Best of ExplorersWeb 2009 Awards: Miss Oh and Miss Go, Himalaya Dream Mile.

“Man could not run a mile in less than 4 minutes!” And yet Bannister did exactly that, shortly followed by hundreds.

Tied with 11 mountains each, at the start of this year, Spanish Edurne Pasaban, Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Italian Nives Meroi were the three main women in place to become the first females to summit all 8000ers.

That all changed when two Korean ladies entered the scene. 

Miss Oh

Korean climbers live under different conditions than western mountaineers. South Korea faces constant threat from communist North Korea and most elders have fresh memories from the Korean War (1950-53) that killed 2.5 million people. It has provided Korea with mountaineers known for taking bigger risks but also achieving spectacular climbs.

Codenamed “squirrel” and “iron woman”, the oldest of three children Miss Oh worked several jobs and set up a noodle-shop to make money for her climbs. “Had I quit my job only to climb mountains, I wouldn’t have lasted long. In my opinion, to realize one’s true wishes it’s important to stay independent – not only financially, but also mentally,” she wrote in an open letter to fellow Korean women admirers.

Oh Eun-Sun achieved her very first 8000er (G2) 12 years ago in company of Um Hong-Gil and Park Young-Seok. Following several setbacks her second 8000er came not until 2004 on Mount Everest. That’s when everything changed for Miss Oh.

A charge of historical proportions over the highest mountains in the world followed; with Shisha Pangma in 2006, Cho Oyu and K2 in 2007, Makalu, Lhotse, Broad Peak and Manaslu in 2008, and Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum this year.

She broke records too numerous to count, male and female. Speeding up 8000er after 8000er, in Himalaya she was the female version of Usain Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter now considered the greatest sportsman on the planet.

Doubt

With the incredible successes came doubt. Some of Miss Oh’s summits were questioned. Other South Koreans facing the same problem in the past returned with a vengeance to clear their records. They were in fact Miss Oh’s partners from G2, her very first peak.

Um Hong-Gil repeated Lhotse and Shisha Pangma. Young-Seok Park repeated Lhotse, providing a super- photo gallery from all the sections, summit included. As for Miss Oh, ExplorersWeb have not seen any facts warranting doubts of her claims.

Criticized for heavy support, the woman climber said she climbs with a few regular Sherpa and used oxygen support only on Everest and K2. “And since an incident when we helped a climber with medical O2 (one of the Sherpas gave him a bottle of O2, I gave him my mask and there were comments afterwards) I don’t even carry a mask during the climbs,” she said.

Miss Go

Korean star climber Go Mi Sun, 41, was another story and western mountaineers often confused the two. Former Asian X Games champion – Go had doggedly entered the world top-league of Himalaya climbers.

The youngest of 6 siblings, except for her first 8000er (Cho Oyu), Go Mi Sun mostly climbed in big teams using oxygen and led by Kim Jae-Soo. The two survived K2 together last year, and Go said that she hoped to climb all 14, 8000ers by 2011.

But shortly after she sped up her ambition. Following her Makalu-Kangchenjunga-Dhaulagiri triple this spring, Miss Go was headed for the Gasherbrums and Nanga Parbat this summer, hoping to crown her list with Annapurna in fall.

Miss Go’s records set a number of milestones for the world mountaineering community, in the end underlining the seriousness of Himalayan 8000+ meter exposure. She fell to her death on descent after summit at around 6200 meters on Nanga Parbat in a section where the previously fixed rope had been removed.

Back home in Korea, some local climbers said that media, sponsors and the “first-ism” of society had fueled a competition between Miss Go and Miss Oh – forcing the climbers to take undue risks.

Go’s older brother however replied that his sister and Miss Oh were friends, and never competed with each other. As for the sponsors, “My sister didn’t have enough money to climb, so they helped her,” the brother said.

Asked to rate the biggest difficulties, Miss Oh in turn told ExWeb’s correspondent in Korea Kyu Dam Lee, “It was hard to wait for a chance to summit Broad Peak on our third attempt. But the toughest was to recover from the shock after Go Mi-sun died on Nanga Parbat; I had to struggle to get my mind back in control.”

Cards still open

Currently preparing for Annapurna, her last 8,000er, nobody doubts anymore how serious Miss Oh is about her goal to grab the first female 14, 8000ers position (Messner holds the male spot).

Seasoned enough to evaluate the risk, “fear is only in our mind,” she said, “even though, every time I start an expedition, I can’t help thinking whether the mountain will accept me on her summit or not. I am also aware that death is very close to me all the time while I climb.”

“I am preparing to do my best,” she told ExplorersWeb. “In the end though, Annapurna will decide.”

With Edurne, Nives and Gerlinde so far ahead only some years ago, what then seemed impossible is now totally achievable for the South Korean woman.

The cards are still open though. All we know for certain is that Miss Oh and Miss Go have done something many mountaineers didn’t think was possible until a year ago. Miss Go died precisely because the quest is difficult and dangerous, showcasing the very heart – and risk – of pioneering.

As for the race, Miss Oh had the following advice to fellow Korean women: “Identify your dreams and follow them: Happiness lays right there. You will lose if you compare yourself to others. You will lose if you begin to worry about money, honor or whatever others may think. Remember that dreams and happiness come out of what you like to do – for yourself.”

Roger Bannister put it this way:

“We run, not because we think it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves. The more restricted our society and work become, the more necessary it will be to find some outlet for this craving for freedom. No one can say, ‘You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.’ The human spirit is indomitable.”

Related story: StatCrunch, take 3: ladies of thin air – beyond Wanda’s footprints.

Related story: StatCrunch, take 3, final: ladies of thin air – XXIst Century women.

Related story: ExWeb interview with Oh Eun-sun: “Annapurna will decide”.

Special mentions:
– Good guys leaving too early: Tomaz, Piotr, Serguey, Martin, Oscar, Roby…
– GIII/GIV attempt and rescue.
– Nives Meroi, fame for love.
– North Pole-Greenland crossing and polar records.

* Previous story :

–   Best of ExplorersWeb 2009 Awards: new route on Nanga Parbat.

–   Best of ExplorersWeb 2009 Awards: the 14×8000ers.

–   Best of ExplorersWeb 2009 Awards: Altitude Junkies and FTA – corporate compassion.

–   Best of ExplorersWeb 2009 Awards – Special mention.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Farewell to friends.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Polar adventures.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Significant climbs.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: The Oceans.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Mount Everest.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Controversies.

–   ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Technology and Space.

–   Tragedy in the Himalaya, 2009 climbing season.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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ExplorersWeb Year 2009 in Review: Farewell to friends.

(ExplorersWeb.com) In previous years, ExplorersWeb have published one big Year in Review on January 1st.

This year we are cutting it up in sections, to be posted every day until the awards, with the compiled report to go up early 2010.

Today we jump straight to the darkest chapter of last year; friends and legends lost.

Obituaries – 8000ers

They won an ExWeb award for their great 2006 Himalayan Trilogy; this year “The Peters” Himalayan saga was tragically ended when Polish Piotr Morawski perished in a crevasse on Dhaulagiri April 8 at 8.40 am local time, while returning from C2. At only 33, Piotr had summited six 8000ers, and made the first winter summit on Shisha Pangma (together with Simone Moro in January, 2005).

* see : – Breaking news: Piotr Morawski lost on Dhaulagiri. Piotr Morawski zginął na Dhaulagiri. /Version english and polish/

Dhaulagiri also claimed Iranian Mehdi Etemadfar who reportedly fell to his death while pushing for the summit on May 1st.

Czech Martin Minarik and French Elisabeth Revol reached Annapurna’s Eastern summit (8,021m) following eight days of rough conditions on the peak’s south side. The two split up on descent at 7100 meters where Martin became unable to move on his own. Revol was found exhausted in Manang village while a heli SAR for Martin returned unsuccessful. Before Annapurna, Martin Minarik commemorated Tibet’s National Uprising day by flying a Tibetan flag at his house in the Czech Republic.

Denis Urubko’s free-spirited climbing partner Russian Sergei Samoilov, 52, died on Lhotse during unclear circumstances as a member of the Kazakh 2009 Lhotse-Everest traverse. A 2005 climb on Broad Peak’s unclimbed SW face gained Serg and Denis an ExplorersWeb award, and a nomination for the international Piolet d’Or. In 2006 the two completed a new route on the NE side of Manaslu and in 2007, they summited K2 in its latest summit ever and the first K2 north side summit in 11 years. Denis Urubko and Sergei Samoilov are the only to have gained no less than three Best-of-ExWeb awards (2005-2007).

German (Calgary resident) Frank Ziebarth, 29, reportedly perished after summiting Everest w/o O2 via the South side on May 21st. Czech Veslav Chrzaszcz reportedly passed during the night at the North Col on May 18th, probably due to a heart attack. Lhakpa Nuru Sherpa, 32, vanished in an Everest icefall avalanche while Kaji Sherpa, 45, was poisoned by methanol in BC. Chinese Wu Weng-Hong, 40, succumbed to HAPE.

In spring Manaslu claimed Italian Giuseppe Antonelli, lost to HAPE while retreating from C3, and Hungarian Levente Szabo who reportedly fell to his death on descent from an aborted summit push. On October 1st, despite a rescue haul to BC, Slovenian Franc Oderlap died of presumed brain injury on the peak.

Dennis Verhoeve reportedly fell to his death while abseiling from Cho Oyu summit on June 2nd. Later in fall, US Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s husband Clifton Maloney, 71, passed while resting in a high camp shortly after summiting the peak.

He summited Makalu (his 5th 8,000er without 02) on May 21st; on June 4th Australian Mick Parker (36) was found dead in his hotel in Kathmandu due to a combination of exhaustion, lingering effects of HAPE and alcohol.

Italian Michele Fait slipped and fell while skiing down the Cesen route on K2.

Korean star climber Go Mi-Sun (‘Ko Mi-young’) fell to her death on descent at around 6200 meters close to camp 2 on Nanga Parbat. With 11, 8000ers summited in a very short time, Miss Go, 41, became known as a “dark horse” in the quest for the first female to summit all 14, 8000ers.

Austrian Wolfgang Köblinger was also lost on Nanga Parbat normal route. Traces in the snow indicated Wolfgang might have gone over a steep section at 8060m while on descent from summit.

“El Grio” (the cricket) Cristina Castagna, 31, reportedly slipped and fell into a crevasse while descending from camp 4 on Broad Peak with mate Giampaolo Casarotto. She had previously summited Shisha’s central summit (2004), GII (2005), Dhaulagiri (2007) and Makalu (2008).

Climbing behind the Iranian team with Polish mate Jacek Teler; Spanish mountaineer Luis M. Barbero was last seen near the summit on Gasherbrum II and reported lost some days later by his team mates in BC.

A snapped rope caused young mountain guide Roby Piantoni to lose footing and fall to his death on the British route at Shisha Pangma south side. Roby’s dad had been killed in an Peruvian Andes avalanche in 1981. At the family’s request, climbers on Shisha Pangma joined forces to help bring Roby’s remains home to Bergamo, Italy.

Obituaries – lower peaks

Pakistani Army Air Corps helicopters along with local and international mountaineers tried in vain to rescue Spanish climber Oscar Perez, stuck at approximately 6,200 m of altitude with a broken leg and an arm immobilized after suffering an accident when he tried to scale Latok II in alpine style with Alvaro Novellón.

His amazing life came to an end on an unknown peak, in the company of local kitchen boy Jagat, on a climb very few knew about. Air Zermatt Swiss rescue team Pilot Robert Andenmatten and rescue-climber Simon Anthamatten finally found Tomaz Humar at 5600 meters on the south wall of Langtan Lirung on November 14. Robert dropped Simon with a 25 meter static rope on the accident site but it was too late. Tomaz had died, apparently after breaking his leg in a fall.

In an eerie reminder of Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff lost in a 2007 Sichuan avalanche; American Micah Dash, Jonathan Copp and Wade Johnson died in an avalanche near BC on Sichuan’s E Gongga.

Korean climbers Min Jung-Young and Park Jong-Sung perished in their attempt for a new route on the north face of Hiunchuli (6.441m) located close to Annapurna’s south side Sanctuary.

Obituaries – other

Dr. Giuliano De Marchi, 62, perished while ski-touring in the Dolomites. Giuliano had summited Makalu, Cho Oyu, Shisha, attempted Everest and K2, and crossed Greenland from Kulusuq to Kangerlussuaq in 2000.

Climbing Mag Editor American Craig Luebben, 49, was killed by falling ice on Mount Torment in Washington’s Cascades.

Polish climber Andrzej Marciniak survived the 1989 Everest expedition that killed five of his fellow Polish climbers but lost his life in the Tatras mountains on August 7 this year.

Himalayan climber Sven Gangdal died in a boating accident on the night of September 13 at home in Norway. Sven was alone in a small motor boat which ran at high speed into a cliff. Sven had climbed five 8000ers and was twin brother of fellow mountaineer Jon Gangdal who became the first Norwegian to scale Kangchenjunga.

Aconcagua had a season deadlier than usual with the most controversial fatality being that of Federico Campanini. A video posted on YouTube showed the mountain guide surrounded by a group of rescuers asking for permission over radio to leave the crawling climber behind, claiming that he has “no more than 40 minutes to live.”

Lack of funds forced British Mark Evison to postpone his aspiration to become the youngest person to ski solo to the South Pole. Instead, Mark (26) went to Afghanistan. Nicknamed ‘007’ by his brothers in arms, the young soldier sadly took a bullet and passed away on May 12.

Obituaries – legends lost

Italian Riccardo Cassin died near Lecco on August 6. Part of Ragni di Lecco (the Lecco Spiders), Cassin made many legendary climbs in the Dolomites and around the world, fought in WWII and set up shop with his own climbing gear. In 1961 at age 52, Riccardo became the first to summit Denali via the Cassin Ridge, and he continued to climb well into his 80s.

American K2 explorer and high-altitude physician Charles Houston died September 27, at 96 years old. Member in the 1935 Nanda Devi expedition, Houston tried K2 in 1938 and 1953. Houston wrote “K2: The Savage Mountain” and later Bernadette McDonald compiled his biography in “Brotherhood of the Rope.”

K2 pioneer Achille Compagnoni died May 13 in a northern Italy hospital at age 94. On November 20 at age 83 fellow Italian Lino Lacedelli followed Achille for one last time.

* Previous story : –  Tragedy in the Himalaya.

– Tragedy in the Himalaya, 2009 climbing season.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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Himalaya 2009 climbing season, Karakoram and Himalaya wrap-up /26/ – Week in Review.

All eyes are on Broad Peak where a summit push was planned for this weekend. Climbers on GIII posted a thrilling tale of a hairy rescue; while a first ascent of Karim Sar was proudly annunced.

Several interviews went up in the polar section on top of a James Bond-style update about Thule’s (Greenland) ballistic missile early warning radar.

Still, it was Miss Go’s fate on Nanga Parbat that stole most headlines last week.

Nanga Parbat: Among other rescues lately, Askari Aviation (“The Fearless Five”) in Pakistan retrieved Miss Go’s remains on Nanga Parbat. ExWeb’s Korean sources report that the body has arrived in Seoul, Korea, accompanied to the mortuary by expedition leader Jae-Soo Kim. Go’s family reportedly said that some of her ashes will go to Miss Oh and Ji Hyuk Kim to be scattered on the three mountains she had left to summit.

In Korea, some local climbers said that media, sponsors and the “first-ism” of society all fueled a competition between Miss Go and Miss Oh – forcing the climbers to take undue risks. Go’s older brother however replied that his sister and Miss Oh were friends, and never competed with each other. As for the sponsors, “My sister didn’t have enough money to climb, so they helped her,” Seok-Kyun Go said.

Joao Garcia’s Nanga Parbat debrief: “the fixed rope where Miss Go fell was removed” When it comes to fellow climbers, usually Joao Garcia tries to be a diplomat. Not so in his debrief from Nanga Parbat. The veteran climber was upset that the upper rope-fixing task was mostly left to a handful climbers and moreover – the rope where Miss Go fell (and which he had fixed) had been cut.

Denis Urubko had a similar experience on Nanga in 2003, RussianClimb reported: A mint, high-quality rope he fixed at the rock section above Camp 2 on Nanga Parbat had been replaced by short pieces of old rope while he was gone and Denis fell. Only his fast reaction saved him; he had time to push off the slope and prevent to go head over heels: “All was like a slow cartoon, flying some meters with my arms and legs spread out, I caught hold of a rock at the edge of precipice,” Denis wrote.

Gerfried Göschl’s Nanga Parbat debriefs: ÖAV expedition leader Gerfried Göschl posted a fast report on the circumstances surrounding Wolfgang Köblinger’s fatal accident in the commercial part of his Nanga Parbat expedition; and answered Joao’s debrief. “My team brought the most rope and fixing gear,” he said, “it’s normal that if one provides more material and faces higher costs the others fix more.” As for Miss Go; “Porters of ALL expeditions decided to cut ropes from safer places and fix them in the more dangerous parts of the route above C2,” Gerfried explained, threatening Joao with a lawsuit for defamation.

(Ed note): While people have a right to defend their honor; they also have a right to express opinions about wrong-doings they feel strongly about. In countries practicing free speech rights, a defamation lawsuit can only be successful if the offender knowingly makes false allegations with intent to damage. In foreign mountain fatalities especially; fact finding attempts must be open to a free debate without fear.

Gasherbrum III “Bruce struggled to remain conscious throughout the evening and by the night of the 10th he was drifting in and out of consciousness – outside the winds were howling and visibility had dropped to zero,” Bowie recalled the summit attempt last weekend. Read all about the emergency descent in a blizzard with a semi-unconscious Bruce in Bowie’s 3-part debrief.

K2: Human body parts protruding from the moraine on top of Michele Fait’s fatal accident, “the presence of death here is overwhelming,” said Sean Wisedale right before leaving K2’s BC together with Tunc Findik – both climbers have called their attempts off.

Gasherbrum I While most big teams have packed up and gone home, Veikka & Kazuya are ready to sit out and wait for their summit chance.

Gasherbrum II “Scottish conditions” Adele Pennington (JG) said about the weather that thwarted all summit pushes on the Gasherbrums.

Karim Sar (6,180m) first ascent Pat Deavoll (NZ) made a spectacular first ascent of Karim Sar (6,180m) on June 21st. Teaming up with Paul Hersey, Pat forged a route up the 2,600 meters tall south face. On the definitive summit push, she climbed the final 1000m alone while her climbing partner stayed at the top camp at 5100m. “The final 1000 meters took me 12 hours,” Pat told ExplorersWeb.

Spantik – Iranian ladies to the top Lady Iranian climbers Leila Ebrahimi, Parastou Abrishami, Shiva Farsi, Fereshteh Khademi-talab and Masoumeh Maleki are about to attempt Spantik, IMZ News reported.

Broad Peak Iran’s Arash expedition members planned to set up a second camp on the peak’s SW side this weekend.

Exweb Week-In-Review is sponsored by HumanEdgeTech the world’s premier supplier of expedition technology. Our team helps you find ultra light expedition tech that works globally.

e-mail or call +1 212 966 1928

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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Karakoram Summer 2009 expeditions wrap-up : Broad Peak summit watch, GIII attempt and incredible rescue debrief.

(K2Climb.net – Jul 17, 2009) Climbers on Broad Peak are expected to depart C3 for the summit tonight. Bids on K2 might follow next week. Veikka and Kazuya are among the few still holding on the Gasherbrums.

The attempt on GIII last week ended with an impressive rescue.

Broad Peak

Nearly 30 climbers reached C2 yesterday, planning for C3 today. Summit push will start midnight, weather pending.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Arash expedition members climbed to C1 on the peak’s SW side in a spell of good weather. A second camp is planned for tomorrow. “We have already fixed 1400 meters of ropes from BC at 4750m to 6000m through the last ten days.” Babazadeh told IMZ.

Nanga Parbat

Korean Go Mi-sun’s remains were retrieved yesterday and will be airlifted to Islamabad, Askari Aviation’s Lt. Col. Ilyas Ahmad confirmed to ExplorersWeb.

Gasherbrum III

Don, Guy, Bruce and Billy set off from BC towards GIII on July 6th, hoping to give the summit a shot by July 10th. Things didn’t go as planned though. Bruce Normand became sick at C4 (7,300m) on the night before the team’s summit push. His state worsened through the following day, while a storm unfolded outside – by the second night the situation became critical.

“Bruce struggled to remain conscious throughout the evening and by the night of the 10th he was drifting in and out of consciousness – outside the winds were howling and visibility had dropped to zero,” Bowie recalled. “The last O2 sat measurement I took in the night for Bruce was a staggeringly low 37%. I congratulated him for officially breaking the Guinness World Record for having the lowest oxygen sats and still being alive. He didn’t laugh.”

Read all about the emergency descent in a blizzard with a semi-unconscious Bruce in Bowie’s 3-part debrief debrief (last part to be posted today).

K2

“We are planning to head back up the mountain in two waves to try and fix to C3 (7200m approx) over the weekend, as the weather will hopefully be good enough for a few days,” Jake Meyer reported from K2 BC yesterday.

Jorge Egocheaga and Martin Ramos are also headed from BC to C3 in one push tomorrow. “That will be our last acclimatization trip before the definitive summit push – which could be launched in a weather window expected next week,” Martin said.

Gasherbrum I

While several big teams have packed up and gone home, Veikka & Kazuya are ready to sit out and wait for their summit chance – no matter how long. “They are taking it easy and just relaxing at the Gasherbrum base camp, while they wait for the right climbing weather,” home team’s Tammisuo reported.

* Previous story  : – https://himalman.wordpress.com/category/karakoram/

* Read these stories – and more! – at ExplorersWeb.com

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