Oh Eun-sun - first woman to summit all 14 8000+ peaks

[The Outsider]

There is controversy regarding her ticking off all 14 though with Kanchenjunga in doubt. But regardless, a great achievement by her and good luck to the Spaniard pursuing her 14th in two week's time. :adore:

A South Korean reached the summit of Mount Annapurna today to claim the title of the first woman to climb all 14 of the world’s peaks over 8,000 metres (26,247 feet), just a few days after her closest rival accused her of cheating. A live broadcast on South Korean television showed Oh Eun-sun, 44, planting her national flag in the snow on the 8,091 metre peak in Nepal following a grueling 13-hour climb through high winds and without oxygen. "Mansae! [Hurrah!]" Ms Oh shouted, waving and bowing towards an accompanying cameraman from the Korean Broadcasting Service. "I am happy and thank you," she said, weeping tears of joy. In a televised message to her parents, she said: "Mama, Papa, I miss you. Now I want to go back home." The 14-summit feat was first achieved by Reinhold Messner of Italy in 1986 and has only been equalled by 17 other men since. Several men and women have also died trying to join mountaineering’s most exclusive club. Ms Oh joined the women’s race by scaling Gasherbrum II on the Pakistan-China border in 1997 and was not considered a serious contender until last year, when she climbed four of the eight-thousanders. But her claim to the title has already been challenged by her closest rival, Edurne Pasaban of Spain, who is due to climb her 14th peak – Mount Shisha Pangma in Tibet – in the next fortnight. Ms Pasaban told The Times last week that Ms Oh’s sherpas had told her the South Korean did not reach the highest point on Mount Kangchenjunga – the world’s third highest peak – last year. “Her sherpas told me that she didn’t reach the summit because of bad weather,” said Ms Pasaban, who climbed Kangchenjunga shortly after Ms Oh’s alleged ascent and scaled Annapurna 10 days ago. “All I want is one thing: that people should tell the truth. This kind of thing – I don’t like it.” The Spaniard also informed Elizabeth Hawley, an 86-year-old American mountaineering journalist who has been based in Kathmandu since 1960 and is considered the final arbiter on such disputes. Ms Hawley agreed last week to record Ms Oh’s Kangchenjunga ascent as “disputed” pending a full investigation, which will include interviews with her sherpas and other climbers on the mountain at the time. Ms Hawley is considered the final arbiter because there is no international body governing mountaineering and the governments of Nepal, China and Pakistan have different standards for issuing “summit certificates”. Ms Oh has not responded directly to Ms Pasaban, but has repeatedly denied similar allegations last year from fellow mountaineers, including the veteran male South Korean climber Huh Young-ho. They questioned whether a photograph of her on Kangchenjunga was taken at the highest point, and how she had managed to cover the last 500 metres so quickly. She says the original account of her ascent was misinterpreted, and her sherpa took the photo below the summit because bad weather forced them off the very top. “I really conquered the mountain," a tearful Ms Oh told a news conference back then, using Ms Pasaban’s video footage of Kangchenjunga’s summit to try to prove that her own photograph was not faked. Despite the controversy, Ms Oh has become a major celebrity in South Korea, where mountaineering is extremely popular, and international sporting records are relatively rare. Born in Namwon, 126 miles south of Seoul, she is the eldest daughter of a career soldier and discovered her passion for climbing on the smaller peaks of South Korea. Unmarried and without children, she now lives in Seoul and makes her living as a professional climber. "I don't have a special ability, but I just have a little more zeal than the others," Ms Oh, who is five feet one inch tall, said on her website. "If I manage to do this I will be incredibly proud, not just for myself but for my country and for Asia," she said after arriving in Kathmandu last month. "I don't know why no female climber has managed it. I suppose it is down to women's position in the world, which is still not the same as men's."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7109295.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093

[lonestarranger]

No offense.. But looking @ thread title, I felt it was more like 'Oh Yeh (Baat) Sun...' :D