Climb the Abruzzi Spur, the route of the first ascent, from the glacier to 8,611 metres.
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Base camp
5,150 m
The route starts on the Godwin-Austen Glacier, about a week's walk from Askole, the last village. Expeditions wait here for weeks until the weather gives them a few clear days.
Camp 1
6,050 m
A long slope of snow and ice leads to a handful of tent platforms cut into the ridge. Rockfall is the main danger, so climbers move early while the slope is still frozen.
Camp 2
6,700 m
Below this camp is House's Chimney, a 30-metre crack in a rock wall that Bill House first climbed in 1938. The ledge above it is exposed and known for its wind.
Camp 3
7,300 m
To get here you climb the Black Pyramid, roughly four hundred metres of steep dark rock and ice. It is the most technical ground on the route. The camp sits on open snow that can avalanche.
Camp 4
7,600 m
The ridge finally eases onto the Shoulder, a broad hump of snow. This is the last camp. Climbers leave for the summit around midnight.
The Bottleneck
8,200 m
A narrow gully runs up beneath a wall of hanging ice. Climbers go up it, then traverse left under the seracs. Nothing can be done about the ice overhead except to move fast.
Summit
8,611 m
The second-highest point on Earth. Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni first stood here on 31 July 1954. Nobody reached it in winter until 16 January 2021, when ten Nepali climbers arrived together.