**The 2009 ascent by a Korean climber of Nepal’s Kangchenjunga peak has been marked as “disputed” by the accepted arbiter of Himalayan climbing records.**Oh Eun-Sun, who has publicly defended her ascent, is currently climbing another Himalayan summit - Annapurna.
She hopes to become the first woman to scale the world’s 14 highest peaks.
Even if she scales the summit this weekend, her claim to the record could be in question after her nearest rival in the quest disputed the 2009 climb.
Ms Oh’s sponsors called a press conference in December to reassert her claim to have reached the summit. But she is to be questioned on her return.
All climbers who make an ascent from Nepal report to Elizabeth Hawley, an 86-year-old American based in Kathmandu, whose research is recorded in the Himalayan Database.
They have to answer her questions about the climb they have just undertaken.
Ms Hawley is widely accepted as the arbiter of Himalayan climbs. There is no official body which authenticates claims.
On Thursday Miss Hawley talked to Ms Oh’s nearest rival in the race to be the first woman to climb all 14 of the world’s mountains higher than 8,000m - the Spanish climber Edurne Pasaban, who has just climbed Annapurna herself.
Ms Pasaban gave reasons why she doubted that Ms Oh had successfully climbed the world’s third-highest peak, Kangchenjunga, in 2009.
Allegations against Ms Oh include:
That there is no convincing summit photo from Kangchenjunga The Sherpa community is divided over whether Ms Oh scaled the summit in 2009 Ms Pasaban and Sherpas, who climbed Kangchenjunga shortly after Ms Oh, said the Korean ropes stopped 200m below the summit Afterwards Ms Hawley told the BBC that she had now marked Ms Oh’s ascent of Kangchenjunga as disputed.
“Miss Oh and her Sherpa told my assistant that they both summited Kangchenjunga and we had no reason to doubt them,” she said.
“This same Sherpa is now with Miss Oh on Annapurna 1. My assistant will re-interview this Sherpa when he returns to Kathmandu.”
At the December press conference called by Ms Oh’s sponsors, the Sherpa who accompanied her said he knew the mountain and that Ms Oh had indeed reached the summit. Ms Oh said the unclear photograph was due to fog and a violent snowstorm.
Ms Oh’s ascent of Kangchenjunga remains recognised in the Himalayan database, so she will be able to claim the record if she successfully climbs Annapurna.
However, if Miss Hawley’s further investigations lead her to change the status of the 2009 ascent to “unrecognised” Ms Oh would not be internationally regarded as the first woman to have climbed all 14 8,000ers, as they are known.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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