Andrew Lock
Australian Himalayan mountaineer
Andrew James Lock OAM (born 26 December 1961) is an Australian mountaineer. He became the first, and still remains the only, Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" (the peaks over 8,000-metres above sea level) on 2 October 2009, and is the 18th person to ever complete this feat. He climbed 13 of the 14 without bottled oxygen, only using it on Mount Everest, which he has summited three times. He retired from eight-thousander climbing in 2012.
Climbing
His preferred climbing style is in very small teams, mostly climbing without even sherpa support, and without using bottled oxygen (except on Everest). His physical ability to perform at high altitude has been noted by other Himalayan climbers. The term "gritty" is often used to describe Lock, and he is noted for his understated and self-deprecating manner. Unusually for a long-standing high-altitude climber, Lock has lost no digits to frostbite. Climbing all 14 eight-thousanders, and surviving, is an rare feat as the deaths-to-summits ratio on some of the mountains is at one-in-five (including Annapurna, K2, Nanga Parbat, Kangchenjunga), and it often takes more than one attempt, on average, to climb an eight-thousander (Lock has an overall eight-thousander success rate of circa 50%).
"Some people are driven by the desire for unusual bragging rights.
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