'Hinkes Summits' - Unconfirmed

The everestnews.com web site is carrying an 'unconfirmed report' that Alan Hinkes has summited Kangchenjunga, but as of yet, there's no official confirmation that this is actually the case. If true, it would make Alan the first Brition to climb all 14 of the 8,000-metre peaks and the 14th overall.

Alan's bid to climb the mountain has been hit by consistently poor conditions and, in particular, high winds at altitude along with consistently heavy snow. The poor conditions led to a Swiss expedition on the mountain at the same time abandoning their attempt leaving Alan and his climbing partner Pasang Gelu as the only team on Kangchenjunga.

Climbers on Everest have been hit by the same weather conditions and, at one point, it seemed possible that very few would summit this season. Over the past couple of days however, more favourable conditions have allowed a large number of mountaineers to reach the top of the mountain, including the first this year from the south, Nepali, side.

Fingers crossed then, that the same weather window has allowed Alan to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga. More news just as soon as we have it. In the mean time, you can follow Alan's progress so far in our previous articles below or at www.berghaus.com.

The unconfimed report is on everestnews.com.