Alex Găvan (born 19 May 1982) is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...

specializing in Himalayan climbing of 8,000 meter peaks without using supplemental oxygen or sherpa support in his ascents. By now he had successfully climbed seven 8,000 meter peaks. Since 2006, Găvan runs a special project to climb all fourteen 8,000 meter mountains in the world. He is the first Romanian climber to reach the summit of

Gasherbrum I Gasherbrum I, originally surveyed as K5, and also known as Hidden Peak, is the 11th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is located between Shigar District in the Gilgit–Baltistan region of Pakistan and Tashkurgan in the Xi ...

Makalu Makalu (; ) is the fifth-highest mountain on Earth, with a summit at an elevation of AMSL. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas southeast of Mount Everest, on the China–Nepal border. One of the eight-thousanders, Makalu is an isolat ...

, and

Shishapangma Shishapangma, or Shishasbangma or Xixiabangma ( zh, s=希夏邦马, p=Xī xià bāng mǎ), is the 14th-highest mountain in the world, at above sea level. The lowest 8,000 metre peak, it is located entirely within Tibet. Name Geologist Toni H ...

. His other three successful climbs of

Cho Oyu Cho Oyu ( Nepali: चोयु; ; ) is the sixth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. Cho Oyu means " Turquoise Goddess" in Tibetan. The mountain is the westernmost major peak of the '' Khumbu'' sub-section of the Mahalangur Him ...

Manaslu Manaslu (; , also known as Kutang) is the List of highest mountains#List, eighth-highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is in the Mansiri Himal, part of the Nepalese Himalayas, in west-central Nepal. Manaslu means "mountain of the ...

, and

Broad Peak Broad Peak (; ) is one of the eight-thousanders, and is located in the Karakoram range spanning Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. It is the 12th highest mountain in the world with elevation above sea level. The first ascent of t ...

are second Romanian ascents. In 2006, with the successful ascent of Cho Oyu, he became at 24 years old the youngest Romanian ever to have climbed an eight thousand meter peak and was among the few who freely spoke about the Nangpa La shootings. He was awarded with "The 2007 Romanian Sportsman of the Year in High Altitude Mountaineering" by the Romanian Federation of Alpinism and Sport Climbing for the first Romanian ascent of

8,000 m+ mountains summited

* 2006:

(8,201 m) - second Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen * 2007:

(8,080 m) – first Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen,

alpine style Alpine climbing () is a type of mountaineering that uses any of a broad range of advanced climbing skills, including rock climbing, ice climbing, and/or mixed climbing, to summit typically large climbing route, routes (e.g. multi-pitch climbing, ...

* 2008:

(8,485 m) – first Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen * 2011:

(8,156 m) – second Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen * 2013: Shishapangma (8,027 m) - first Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen * 2014: Broad Peak (8,047 m) - second Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen * 2019: Gasherbrum II (8,035 m) - third Romanian ascent, without bottled oxygen

Other notable ascents

* 2004: Chapaeva (6,130 m) * 2005:

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (, ) is a mountain in the Alps, rising above sea level, located right at the Franco-Italian border. It is the highest mountain in Europe outside the Caucasus Mountains, the second-most prominent mountain in Europe (after Mount E ...

(4,810 m) – Miage–Bionnassay route

Notes

In 2007 and 2008, Găvan attempted

Gasherbrum II Gasherbrum II (; ; ); surveyed as K4, is the 13th highest mountain in the world at above sea level. It is the third-highest peak of the Gasherbrum massif, and is located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan and ...

(8,034 m), but due to bad weather and high risk of avalanches, he was forced to retreat, both times, at 7,000 m.

References

External links

Alexandru Găvan’s personal website

Alex Gavan, Viata ca-n montagne-russe
* Alex’s short movies on top o
Cho OyuGasherbrum I
an
Makalu
1982 births Living people Romanian mountain climbers {{Romania-bio-stub