Tracee Metcalfe - The First American Woman To Climb All 14 8,000-Meter Peaks

American mountaineer overcomes tragedy to become the first American woman to reach the summits of all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks.

Tracee Metcalfe - Summit of K2 / Lhakpa Tenzing Sherpa

An American Climbing Record

Mountaineer Tracee Metcalfe recently became the first American woman to climb all fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, completing an epic journey that included tragedy. The 50-year-old doctor from Colorado completed the awesome accomplishment on October 4, 2024 by reaching the summit of Shishapangma, 26,335 feet, in Tibet. Only three Americans have conquered this elusive and massive feat – Ed Viesturs, Chris Warner and Metcalfe. Edurne Pasaban from Spain became the first woman to climb all fourteen mountains in 2010. Metcalfe's decade-long climbing odyssey came with an all-too-common consequence for elite mountaineers.

A year earlier, on the same mountain, Metcalfe was on Shishapangma when climbing partners Mingmar Sherpa, Tenjen Lama, and fellow American climbers Anna Gutu and Gina Marie Rzucidlo were swept to their deaths by a series of avalanches. Rzucidlo and Gutu were each attempting to become the first American woman to summit the fourteen 8,000-meter peaks, and Shishapangma stood as the final peak for both Americans.

Metcalfe ascends Makalu with guiding company Expedition Base / Tracee Metcalfe

The incredibly sad outcome left Tracee as the American woman closest to achieving the feat – an unwanted reality not lost Tracee. Owen Clarke, a freelance outdoor sports writer, recently wrote an Article for Outside Magazine recounting her journey and perspective on her challenging reality. “People started asking, ‘Who has the most in the U.S. now? Who is going to be first?’” she said. “And it was me. I had the most. I tried hard to avoid those questions, because that wasn’t what I was climbing for.”

The 8,000-Meter Peaks

Climbing the ‘eight-thousanders’ constitutes the ultimate achievement in mountaineering. Fourteen mountains in the world rise above 8,000-meters (26,247 feet), creating the eight-thousanders. All 14 of the 8,000-meters reside in the Himalayan and Karakorum mountain ranges in Asia and reach into the rarefied and dangerous strata known as the ‘Death Zone’. Legendary Italian climber, Reinhold Messner, became the first person to scale all of these prestigious mountains in 1986 without the aid of supplemental oxygen. His historic feat, chased by ambitious mountaineers ever since, set the high-water mark in mountaineering success.

Metcalfe caught the climbing bug while going to college and medical school in Colorado. Climbing Colorado’s fabled 14,000-foot mountains led to working as climbing expedition doctor on Denali in Alaska. From Denali the ambitious ultimately graduate to the Himalayas, as did Metcalfe. She summited Mount Everest and Manaslu in 2016, and the journey began. In 2017 she summited Ama Dablam, and reached the summits of Cho Oyo in 2018, Makalu in 2019, Annapurna in 2021, and Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga in 2022.

Metcalfe found community and expertise in guided expeditions. “My friends were all starting families or busy with their jobs, and I wanted to keep climbing mountains,” she said. “But I’m not a professional climber, I’m not totally self-sufficient, and there is such a strong culture and community around these peaks, that it made sense to keep coming back. It flowed and evolved.”

Tracee Metcalfe on Ama Dablam / (Photo: Kevin Kayl)

While the deaths of Rzucidlo and Gutu shook and saddened Metcalfe, she never lost sight of her own personal goals. “At a certain point, you can’t take the risk away,” she said. “Those avalanches could’ve wiped us out, too.”  Metcalfe carried on, largely in anonymity as Metcalfe never sought the limelight often associated with such accomplishments documented on various social media platforms. “No one is particularly interested in sponsoring a 50-year-old woman who has never achieved anything particularly remarkable and has fewer than 1,000 Instagram followers,” she said.

Trying to outpace ‘Father-Time,’ she climbed five more of the coveted 8,000-meter peaks in 2024 with elite mountain guiding company Imagine Nepal: Gasherbrum I and II, and Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, and Himalayan peaks Lhotse and Shishapangma. “I turned 50 this year,” she said. “I’m getting a partial knee replacement soon. I’m getting older. I only have so many climbs at this level left in me.”

Metcalfe shared with Outside, “Being the first doesn’t mean a whole lot to me,” she said. “Yes, it’s cool to say, ‘I’m the first U.S. woman to do it,’” she said, “I’m just proud of this goal because it was important to me.” Metcalfe’s motivations were personal, not propelled by notoriety or fame. “In two weeks, no one’s going to care. If that external motivation, that fame, was driving me, it would fade,” she said. “When it’s internal motivation, when you’re proud of yourself for what you did, nobody can take that away from you.” Congratulations Tracee Metcalfe. (Related Article)

Metcalfe and climbing partners approach the summit of Dhaulagiri / Mingma G

The 14 8,000-Meter Peaks

Mount Everest (8,848m / 29,029 feet); K2 (8,611m / 28,251 feet); Kangchenjunga (8,586m / 28,169 feet); Lhotse (8,516m / 27,940 feet); Makalu (8,485m / 27,840 feet); Cho Oyu (8,188m / 26,867 feet); Dhaulagiri (8,167m / 26,795 feet); Manaslu (8,163m / 26,781 feet); Nanga Parbat (8,126m / 26,660 feet); Annapurna (8,091m / 26,545 feet); Gasherbrum I (8,080m / 26,509 feet); Broad Peak (8,051m / 26,414 feet); Gasherbrum II (8,035m / 26,362 feet); Shishapangma (8,027m / 26,335 feet)