Alan Hinkes

Alan Hinkes OBE (born 26 April 1954) is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire.

[6] It is a rare feat, as the ratio of deaths to summits on several eight-thousanders is at one-in-five (Annapurna, K2, Nanga Parbat, Kangchenjunga).

[12][13] Hinkes had to be air rescued from Nanga Parbat in July 1997 when flour from a burnt chapati got up his nose, making him sneeze so violently that he prolapsed a disc.

[17] He describes himself as risk-averse ("I climb to live, not to die", "The summit is optional, getting down is mandatory"),[18][15] who places value on understanding, and being in the right position, to capitalise on breaks in weather.

Unusually for a 20–year high-altitude Himalayan eight-thousander, he has never lost any fingers or toes (or "other bits" as he describes it), to frostbite.

Australian climber Andrew Lock (who completed all 14 in 2009), was critical of Hinkes on their successful 1998 ascent of Nanga Parbat.

[33] Italian team member Mauro Rossi lists the 1990 ascent of Cho Oyu in his public resume.

[22] Chamoux's 1990 Cho Oyu expedition comprise seven of these "unrecognised" ascents (including Alan Hinkes), while a German commercial trekking expedition, led by Günther Härter, who summited Cho Oyu just 19 days after Chamoux in 1990 (and also in very low visibility, as recorded by the Germans[35]), comprise another six.

[37][38][39][15] He highlights the lack of any evidence, or publicly verifiable sources, for the allegation,[40] and he is supported by the Alpine Journal,[4] and the British Mountaineering Council (BMC).

[42] I spent at least an hour and a half covering every inch of ground on the summit plateau until, in the end, I was absolutely certain that I could not get any higher.

[44] It contrasts, for example, with Hawley, AdventureStats, and Eberhard Jurgalski's,[45] acceptance of Denis Urubko's acclaimed 2009 ascent of Cho Oyu's Southeast face (and his 14th official eight-thousander), who reached the Cho Oyu summit plateau in the dark and in a snowstorm, per his summit photo from his AAJ log.

[27] The paragraph in Elizabeth Hawley's 2005 Seasonal Stories[28] remains the only publicly verifiable source of the dispute over Hinkes' Cho Oyu ascent.

In January 2006, after Kangchenjunga, Hinkes was awarded an OBE in the 2006 New Year Honours List for his achievements in mountaineering.

He is the subject of an October 2017 documentary by filmmaker, Terry Abraham, Alan Hinkes: The First Briton To Climb The World's Highest Mountains.

Location of all the 14 eight-thousanders
Cho Oyu : Showing the route from camp III at 7,500 m (24,606 ft), which crosses the "yellow bands", to get to the final flat summit plateau.
Carlos Pauner : The Spanish mountaineer recording his 5th official eight-thousander , on the plateau of Cho Oyu, at the "prayer flags" with "view of everest" (the Elizabeth Hawley criteria [ 22 ] ), but circa 15 mins away from the "technical" summit. [ 23 ]
Elizabeth Hawley : The influential Himalayan chronicler decided, years after Hinkes' climb, not to accept his view; she remains the only publicly verifiable source of dispute on Hinkes' climb. She died in 2018. [ 28 ]
Josef Rakoncaj: Czech Himalayan mountaineer photographed Hinkes' on the summit plateau of Cho Oyu in 1990 and claims the ascent