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Controversy dogs South Korean woman's climbing record claim
South Korea's Oh Eun-Sun is claiming to be the world's first woman to scale all of the Himalayas' 14 tallest peaks, but her rivals beg to differ
Did she -- or didn't she? Oh Eun-Sun's claim to have scaled all 14 of the Himalayas' tallest mountains is thrown into doubt.South Korean mountaineer Oh Eun-Sun is making headlines around the world for being the first woman to scale the world's 14 tallest mountains.
Or did she?
To the dismay of her close mountaineering rival Spanish competitor Edurne Pasaban, Oh claims that she’s the first woman to conquer all 14 of the world's peaks above 8,000 meters, all of which also happen to be in the Himalayan range, after she planted a South Korean flag on the summit of the 8,091 meter Annapurna yesterday.
South Koreans, millions of them glued to their TV screens to watch live casts of Oh’s ascent, collectively swelled with pride.
But now the ambitious mountaineer is being hounded by charges that she didn’t make it to the top of another Himalayan peak in 2009 after all.
Pasaban is quoted by the BBC as saying that the photo evidence that Oh submitted of her ascent of Kangchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, is inconsistent. They show her standing on bare rock when other climbers said that the peak is typically blanketed in snow in the same season. The BBC also reported that some sherpas that went on Oh’s Kangchenjunga mission said she didn’t make it to the top.
Himalayan mountaineering arbiter Elizabeth Hawley has marked Oh’s ascent as “disputed” and said she’ll be waiting to meet Oh after she’s climbed back down to hear her version of events.
The 14 peaks:
Everest.
2. K2 (8,611 meters)
3. Kangchenjunga (8,586 meters)
4. Lhotse (8,516 meters)
5. Makalu (8,485 meters)
6. Cho Oyu (8,188m)
7. Dhaulagiri I (8,167 meters)
Annapurna.
9. Nanga Parbat (8,125 meters)
10. Annapurna (8,091 meters)
11. Gasherbrum I (8,080 meteres)
12. Broad Peak (8,051 meters)
13. Gasherbrum II (8,034 meters)
14. Shisha Pangma (8,027 meters)
As for the rest of us who wants to have a go at Himalaya's more humble climbs, check out CNNGo's interview with Everest summit conquerer Billi Bierling for tips.
