Kim Chang-ho (climber)
South Korean climber (1969-2018)
Kim Chang-ho (Korean: 김창호; 15 September 1969 – 11 October 2018), was a South Korean mountaineer, and at the time of his death in 2018, was considered to be Korea's most prolific alpine and Himalayan climber, noted for his bold and lightweight alpine-style ascents.
In 2012, Kim won the Piolet d'Or "Asia Award" with An Chi-young when they made the first-ever ascent of Himjung (7,092m) in Nepal in 2012 via its southwest face. In 2017, Kim and his two climbing partners were awarded an Honourable Mention for the 2017 Piolet d'Or for their ascent of Gangapurna's south face (7,455m, 2016) in a "bold lightweight alpine style", the first Koreans to receive such a citation.
In 2013, he became the first Korean to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders without supplemental oxygen; he also set a record for completing the feat in the shortest time at 7 years, 10 months and 6 days. He was killed on 11 October 2018, alongside several other fellow South Korean climbers and local mountain guides, in Nepal when a strong gust of wind, driven by falling seracs and snow destroyed their 3,500m-altitude base camp beneath Gurja Himal in the Dhaulagiri.
Early life and education
Kim Chang-ho was born in the rural town of Yecheon-gun near the center of South Korea on 15 September 1969. Kim performed well in his intramural handball team in his elementary school, playing at the province-level sports festival.
In 1988, he entered the University of Seoul (UOS) with a major in International Trade, but he did not graduate until 2013 due to his regular participation in international climbing expeditions. Kim said that he decided that in order to complete his undergraduate degree that he needed to learn more in humanities for the sake of climbing. Eventually, he graduated with a degree in Business Administration.
“Kim Chang-ho (climber)” enters the record as south Korean climber (1969-2018). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Chang-ho, climber and South can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Kim Chang-ho (climber)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Chang-ho, climber and South provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16704382. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1969, 2018, 2012 and 2017.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kim Chang-ho (climber)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kim Chang-ho (climber) primary sources, Kim Chang-ho (climber) archive and Chang-ho research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kim Chang-ho (climber)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kim Chang-ho (climber)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.