Back in the day, entry into the mountaineering hall of fame required ‘only’ a successful ascent of Everest, K2, or an unclimbed peak in Tian Shan. Since Hillary and Tenzing Norgay set foot on Everest’s summit in 1953, however, the bar for inclusion into the pantheon of alpine greats has been raised steadily higher. Until we start sending alpinists to the Moon or Mars (hurry up SpaceX), the greatest challenges that remain to terrestrial alpinists are either forging new, increasingly difficult routes or completing one of mountaineering’s two biggest feats: all of the 8000ers or all of the Seven Summits.