<View of Foreign Press>
Will She Set the World Record?
Oh Eun-sun’s Summits Are under Discussion
By Kim Na-yeon, Guest Reporter
Female Climber Oh Eun-Sun(44) ascended to the crest of Nepal’s Annapurna on April 27th. At the top, she pulled out a South Korean flag, waved, and then wept before throwing up her arms and shouting, "Victory!" With this, she has become the first woman and 20th person to conquer all of the world's 14 highest Himalayan peaks. Yet she faced with dispute whether she had actually reached the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga.
AP, the U.S. Associated Press, reported that her main rival, a Spanish woman climber named Edurne Pasaban(36) publicly questioned whether she had in fact submitted Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest peak, assuming that the Photos which were taken of that trek did not clearly prove she had reached the top. Meanwhile it commented that MS Oh dismissed the criticism. It cited her saying, “I can say I have stood at the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga. It was bad weather. Three sherpas told me that I reached the top, and one of them took the picture."
ABC, American Broadcasting Company, delivered the video shot at the summit is so blurry that it's impossible to tell if MS Oh and her team were actually at the top of the peak. Moreover it regarded the timing is suspected as well. It said MS Oh was monitored from a base camp with a telescopic lens until about 2 p.m. the day she allegedly reached the top of Kangchenjunga. After that, the weather became so inclement, the view was obscured. It commented critic’s remark that MS Oh must have made incredibly good time to reach the summit three hours and 40 minutes later.
BBC News, a department of the British Broadcasting Corporation, delivered that the green rope stretching over Ms Oh's left boot, which was shown in the summit photograph might be the evidence. It quoted the suspicion of Spanish climber Ferran Latorre, who climbed with Ms Pasaban, that this is a rope fixed to the mountain by her Sherpas and it went no higher than 8,350m, concluding the photograph was taken some 200m or so below the 8,586m summit. In addition it said her flag was found by the next climbers who scaled Kangchenjunga, which made him doubt whether she have been taken in roughly at the same place. At these points, it also presented the expression of MS Oh’s side, saying that the rope in the picture was a 5mm rope used for attaching accessories - in this case, probably, an ice axe - rather than climbing. Furthermore it acclaimed that Ms Oh mislaid the flag during the climb and the fact that it was found above 8,350m is "clear counter evidence", which helps to rebut the suggestion she stopped 200m below the summit.
For this controversy, Ms Oh planned to have a briefing session in Katmandu, Nepal after returning from Annapurna. And she will have an interview with Elizabeth Hawley to get the international authorization of the first woman to have climbed the world's 14 highest mountains in the Nepali Himalayas (8000m).
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