He completed his personal mountaineering project to be the first Australian to climb all 14 "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level) in October 2009. Lock also has climbed to both summits of Shishapangma (most climb to the false summit and only very few have completed the 14 x 8,000m by climbing to the true summit of Shishapangma).
He has climbed all fourteen 8,000m peaks, with 18 personal 8,000 metre summits, having climbed several twice. Lock is currently an ambassador of Sir David Martin Foundation. He has summited Mount Everest twice.
His first 8,000-metre summit was of K2, which he climbed in 1993 with a small team that included Anatoli Boukreev.
The mountain lived up to its fearsome reputation when two of his climbing partners were killed in separate falls and Lock rescued a Swedish climber. In 2004, he was a climber and cinematographer for the Discovery Channel six-part miniseries, Ultimate Survival – Everest, which has been broadcast on multiple occasions throughout North America.
Lock has climbed with many of the world"s best, including Anatoli Boukreev (K2 in 1993), Göran Kropp (Broad Peak in 1994), Doug Scott and Wojciech Kurtyka (Nanga Parbat Mazeno Ridge in 1995) & Ivan Vallejo and Inaki Ochoa (Annapurna 2007). In May 2011 Lock"s attempt to summit Everest without supplementary oxygen reportedly was unsuccessful due to high winds and blizzard conditions.
1993 K2 (8,611 metres) — first Australian ascent through Pakistan
1997 Dhaulagiri (8,167 metres) — first Australian ascent
1997 Broad Peak (8,048 metres) — solo ascent
1998 Nanga Parbat (8,125 metres) — first Australian ascent
1999 Hidden Peak (8,068 metres) — first Australian ascent
1999 Gasherbrum II (8,035 metres) — Alpine-style ascent
2000 Mount Everest (8,848 metres) — first Australian to lead a commercial expedition to the summit of Mountain.
Everest
2002 Manaslu (8,163 metres) — first Australian ascent
2002 Lhotse (8,516 metres) — solo ascent
2003 Shishapangma Central (8,008 metres) — solo ascent
2004 Everest (8,848 metres) — second personal ascent. Discovery Channel expedition climber and cameraman
2004 Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) — solo ascent
2005 Cho Oyu (8,201 metres) — second personal ascent. Commercial expedition leader
2005 Shishapangma Central (8008 metres) — second personal ascent.
Commercial expedition leader
2006 Kangchenjunga (8,596 metres) — second Australian ascent
2007 Annapurna (8,091 metres) — first Australian ascent
2008 Makalu (8,496 metres)
2009 Shishapangma Main Summit (8,027 metres) — first Australian ascent.
His preferred climbing style is in small teams, climbing without sherpa support or auxiliary oxygen, and along the way he has achieved six first Australian ascents (Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat, Hidden Peak, Manaslu, Annapurna and Shishapangma) and four solo ascents (Lhotse, Broad Peak, Shishapangma Central and Cho Oyu). In 2009 Lock was awarded the Australian Geographic Society"s Adventurer of the Year award. On 13 June 2011, Lock was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to mountaineering.
On that expedition, Lock personally rescued three members of other teams coming down from the summit, giving up his own oxygen along the way.
