Quick Facts
Biography
Andrew James Lock OAM (born 26 December 1961) is an Australian mountaineer. He completed his personal mountaineering project to be the first Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level) in October 2009. He has climbed all fourteen 8,000m peaks, with 18 personal 8,000 metre summits, having climbed several twice. Lock also has climbed to both summits of Shishapangma (most climb to the false summit and only very few have completed the 14 x 8,000m by climbing to the true summit of Shishapangma). Lock is currently an ambassador of Sir David Martin Foundation.
His preferred climbing style is in small teams, climbing without sherpa support or auxiliary oxygen, and along the way he has achieved six first Australian ascents (Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat, Hidden Peak, Manaslu, Annapurna and Shishapangma) and four solo ascents (Lhotse, Broad Peak, Shishapangma Central and Cho Oyu). He has summited Mount Everest twice.
His first 8,000-metre summit was of K2, which he climbed in 1993 with a small team that included Anatoli Boukreev. The mountain lived up to its fearsome reputation when two of his climbing partners were killed in separate falls and Lock rescued a Swedish climber. In 2004, he was a climber and cinematographer for the Discovery Channel six-part miniseries, Ultimate Survival – Everest, which has been broadcast on multiple occasions throughout North America. On that expedition, Lock personally rescued three members of other teams coming down from the summit, giving up his own oxygen along the way.
Lock has climbed with many of the world's best, including Anatoli Boukreev (K2 in 1993), Göran Kropp (Broad Peak in 1994), Doug Scott and Wojciech Kurtyka (Nanga Parbat Mazeno Ridge in 1995) & Ivan Vallejo and Inaki Ochoa (Annapurna 2007).
In 2009 Lock was awarded the Australian Geographic Society's Adventurer of the Year award.
In May 2011 Lock's attempt to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen reportedly was unsuccessful due to high winds and blizzard conditions.
On 13 June 2011, Lock was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to mountaineering.
8,000-metre accomplishments
- 1993 K2 (8,611 metres) — first Australian ascent through Pakistan
- 1997 Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres) — first Australian ascent
- 1997 Broad Peak (8,048 metres) — solo ascent
- 1998 Nanga Parbat (8,125 metres) — first Australian ascent
- 1999 Hidden Peak (8,068 metres) — first Australian ascent
- 1999 Gasherbrum II (8,035 metres) — Alpine-style ascent
- 2000 Mount Everest (8,848 metres) — first Australian to lead a commercial expedition to the summit of Mt. Everest
- 2002 Manaslu (8,163 metres) — first Australian ascent
- 2002 Lhotse (8,516 metres) — solo ascent
- 2003 Shishapangma Central (8,008 metres) — solo ascent
- 2004 Everest (8,848 metres) — second personal ascent; Discovery Channel expedition climber and cameraman
- 2004 Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) — solo ascent
- 2005 Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) — second personal ascent; commercial expedition leader
- 2005 Shishapangma Central (8008 metres) — second personal ascent; commercial expedition leader
- 2006 Kangchenjunga (8,596 metres) — second Australian ascent
- 2007 Annapurna (8,091 metres) — first Australian ascent
- 2008 Makalu (8,496 metres)
- 2009 Shishapangma Main Summit (8,027 metres) — first Australian ascent