He has just returned from Tibet, and more specifically from Shishapangma, 8027 meters, his fourteenth and last 8000-meter summit, reached on October 9. Tignard Alasdair McKenzie is the second Frenchman after Sophie Lavaud, to complete the 14 8000 challenge, with oxygen, just over two years and four months after his first summit, Lhotse. Even more impressive: Alasdair is only twenty years old. We got Alasdair on the phone to tell us about the last two crazy years he spent in the Himalayas.
Since his first 8000 at the age of 17 and a half, Alasdair wasted no time. After his first summit, Lhotse, at just seventeen years of age, in 2022, Alasdair McKenzie set out to climb all 8000. The first two were financed by a grandfather’s inheritance, and then Alasdair made do. He sent hundreds of e-mails to find sponsors, and worked tirelessly to convince them.
“I’m the second Frenchman, the first man to do the fourteen 8000ers. But the real feat was to find the funding to do it at such a young age. I’m very proud to be a professional in this sport,” explains Alasdair.
Born in Lorient, close to the sea, he moved to Tignes to pursue his alpine skiing competitions. Alasdair trained hard. He gave up his baccalaureate to find his dream money. Following in the footsteps of Kristin Harila, Alasdair climbed 8000m when others were finishing high school. He climbed with oxygen to “not screw up” his young brain. He found a way