Soapbox

With Alan about to set off for Camp 2 on Kangchenjunka the controversy of whether this his 13th or 14th 8000er has resurfaced.

Mounteverest.net repeats the story of his ascent of Cho Oyu, which has not been recognised by Adventure Stats.
Essentialy the story is that Alan made it onto the broad summit plateau of Cho Oyu, the easiest of the 8000ers, where his climbing partners turned back due to the whiteout conditions. Alan then continued for a further hour using pacing to calculate when he was at the true summit, then returned.

http://www.mounteverest.net/story/AlanHinkesKangchenjunga-13or14May132005.shtml

carries the story.

My personal opinion is that if a guy as experienced as Alan Hinkes doessnt know how to pace then who does? If he says he made the summit then I believe him, after all Cho Oyu is the easiest of the 8000ers and AH is not the sort to lie about getting to the top.

There are some petty bitter people out there.
Tell them to get a life, if Alan said he did it then he did it.

Wherever there's an achievement there's always a jealous sh1t-stirrer lurking in the background.

He's doing this for himself, isn't he?

Work it out!

TRAIL says this (Kangchenjunga) is 'Hinkesys' 14th 8000-er so it must be true.

I'm not one of the ones who idolises 'Hinksey' (blame trail for that), but you got to admire what he's done, and he has my utmost respect.

Surely this is just someone being petty, and i agree, if he got to the summit plateau and claims he got to the summit from there, then he probably did. What else was he doing for an hour in whiteout conditions otherwise?

I somehow doubt he was enjoying a mocca cappuchino latte in the summit cafe...

If he said he reached the summit,that's proof enough.
Look at his previous achievements. Cheers.