João Garcia

João Garcia (born 1967) is a Portuguese mountaineer from Lisbon whose main work is as an organiser and guide of mountaineering expeditions. On 18 May 1999 he became the first Portuguese person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, by the north face route and without supplementary oxygen, and his partner Pascal Debrouwer fell to his death on the descent; frostbite cost him part of his fingers. On 17 April 2010 he summited Annapurna without supplemental oxygen, becoming the 10th man to climb all 14 eight-thousanders without bottled oxygen or Sherpas. He began climbing in 1982 with the Guarda mountaineering club, started in the Himalaya in 1993 on a Polish expedition to Cho Oyu led by Krzysztof Wielicki, and in 2002 published the book A Mais Alta Solidão.