First
Woman to Scale 14 Highest Peaks - Oh Eun-Sun sets
world record
ANNAPURNA, Nepal - On April 20, Korean mountaineer
Oh Eun-Sun, 44, reached the top of the 8,091 meter-high
Annapurna, completing her quest to climb all 14 of the world's
highest peaks and setting the new world record for the First
Woman to Scale 14 Highest Peaks.
Photo: Oh Eun Sun, 44, celebrates on
South Korean television after reaching the top of Mount Annapurna
in Nepal. (enlarge
photo)
Oh Eun Sun was captured on live television as
she reached the summit of Mt Annapurna in the Himalayas to
claim the record.
“I would like to share this joy with the South
Korean people,” Oh, who is 5 feet 1 inch, said after reaching
the summit of Annapurna in central Nepal.
The First
Woman to Scale 14 Highest Peaks reached the summit
- 26,545ft above sea level - 13 years after she scaled her
first Himalayan mountain, Gasherbrum II, in 1997. She scaled
Everest in 2004.
South Koreans — who watched her climb because
it was broadcast live by an accompanying camera team — hailed
her as a national hero. The last eight hours of Oh's climb
were broadcast on Korean television and the country sent 23
technicians up with her, including two cameramen, to document
the journey.
A message left on the Web site of the broadcaster
KBS said: “All our people watched each step of your climb.
You have demonstrated our country’s greatness all over the
world.”
“She showed us what challenge means,” Lee
Myung-bak, the president of South Korea, said of Oh in his
congratulatory message. “I am proud of her.”
Oh, the First
Woman to Scale 14 Highest Peaks was bound to receive
a hero’s welcome home in South Korea. Mountain-trekking is
a national hobby in the country, where 70 percent of the land
is mountainous.
Annapurna was the last of the 14 peaks taller
than 26,247 feet (8,000 meters) that Oh needed to climb to
make history. She reached the summit — 26,545 feet above sea
level — 13 years after she scaled her first Himalayan mountain,
Gasherbrum II, in 1997.
“We recognize her achievement as the first woman
climber to scale all the highest mountains in the world,”
said Ang Tshering, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association,
according to The Associated Press.
So far, 21 climbers, including Oh, have
made it to the top of the 14 peaks that are at least 26,247
feet high, including three South Korean men.
Oh’s closest rival, Edurne Pasaban of Spain,
scaled Annapurna this month but has yet to reach the 26,330-foot-high
Mount Shisha Pangma to match Oh’s feat.
“When life was hard and we were tired, sports
have encouraged us with good news,” said Ko Dong-guk, one
of hundreds of TV viewers who left congratulatory messages
on the KBS Web site.
