Hacker News Reader

There’s another famous 14, but at 14k feet, the Nolans 14 in Colorado: http://mattmahoney.net/nolans14/

Cool stuff and I may actually attempt some of these myself - that being said 14k feet is a whole different ballgame compared to the 8000m peaks (26,000 ft). Generally 4000m peaks are considered the amateur mountaineering ones, 6000m intermediate and still super respectable, and 8000m the elite.

Altitude is definitely a challenge, but I don't agree that peaks below 4000 m are amateur mountaineering and elite is reserved for 8000ers. As an example, Marc-André Leclerc made some incredible first solo ascents below 4000 m like the Corkscrew on Cerro Torre, at 3128 m (10,262 ft). The Alpinist [1] is worth watching if you are into mountaineering!

1: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt11790780/

Difficult climbs are a different challenge to altitude. It's climbing vs mountaineering.

For example I believe Cho Oyu (8188m) has few if any technical climbing sections - you basically walk up. That's a very different challenge to a technical climbing. Have a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(climbing) for more info.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com