5. Makalu
Elevation: 8,484 meters
Almost 300 meters taller than number 6 on our list, Makalu is an impressive giant of the Himalayas. It stands 10 miles southeast of Mount Everest, and its name comes from the Sanskrit Maha-Kala, ‘big black’. It certainly is big, and its almost perfect pyramid shape, with four sharp ridges, make the ‘giant’ all the more impressive to take in. Of the first 16 attempts to conquer the tricky summit, a mere 5 proved successful (the first in 1955), and to date, there have only been 206 victorious ascents, with a fatality rate of over 10 percent. It is rightly considered one of the hardest of the 8,000-meter peaks to climb.
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