Ed Viesturs has become the first American to climb all the 8,000ers while Alan Hinkes is poised to push for Kangchenjunga's summit later this week. Plus Hinkes controversy claim...
A quick update from the Himalaya where Alan Hinkes is poised to
attempt Kangchenjunga and American mountaineer Ed Vesturs has pipped
our man to the post in the race - yes, we know it's not really a race
- to become the next member of the 8,000-metre club.
Viesturs, 45, finally succeeded in summiting 8091-metre
Annapurna last Thursday 12 May on his third attempt. He's the first
American to climb all of the 14 8,999ers and, impressively, has
summited every one without the use of supplementary oxygen. He has
also summited Everest and extraordinary six times, a feat normally
managed only by Sherpas.
On his web site at www.edviesturs.com
he desribes reaching the summit as 'It is one of the happiest days of
my life, one of the hardest days of my life"'. Viersturs and climbing
partner Veikka Gustafsson were forced to wait at high camp for three
days due to high winds before making a tough, eleven-hour push to the
summit.
They reached the summit at 2 pm before descending safely to high
camp, which took about eight hours.
Hinkes Poised For Kangchenjunga Ascent
Meanwhile, on Kangchenjunga, Britain's Alan Hinkes is poised to
make a summit attempt in his bid to become the first Brit to complete
the 8,000-ers. According to sponsors Berghaus, Alan is in good
spirits and following several days on the mountain to set up camp
one, he has returned to base camp for a rest before pushing on to
establish camp two.
From there, he hopes to make a final push for the summit, however
conditions on the mountain have been described as 'treacherous'' with
two members of a Swiss expedition having been helicoptered out with
injuries.
'I am hoping there won't be a need for a third camp' said Hinkes
from base camp. 'But with conditions already threatening the
lives of those around me I need to make a sound judgement call when
the time comes.
'As I have always stated no mountain is worth a life but with
this being my final 8000er and having been to Kangchenjunga and
failed twice already I have my sights set firm."
American Site Questions Hinkes' Record
Meanwhile in the whacky world of armchair mountaineering, American
web site mounteverest.net has questioned Alan's ascent of Cho Oyu
claiming that there is 'a good chance' he may not have reached the
true summit of the mountain.
In an
article which appeared on the site at the weekend, the site
maintains that although Alan spent an hour on the vast Cho Oyu summit
plateau - doing what if it wasn't finding the highest point you might
ask - there's no proof that he actually reached the summit.
Cho Oyu is generally accepted to be the easiest of the 8,000ers
and a lot of readers will view the mounteverest.net claims as
unfortunate. If we can't accept the word of climbers as to whether
they've succeeded or not, then what is the point?
Anyone who knows Alan Hinkes will tell you that he may be focussed
and driven, but he certainly isn't a liar and, as a qualified guide,
is more than capable of the micronavigation needed to locate the
summit even in poor conditions.
Ran Fiennes On Everest
Finally, you may recall that Sir Rannulph Fiennes is currently
attempting Everest from the north side with a Jagged Globe
expedition, though as far as we're aware, Tom Cruise isn't on the
mountain this season.
The latest news we have is that strong winds confined the Jagged
Globe team to advanced base camp last week, though they are hoping to
move further up the mountain if winds ease later this week.
