Only Nepal holds eight of the fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres. The snow ranges change colour through the day and are at their most beautiful at sunrise and sunset. Every year climbers and trekkers from all over the world gather here.
- Everest / Sagarmatha / Qomolangma, 8,849 m
- The highest point on earth, on the Nepal–China border. First climbed on 29 May 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay by the south side; a Chinese team first reached the summit from the north in 1960.
- Kangchenjunga, 8,586 m
- Third highest, on the border with India, the easternmost of the 8,000ers. Its name is usually translated as “five treasures of the snow”. First climbed by a British team in 1955.
- Lhotse, 8,516 m
- Fourth highest, linked to Everest by the South Col. Its name means “south peak”. First climbed by a Swiss team in 1956.
- Makalu, 8,485 m
- Fifth highest, a sharp four-sided pyramid east of Everest. First climbed by a French team in 1955.
- Cho Oyu, 8,188 m
- Sixth highest, west of Everest on the Nepal–Tibet border. Its name means “turquoise goddess”. First climbed by an Austrian team in 1954.
- Dhaulagiri, 8,167 m
- Seventh highest; the name means “white mountain”. First climbed by a Swiss-led team in 1960.
- Manaslu, 8,163 m
- Eighth highest, from the Sanskrit for “mountain of the spirit”. First climbed by a Japanese team in 1956.
- Annapurna I, 8,091 m
- Tenth highest, north of Pokhara, and the first 8,000 m peak ever climbed, by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal in 1950. Beside it rises Machhapuchhre, the “fishtail”, a sacred mountain that has never officially been climbed.