1960 Swiss Dhaulagiri Expedition

Switzerland🏔️ 1 Peak

Albin Schelbert

Albin Schelbert was born on July 24, 1932, in Muotathal in the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. Hailing from a traditional Swiss mountain family, Schelbert developed into a powerhouse rock and ice climber, earning his certified Swiss UIAGM mountain guide patent at a young age and forging difficult new lines across the Uri Alps and the Glarus Alps. In 1960, Schelbert was chosen by expedition leader Max Eiselin to join the international Swiss-Austrian Dhaulagiri Expedition. Rising steeply between the Annapurna sanctuary and the Tibetan borderland, Dhaulagiri (8,167m) was the highest unclimbed mountain in the world. When the expedition's Pilatus Porter transport plane crashed on the Northeast Col, Schelbert played a crucial role in packing heavy loads across the high glaciers to establish Camp V and Camp VI. On May 13, 1960, Schelbert set out from Camp VI (7,800m) in the primary summit party. Moving without supplemental oxygen despite biting sub-zero gale force winds, Schelbert climbed alongside Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Kurt Diemberger, and Sherpas Nawang Dorje and Nyima Dorje. Traversing the upper ice couloir and summit ridge, Schelbert stood on the 8,167-meter summit of Dhaulagiri I, completing the first ascent of Nepal's mighty White Mountain. Schelbert continued his elite alpine career as one of Switzerland's most sought-after guides and technical climbers, notably participating in severe winter ascents in the Bernese Oberland. On June 21, 1975, Schelbert was tragically killed in a climbing accident in the Swiss Alps at age 42, revered by the Swiss Alpine Club as a paragon of alpine modesty, strength, and pioneering spirit.

Switzerland🏔️ 1 Peak

Ernst Forrer

Ernst Forrer was born on December 3, 1932, in Wildhaus in the Toggenburg valley of the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland. Growing up beneath the sheer limestone cliffs of the Churfirsten, Forrer became one of Switzerland’s most naturally gifted mountain guides and ski mountaineers, renowned for his physical durability and rock climbing agility. In early 1960, Forrer joined the Swiss Dhaulagiri Expedition organized by Max Eiselin. Dhaulagiri was then the highest unclimbed mountain on Earth, having defeated numerous expeditions over the preceding decade. While the team utilized a ski-equipped Pilatus Porter airplane ('Yeti') to establish a high landing strip on the Northeast Col, an engine failure caused a crash-landing on the glacier, leaving the team without aerial resupply and requiring sheer physical endurance to establish the higher camps on foot. Undaunted, Forrer, alongside Albin Schelbert, Peter Diener, Kurt Diemberger, and Sherpas Nawang Dorje and Nyima Dorje, established Camp VI at 7,800 meters. On the freezing morning of May 13, 1960, Forrer climbed in the lead rope team up the jagged Northeast Ridge. Reaching the summit pyramid without bottled oxygen, Forrer stepped onto the highest point of Dhaulagiri I at 8,167 meters, making history alongside his five companions. Following his Himalayan achievement, Forrer continued a long career as a revered mountain guide in the Swiss Alps, leading ascents across the Mont Blanc massif, the Valais 4,000-meter peaks, and expeditions to the South American Andes. He remains celebrated in Swiss mountaineering annals as a quiet master of high-altitude alpine exploration.

Austria🏔️ 3 Peaks

Kurt Diemberger

Kurt Diemberger was born on March 16, 1932, in Villach, Austria. Educated in business and pedagogy in Vienna, Diemberger found his true calling on the towering limestone walls of the Alps. By the mid-1950s, he had established himself among Europe's elite extreme alpinists, mastering the treacherous Giant Arête on the Dent du Géant and completing major routes across the Mont Blanc massif and the Bernese Oberland. In 1957, Diemberger was invited to join Marcus Schmuck's revolutionary four-man Austrian Karakoram Expedition to Broad Peak (8,051m). Rejecting the cumbersome military siege tactics of the era, the small team operated without supplemental oxygen, without high-altitude porters, and without fixed camps established by support relays. On June 9, 1957, Diemberger reached the 8,051-meter summit alongside Marcus Schmuck and Fritz Wintersteller, and later joined the ailing Hermann Buhl on his delayed summit push, completing one of high-altitude mountaineering's most legendary alpine-style triumphs. Just days later, Diemberger accompanied Buhl on an attempt of nearby Chogolisa (7,654m), witnessing Buhl plunge to his death when a summit ridge cornice collapsed during a blinding blizzard. Undeterred by the tragedy, Diemberger returned to the Himalayas in 1960 as a key climbing member of the Swiss Dhaulagiri Expedition led by Max Eiselin. On May 13, 1960, Diemberger stepped onto the summit of Dhaulagiri I (8,167m) via the Northeast Ridge alongside Peter Diener, Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, and Sherpas Nyima Dorje and Nawang Dorje. With this conquest, Diemberger cemented an unmatched milestone in mountaineering history: alongside Hermann Buhl, he became one of only two human beings to claim the maiden first ascents of two eight-thousanders. Over the following decades, Diemberger pioneered high-altitude cinematography, carrying heavy 16mm film cameras onto the summits of Everest and K2. In 1986, he and his climbing and filming partner Julie Tullis summited K2, only to be trapped by the catastrophic 1986 K2 disaster; while Tullis and four others perished in a five-day storm in Camp IV, Diemberger survived a harrowing descent with severe frostbite. An acclaimed author of classic memoirs including *Summits and Secrets* and *The Endless Knot*, Diemberger was awarded the Piolet d'Or Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, revered as high-altitude climbing's ultimate living pioneer.

Switzerland🏔️ 1 Peak

Peter Diener

Peter Diener was born on January 29, 1934, in Zittau, Saxony (Germany). Developing an early passion for rock climbing in the sandstone towers of the Zittau Mountains and the Elbe Sandstone, Diener escaped East Germany in 1952, seeking alpine freedom in Switzerland. Settling in the Bernese Oberland and later in Winterthur, he quickly joined the vanguard of extreme European alpinists, mastering the Grandes Jorasses Walker Spur, the Petit Dru Bonatti Pillar, and severe routes on the Eiger. In 1960, Swiss expedition organizer Max Eiselin recruited Diener for the international Swiss-Austrian expedition to Dhaulagiri I (8,167m)—the formidable peak that had repulsed seven prior expeditions from France, Switzerland, Argentina, and Austria. The 1960 expedition made aviation history by using a prototype ski-equipped Pilatus PC-6 Porter airplane named 'Yeti' to airlift supplies to the Northeast Col at 5,700 meters before the plane crashed during takeoff (with no fatalities). Moving up the rugged Northeast Ridge, Diener, alongside Ernst Forrer, Albin Schelbert, Kurt Diemberger, and Sherpas Nawang Dorje and Nyima Dorje, established the high assault camp at 7,800 meters. On May 13, 1960, battling extreme sub-zero winds and without supplemental oxygen, Diener reached the 8,167-meter summit of Dhaulagiri I, completing the first ascent of the world's seventh-highest peak. Following his Himalayan triumph, Diener worked for decades in the Swiss mountain sports industry, designing advanced mountaineering equipment and safety harnesses. He remained an active climber and lecturer well into his eighties before passing away on October 19, 2021, at age 87 in Switzerland.