Hundreds of climbers have lost their lives trying to conquer Everest, including four last weekend. But the tallest mountain in the world is not actually the most lethal. Approximately 3,000 climbers have successfully reached Everest's peak, including a 13-year-old, a blind person, and a 73-year- old woman who this month broke her own record for oldest female climber. Here are seven mountains considered to be more challenging and deadly than Everest.

Did you know that K2 is thought to have a curse against women? Or that Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is more dangerous, stats-wise, than Denali? Read on for the full scoop, a list of the World’s 10 Most Dangerous Mountains for Climbing. . . .


#1. ANNAPURNA, Central Nepal (26,545 ft.)

On this mountain, the 10th highest in the world, about 130 climbers have
summited the avalanche-prone peak, but 53 have died trying — making
Annapurna’s fatality rate of 41% the highest in the world.
41% died up or down the Anapurna climbing. That's nothing compare to about
another 50% who are crippled for the rest of their life. Limbs amputated, eyelids,
brain cells destroyed and something else... let you guess.

#2. NANGA PARBAT, Gilgit-Batistan (26,657 ft.)

Known affectionately as the Man Eater, this craggy monster in Kashmir is an enormous ridge of rock and ice. The peak is the ninth highest in the world and its southern side features the tallest mountain face on the planet. Nanga Parbat claimed 31 lives before it was conquered by Austrian Herman Buhl in 1953.

3. K2
Located between China and Pakistan
28,251 feet
K2 kills one climber for every four who summit. Conquering the "holy grail of mountaineering" means dealing with steeper, icier slopes and less predictable weather than on Everest. Some 280 people have summited K2 since 1954, when it was first conquered. Dozens of deaths have been recorded since 1939, most of which occurred during the descent. While the overall death toll is reportedly less than Everest's, the proportion of those killed to the number of people who have attempted climbing K2 is significantly higher. The death rate recorded since the 1990s sits just below Kangchenjunga's at 19.7 percent.

4. Kangchenjunga

Climbers attempted to scale Kangchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, for fifty years before finally reaching its peak in 1955. The mountain, plagued by avalanches and inclement weather, lacks a direct route, which can make for a confusing and treacherous climb. And while most mountains have boasted improved fatality rates in recent years thanks to better gear and technology, Kangchenjunga is the exception. Death rates since the 1990s have reached as high as 22 percent. Only 187 climbers have summited Kangchenjunga.

5. The Eiger Switzerland 13,000 feet

The Eiger, German for ogre, is nowhere near the tallest mountain, but it still has one of the most daunting reputations in the climbing world thanks to its infamous north face. Nicknamed Death Wall, the 6,000-foot face is so dangerous that it's actually safest to climb during the coldest months of the year because fewer rocks will fall with the melting ice. The mountain was first summited in 1938 and at least 64 climbers have died attempting to do the same.