American climber and altitude monster Ed Viesturs has succeeded in
climbing Nanga Parbat making him the first US mountaineer to climb 13
of the 14 8,000-meter peaks and without supplementary oxygen
too.
Climbing with renowned Frenchman Jean Christophe LaFaille,
Viesturs took seven hours to reach the summit from Camp Four. On his
website,
Viesturs is quoted as saying that the climb was "one of the most
difficult and physically challenging of my career" and that the
final seven hours were like "climbing a sand dune of deep and
unstable powdery snow".
Unusually for the high profile climber, the expedition has been
conducted with minimum publicity due to security concerns in the area
of Pakistan where he's been climbing.
One to go...
The Nanga Parbat climb means that only Annapurna now stands
between him and his aim of becoming the first American to climb all
14 of the 8,000 metre plus peaks without using bottled oxygen.
Viesturs attempted Annapurna last year at the same time as British
8,000 metre aspirant Alan Hinkes, but whereas Hinkes climbed the
mountain in record time in a straight push from low down, Viesturs
decided that objective dangers were too high and backed off from a
summit attempt.
Viesturs is renowned for his spectacularly high VO2 Max, which
means he functions significantly better at altitude than most of his
contemporaries and - at OM anyway - for his masterly guest appearance
in the comedy Hollywood mountaineering film Vertical Limit, where he
played himself in a slightly bemused, but highly realistic
manner...
There's more information on Viestur's latest climb here
on the National Geographic web site, which also explains some of his
physiological advantages. For everything else you're ever likely to
want to know about Ed, see his own website.
