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First woman on top 14 peaks under cloud of suspicion

28 April 2010 04:52 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. While jubilation spread across Asia on Tuesday as South Korean climber Oh Eunsun became the first woman to have summited all the 14 peaks over 8000m, beating Spain’s Edurno Pasaban, who is also on the same quest via Tibet, a debate however began to grow in Europe questioning the validity of her claim, APA reports The Times of India.

The 44-year-old climber clinched a quest started in 1997 when she planted the South Korean flag on Mt Annapurna, the 10th highest peak in the world at 8091m. She had to abandon her goal last autumn when her assault on the same summit failed due to bad weather.

But what adds the most spice to the victory is that she leaves behind her closest rival, Pasaban, who still needs to summit Mt Shishapangma, the 14th highest peak at 8027m. Oh began hunting down the 8000m peaks from 1997 with Gasherbrum II, the 13th highest peak. Her quest gathered momentum from 2004 when she bagged Mt Everest, 8848m, and in the succeeding six years went on to summit the remaining 12 8000ers.

The 27-year-old Pasaban was a later entrant, starting her quest in 2001 with Mt Everest. By 2009, Pasaban had tamed 12 of the peaks and this year, aimed at a double header, first summiting Annapurna this month and then going out after the remaining challenge. Austria’s Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner is their nearest contender, who has 12 peaks under her belt, excluding Mt Everest and K2.

While Asia is delighted by Oh’s victory, the west however has been questioning whether she successfully summated Mt Kangchenjunga, the world’s third highest peak at 8586m, in 2009. Elizabeth Hawley, an American journalist based in Kathmandu, who is regarded as an authority on Himalayan summits, says two of the Sherpas accompanying Oh during the Kangchenjunga expedition claimed she did not reach the summit. The doubt is said to have grown after photos showing Oh standing on bare rock when the peak remains snow-capped.

Italian climbing legend Reinhold Messner was the first man to have climbed all the 8000m peaks.