Alan Hinkes

Alan Hinkes OBE (born 26 April 1954) is an English Himalayan high-altitude mountaineer from Northallerton in North Yorkshire. He is the first British mountaineer to claim all 14 Himalayan eight-thousanders (mountains above in height), a feat he completed on 30 May 2005.

14 Eight-thousanders

British record

Hinkes is the first British mountaineer to claim to have summited all 14 mountains with elevations above , known as the eight-thousanders, when he summited Kangchenjunga on 30 May 2005, aged 50 years and 34 days.

It was first achieved by Reinhold Messner in 1986 (all without oxygen), and two decades later, Hinkes was only the 13th person to claim the feat, days after U.S. climber Ed Viesturs became the 12th person on 22 May 2005.

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). This should not be interpreted as meaning that a "death-rate" is circa 20%, as the statistic ignores the number of attempts (and also partial attempts, and/or route stocking activity etc.). However, given that climbing the eight-thousanders requires multiple failed attempts (Hinkes took two attempts on average), and the most failures are usually on the most dangerous mountains, the risk of death in attempting all 14 eight-thousanders is material.

Hinkes took 26 attempts to climb the 14 eight-thousanders (not counting his ascent of Shishapangma Central (West) in 1990), giving a first attempt success rate of circa 54%. Hinkes spent 21 years on his "Challenge 8000", starting with his ascent of Shishapangma in 1987, and ending with his ascent of Kangchenjunga in 2005. Hinkes is recorded as summiting Mount Everest on 19 May 1996.

Observations

He regards K2 as the hardest eight-thousander mountain ("an easy place to die"), which he climbed on his third attempt (he abandoned his first attempt, when closing in on the summit, to rescue a stricken Swedish climber). He ranks Kanchenjunga as the second hardest eight-thousander mountain, which he also climbed on his third attempt.

Over the years, Hinkes has had public arguments with other chasers of the 14 eight-thousanders. Australian climber Andrew Lock (who completed all 14 in 2009), was critical of Hinkes on their successful 1998 ascent of Nanga Parbat. Spanish climber Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, (who died on Annapurna of pulmonary edema, after completing 12 eight thousanders without oxygen), alleges that Hinkes had left him to bleed to death in order to summit K2, which Hinkes countered was factually untrue (Hinkes abandoned his first K2 climb, despite nearing the summit, to successfully rescue a stricken Swedish climber). The summit is a small unmarked "hump" (or "bump") (which many Cho Oyu YouTube summit videos miss). While the height differential of this hump is small, Ralf Dujmovits, 3-time Cho Oyu summiteer, notes that for a strong climber to get to the "hump" area can take another 30 minutes. Hawley based her decision on an interview with Hinkes, and on other team members. Hawley agrees Hinkes reached the summit plateau (as does list ), but questions how Hinkes could have been on the “technical” summit for certain, if he could not see it.

Hawley does not use the public accounts of the non-French team members. Czech team member Josef Rakoncaj photographed Hinkes on the summit plateau of Cho Oyu (Hinkes with his usual photo of his daughter held out), and states Hinkes summited in his book Na hrotech zeměkoule (co-authored with Miloš Jasanský, 1993). Italian team member Mauro Rossi lists the 1990 ascent of Cho Oyu in his public resume. Climbers with several Cho Oyu ascents, have disputed Hawley's main Cho Oyu summit criteria, "Did you see Everest?" (which is obviously unhelpful in Hinkes' case given the poor visibility), and the incorrect behaviours it is creating. ), comprise another six.

The dispute is noted in many Hinkes interviews. He highlights the lack of any evidence, or publicly verifiable sources, for the allegation, and he is supported by the Alpine Journal, and the British Mountaineering Council (BMC). and her biography lists Alan Hinkes as a climber "she did not like".

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. There was no more uphill. — Alan Hinkes, "Alan Hinkes on climbing the world's highest mountains", The Scotsman, 9 November 2013 implying they give credit to Hawley's unverified allegations. It contrasts, for example, with Hawley, AdventureStats, and Eberhard Jurgalski's, 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. (ascent number 2785 on Hawley's Himalayan Database). He was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the University of Sunderland in 1999, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of York in 2007. He was awarded Yorkshire Man of the Year in 2005, and was made an honorary citizen of his hometown Northallerton in the same year.

Hinkes is an avid photographer and released a photographic essay book in October 2013 called 8000 Metres Climbing the World's Highest Mountains. 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. Hinkes has frequently appeared on British television over the years, particularly regarding Himalayan events/stories, including BBC News, Sky News, Newsnight etc.

Hinkes started life as a geography and PE teacher, which he abandoned to concentrate on climbing. He never married but has a daughter, Fiona, whose picture (with her son, Jay McGrath (plays football for Doncaster Rovers)), Hinkes displays in most summit photographs.

May 1984 – Mount Everest – Failed on North (Tibetan) side of mountain (first attempt) with Cumbrian Everest Expedition. 19 May 1996 – Mount Everest – Climbed North Ridge (Mallory Route), filming for the TV documentary Summit Fever (third attempt). 23 May 1999 – Makalu – Climbed with alpine–style two man ascent with sherpa Dawa Chirring (fourth attempt). 6 May 2002 – Annapurna – Climbed new North Face route, first British ascent for 32 years, and set new speed record. April 2003 – Kangchenjunga – Failed due to poor weather and SARS-like virus (second attempt).

Filmography