Mario Panzeri has become the fourth Italian to summit—without supplemental oxygen—all 14 8,000-meter peaks after reaching the summit of Dhaulagiri on May 17. Panzeri joins the ranks of countrymen Reinhold Messner, who became the first person to complete the quest, in 1986, and Silvio Mondinelli (age 49, 2007) and Abele Blanc, who completed his last 8,000-meter peak in 2011 at the age of 56, making him the oldest climber to have done so.

To date, 28 climbers (26 men, two women) have completed every 8,000-meter peak. The youngest to do so are Carlos Carsolio (Mexico) and Mingma Sherpa (Nepal), both were age 33. Jerzy Kukuczka (Poland), considered one of the best high-altitude mountaineers of all time, set the record for summiting all 14 peaks in just eight years (Messner took 18 years), along the way establishing 10 new routes, and climbing four of the peaks in winter. Kukuczka was killed on the South Face of Lhotse in 1989 when his 6mm lead rope broke or was cut in a fall. Add ...

Ueli Steck, 35, one of the world's top alpinists and speed climbers, has summitted Everest with 21-year-old Tenzing Sherpa, without supplemental oxygen. Steck and Tenzing completed the climb on the 18th, arriving from the South Col. Last year, Steck, stricken with cold feet and climbing without supplemental oxygen,  turned back just 300 feet short of the summit. For a feature on Steck, see the latest issue of Rock and Ice, No. 203, now arriving on newsstands.

So far this season, 168 climbers have succeeded on Everest and four have died, the latest death being that of Dr. Eberhard Schaaf of Germany at the south summit, on May 19 due to high altitude cerebral edema.

Sasha DiGiulian, fresh off a slew of 5.14 sends including Pure Imagination (5.14d) and Era Vella (5.14d), is joining the powerhouse ranks of Mayan Smith-Gobat, Jessa Goebel, Mason Earle, Ben Rueck, Ben Spannuth, Chris Schulte and Ronnie Jenkins as a climber/athlete at the Rock and Ice Photo Camp.