The eight-thousanders are the fourteen independent mountains on Earth that are more than 8,000 metres (26,247 ft) above sea level. They are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges in Asia.

The first attempt on an eight-thousander took place on the expedition by Albert F. Mummery, and J. Norman Collie to Nanga Parbat in 1895; this ended in failure, when Mummery and two Ghurkas, Ragobir and Goman Singh, were killed by an avalanche.

The first successful ascent of an eight-thousander was by Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal, who reached the summit of Annapurna on June 3, 1950.

The first person to climb all fourteen eight-thousanders was Reinhold Messner. He completed this task on October 16, 1986. A year later, in 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka became the second climber to accomplish this feat. As of 2007, a total of fourteen people have followed through. This is an extremely hazardous feat; at least four people have died while in pursuit of this goal.