By IANS,
Kathmandu: Nearly 24 years after mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner became the first man to conquer the 14 highest peaks in the world, South Korean Oh Eun-sun followed in his footsteps Tuesday, becoming the first woman to achieve the feat, beating her closest rival Spain’s Edurne Pasaban.
The 44-year-old became South Korea and Asia’s heroine after she reached the summit of Mt Annapurna, 8,091m, with her ascent being broadcast live.
A snow storm last week had caused the climber to retreat to the lower slopes and she again began climbing this morning, crawling up the last few steps.
As she planted her country’s flag on the peak, Oh Eun-sun completed a quest started in 1997 with the conquest of Mt Gasherbrum II. She summited Mt Everest, the highest peak in the world, in 2006.
Despite the victory, the climber faces a controversy with her closest rival Pasaban, who is on her way to achieving the same feat, raising questions about Oh’s summit of Mt Kangchenjunga in 2009.
Pasaban, who had climbed 12 of the 14 highest peaks, is seeking a double whammy. She summited Mt Annapurna in April and is now heading towards Mt Shisha Pangma from Tibet.
Once she summits the peak, she would become the second woman to have climbed the 14 Himalayan peaks towering over 8,000 m.
Pasaban’s quest had begun in 2001 with Mt Everest.
Oh’s conquest consolidates Asian women’s grip on the Himalayas. Japan’s Junko Tabei was the first woman to have conquered Mt Everest in 1975.
Lhakpa Sherpa of Nepal holds the record of having climbed Mt Everest the maximum number of times by a woman climber – six.