South Korean First Woman to Climb All 14 8,000-Meter Peaks

South Korea’s Oh Eun-sun laid claim to one of the last big firsts in the mountaineering community: first woman to summit all 14 8,000-meter peaks. She snatched the title by successfully summitting Annapurna on Tuesday. She reportedly climed on all fours to finally get to the top.

But her claim to the crown is already disputed: Edurne Pasaban, a Spanish mountaineer who was one peak away from nabbing the title, filed a complaint following reports from sherpas that Oh failed to get to the top of Kangchenjunga last year, as she claims.

“Her Sherpas told me that she didn’t reach the summit because of bad weather,” Pasaban told The Times of London recently.

For now, that ascent is marked as “disputed” by Elizabeth Hawley, an American journalist in Nepal who serves as an official chronicler of ascents in the absence of any official international organization.

Meanwhile, Oh was celebrated as a national hero in South Korea. She remains at camp 4 on Annapurna, where she’s aiding in the rescue of a fellow climber.

—Ted Alvarez

via NY Times