er. Everest's rate is low partly because so many climbers go up on fixed ropes with bottled oxygen, which says more about the crowd than about the mountain. Why Annapurna's death rate is so often misquoted.
Karakoram and Shishapangma (per summit only)
| Mountain | Height | Deaths ÷ summits | Per summit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nanga Parbat | 8,126 m | 68 ÷ 335 | 20% |
| K2 | 8,611 m | 96 ÷ 800 | 12% |
| Gasherbrum I | 8,080 m | 29 ÷ 334 | 8.7% |
| Shishapangma | 8,027 m | 25 ÷ 302 | 8.3% |
| Broad Peak | 8,051 m | 21 ÷ 404 | 5.2% |
| Gasherbrum II | 8,035 m | 21 ÷ 930 | 2.3% |
Nanga Parbat and K2 are clearly among the deadliest mountains in the world, but these figures overstate the per-climber risk in the same way Annapurna's 13.4% does. For comparison, Annapurna I per summit is 13.4%.
The mountain is only half the answer
The same peak carries very different risk for a guided client on fixed ropes and for a soloist on a new route without oxygen. White Paper No 1 splits climbers into 14 tiers by altitude, technical difficulty and who carries the logistics. A guided first 8,000er (Tier 8A) is an estimated 1.1% per expedition; an experienced client using commercial camps (8B) about 0.6%; a technical solo above 8,000 m without oxygen (14B) about 14%.
Find your tier in one minute, or get White Paper No 1 with every number sourced. No email needed: comment or DM TIER on Instagram @mountaineerbjj.
FAQ
What is the deadliest mountain to climb?
Per climber, Annapurna I, at about 3.6% of climbers above base camp. On per-summit figures, Nanga Parbat (20%) and K2 (12%) read higher, but Pakistan keeps no per-climber register, so those numbers cannot be compared directly.
What is the safest 8,000 m peak?
Cho Oyu, with 52 deaths among 9,281 climbers on record: 0.56%.
Is K2 more dangerous than Everest?
Very likely. K2 has 96 deaths for 800 summits (12% per summit, 1950–2012), while Everest is 1.31% per climber. The two are counted differently, but the gap is too large to come from the method alone.
Sources: Himalayan Database (Hawley & Salisbury), 8,000 m peak comparison, Himal 2.75 release, July 2026. Wikipedia, “Eight-thousander”, ascents and deaths 1950 to March 2012, for K2, Nanga Parbat, Gasherbrum I and II, Broad Peak and Shishapangma. Tier risks are model estimates from Mountaineer.fi White Paper No 1.
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