On October 24, 1986, the Catalan mountaineer Pep Permanyer, born in Sant Hilari Sacalm, completed the ascent to the summit of Kanchenjunga, in the Himalayas, the third highest mountain in the world, after Everest and K2, with an altitude of 8,586 meters. Permanyer became the first Catalan (and from all of the Spanish State) mountaineer to crown it. He was also the first person from Girona to conquer a summit of more than 8,000 meters. The mountaineer was part of a pioneering 9-member expedition, which set off from Girona and lasted approximately three and a half months.