Oh Eun-sun

Korean spelling
Hangeul	오은선
Hanja	吳銀善
Revised Romanization	O Eun-seon
McCune- Reischauer	O nsŏn
See also : Korean name

Oh with Korean President Lee Myung-bak

On the 8,091 meter high Annapurna , Oh completed the ascent of all eight-thousanders .

Oh Eun-sun (born March 5, 1966 , according to other sources March 11 or March 1 , 1966 in Namwon ) is a South Korean mountaineer . She is one of the most successful high-altitude mountaineers in the world, but is criticized in the professional world due to the increased use of aids. Oh was the first woman to be credited with climbing all eight-thousanders . However, there are strong doubts about one of the eight-thousander ascent; this is now listed as "contested" in the statistics. Oh's own association refuses to recognize the summit success in question.

Oh is the first woman to have climbed four eight-thousanders in one year. In addition, Oh became the first South Korean woman to reach all Seven Summits in both versions.

In 2004 Oh Eun-sun won the festival prize of the Korean Student Alpine Federation (KSAF) for best alpinist and in 2005 an award from The Women's Newspaper .

Oh Eun-sun says of himself that her thirst for adventure and exploration is already written down in her genes and describes Genghis Khan as her idol. She is single because the mountains are the only thing she desires: “Meeting them is like meeting a fiancé.” When she cannot be in the mountains, she says she feels worried and worried. Since 1985 she has been a member of the Suwon University Alpine Club . Her main job is in a mountain sports equipment store.

Ascent of the Seven Summits

The location of the Seven Summits

As Seven Summits (English, Seven Summits'), the respective highest peaks of the seven continents called, their ascent is considered in high-altitude mountaineering as a special achievement. Because of different views about the borders of the continents, two lists are usually kept: one with Mount Kosciuszko , another with the significantly higher Carstensz pyramid as a representative of Australia and Oceania . Furthermore, it depends on the definition of the inner Eurasian border whether the Elbrus or the Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe. A total of at least nine mountains come into consideration (see definition of the Seven Summits ).

Oh Eun-sun has climbed the peaks of all nine of these mountains. In 1996 she stood on Mont Blanc, in 2002 on Elbrus. The following year, she climbed Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America. In 2004 she reached five of the Seven Summits, namely Aconcagua , Mount Everest , Kibo , Mount Kosciuszko and finally Mount Vinson . With the ascent of Kosciuszko on November 12th of that year, she had completed the Seven Summits in the Kosciuszko variant as the 99th person. On December 3, 2006, she completed the alternative list by climbing the Carstensz pyramid. In this version she was the 110th person on all Seven Summits. If you accept both oceanic peaks, Oh ranks 135 among all Seven Summit climbers. She was also the first South Korean woman to complete either list.

Ascent of the eight-thousanders

The location of the eight-thousanders in the Karakoram and Himalayas

See also : Women's title hunt when climbing all eight-thousanders

Oh Eun-sun stood on July 17, 1997 on the summit of Gasherbrum II and thus for the first time on an eight-thousander , a mountain with a height of 8,000 meters or more, of which there are 14 worldwide. After unsuccessful attempts at Makalu , Broad Peak and K2 in the following years, she climbed the highest mountain on earth, Mount Everest , with the help of bottled oxygen in 2004 ; two years later she was on Shishapangma . In 2007 she climbed Cho Oyu and K2, the latter also with additional oxygen. 2008 can be seen as the turning point in Oh's “race” for the previously unabated title of the first woman on all eight-thousanders. Oh now let himself be flown to the base camp by helicopter, on the mountain strong teams were ready to prepare their ascents. As a result of this effort, she claimed four summit successes on one of the highest mountains on earth in the following two years: 2008 Makalu, Lhotse , Broad Peak and Manaslu ; 2009 Kangchenjunga , Dhaulagiri , Nanga Parbat and Hidden Peak . At the latest, the question of which woman would be the first to climb all 14 eight-thousanders had become a race that the professional world and the international daily press followed with increasing attention. Oh had meanwhile openly declared her goal of winning this title for himself and christened the project “Project 14”. With her performances in 2008 and 2009, she had left the most promising candidates for the title to date, the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner , the Spaniard Edurne Pasaban and the Italian Nives Meroi , and took the lead with 13 of 14 peaks. On April 27, 2010 at around 3:00 p.m. local time, accompanied by three Sherpas and two cameramen, she reached the summit of Annapurna, completing the eight-thousand-meter series. Once at the top, the 44-year-old threw her arms in the air and shouted: “ Victory! ”(German:“ Sieg! ”) Video recordings from the summit were broadcast live on South Korean television, and the success in Oh's home country was celebrated as a national triumph. This makes her the first woman to climb all eight-thousanders. However, because her ascent of Kangchenjunga is controversial, she is not granted this status without restrictions.

Dispute over the ascent of Kangchenjunga

The third highest mountain on earth is the 8,586 meter high Kangchenjunga . Experts doubt that Oh was at its peak.

Oh's ascent of the Kangchenjunga on May 6, 2009 is doubted by critics. In order to underpin her summit success, Oh had submitted a photo - published on the website of The Korea Times , among others - whose authenticity and evidential value are openly questioned in professional circles. It shows a person in mountaineering gear and a cold protection suit including ski goggles who is standing in the driving snow and holding a flag from Oh's sponsor Black Yak into the camera. A second photo shows Oh in the same environment and position with the South Korean flag. Further photos were not published. The first critical voices were raised when another Korean mountaineer stated that she had found Oh's third flag, with the logo of the alpine club of her university, below the summit. The find is also described by the Norwegian mountaineer Jon Gandal: According to his information, his group found the flag with four stones attached about 40 to 50 meters below the summit. This led to the suspicion that Oh had mistakenly assumed he had reached the summit, or even lied. The arguments put forward were that, because of the unclear and foggy background, it was impossible to tell whether the photo was actually taken on the summit of Kangchenjunga; in addition, the identity of the person shown cannot even be made out because the face cannot be recognized; Finally, the extremely short time in which she should have reached the summit was cited: In a report it had been claimed that Oh had mastered the last 500 meters of the ascent in just three and a half hours despite adverse weather without additional oxygen. The feasibility of such an achievement was denied by many experienced high-altitude mountaineers. For example, Huh Young-ho had testified in a radio interview that he considered this to be absolutely impossible. Oh should have been much faster in the last few meters than everyone who had climbed the Kangchenjunga before her, so Huh. He told Oh to climb the mountain again to clear any doubts.

In late 2009, Oh dismissed the allegations at a press conference held by her sponsor Black Yak in Seoul . Because of the adverse weather, a better shot than the controversial photo was not feasible. Also present was one of the Nepalese Sherpas who had accompanied Oh on the way to the summit. He confirmed their claims, adding that he had already been to the summit of Kangchenjunga four times and could therefore rule out the possibility of leading Oh in the wrong place. Regarding the duration of the ascent, Oh stated that it was calculated incorrectly; in fact, it took her not just three and a half but 12 hours and 40 minutes for the last 500 meters.

In April 2010, the American Himalayan chronicler Elizabeth Hawley , who is widely regarded as the authoritative authority for the recognition of eight-thousand-meter climbs in the Nepalese Himalayas, marked Oh's summit success on Kangchenjunga in her Himalayan database as “ disputed ” (German: “contested”) ). This was preceded by a conversation with Edurne Pasaban , who at the time was Oh's strongest competitor in the race for the title of first woman on all eight-thousanders and who had been on the summit of Kangchenjunga less than two weeks after Oh's alleged ascent. Hawley then justified her change to the French press agency AFP :

“There were several teams on Kanchenjunga at that time, one was Miss Pasaban's and one was Miss Oh's. […] The only picture that anyone has seen shows Miss Oh standing on bare rock. But Miss Pasaban showed me a picture of her team on the summit, and they are standing on snow. [...] The other reason is that of the three Sherpas that climbed with Miss Oh, two have said she did not reach the summit. "

“Various teams were at the Kangchenjunga at the time in question, including those of Ms. Pasaban and Ms. Oh. […] The only picture anyone has seen shows Ms. Oh standing on bare rock. But Ms. Pasaban showed me a picture of her team on the summit, and they are standing in the snow. [...] The other reason is that of the three Sherpas who were on the mountain with Mrs. Oh, two said that she had not reached the summit. "

- Elizabeth Hawley : Interview, April 2010

Ferran Latorre , a climber on Pasaban's team, finally asked why the green climbing rope Oh's team had attached to the mountain for ascent stopped about 200 meters below the summit. He sees no reason for this if the ascent was continued to the summit.

On May 3, 2010, Hawley asked Oh in detail about the controversial ascent of the third highest mountain on earth; During the one-hour conversation, the Korean woman assured her that she would present further images. Hawley then decided not to classify the ascent in their database as “ unrecognized ” for the time being, but to keep the status “ disputed ” until clarification. She also congratulated Oh on climbing all eight-thousanders. This success was equally recognized by Ang Tshering, President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association , and by the German Himalayan chronicler Eberhard Jurgalski . However, if Hawley's research came to the conclusion that Oh did not climb the summit, the record would not gain international recognition.

In August 2010, Oh's own mountaineering association, the South Korean Korea Alpine Federation , declined to recognize the climb in question. The general secretary of the association stated that the reason for this was the landscape, which looked different on site than on the supposed summit photo. This was confirmed by a committee of experts from the association, which included experienced mountaineers who have already climbed Kangchenjunga, including the eight-thousander collectors Park Young-seok and Um Hong-gil .

Oh has an advocate in the South Tyrolean mountaineer Reinhold Messner . Messner, who was the first to climb all eight-thousanders, defended Oh in an interview with the magazine profil in September 2010. Her success must be recognized "as long as there is no evidence to the contrary." He described the doubts about the ascent of Kangchenjunga as "character assassination" , the media preparation as an "unfair campaign". Among the evidence brought against Oh, Messner said he had "heard from a Sherpa in Kathmandu who was offered money that he claimed that Eun Sun had cheated on Kangchenjunga."

At the International Mountain Summit on November 6, 2010 in Bressanone, Oh explained that the controversial summit photo was not taken at the highest point of the mountain:

“The real truth is that the Kanchenjunga summit has no rock, but five or ten meters beside is a lot of rock. When I came there, bad weather, a change of weather, I didn't do the real point. I didn't do the real point, but my point is also on the top. "

“The real truth is that the summit of Kangchenjunga has no rock, but there is a lot of rock five or ten meters from it. When I got there, the weather was bad, the weather changed, I didn't make the real point. I didn't make the real point, but my point is on the top too. "

- Oh Eun-sun : Interview, November 2010

Because of the storm, she and her companions turned back there, it was too dangerous to continue, so Oh. Oh assumes that the ascent will still be recognized as such. Messner shares this view. On the other hand, the mountaineering Internet portal ExplorersWeb Oh said that the ascent was canceled and Pasaban was awarded the title of first woman on all eight-thousanders.

Style and nature of the expeditions

See also : Controversial methods for climbing all eight-thousanders

Oh Eun-sun can be named as an exemplary representative of the so-called expedition style . If necessary, she uses additional oxygen and relies on porter support to set up all the camps and insure the route up to the summit area. She herself only confirmed the use of additional oxygen on K2 and Mount Everest. Oh Eun-sun also used helicopters to get to the next base camp as quickly as possible after returning from a summit. Several successive ascents within one season are only possible by flying over the several weeks of approaching routes. The amateur status often cited by Oh is taken ad absurdum due to the great financial outlay and the extensive support from sponsors. Oh does not only use porters to transport equipment, but also to make tracks in deep snow and to prepare the route using fixed ropes.

The use of additional oxygen as well as the strong support from porters and the large use of materials lead to controversy among alpinists. The expedition style is frowned upon here because it obscures the athletic performance of the individual mountaineer. Accordingly, Oh Eun-sun became a controversial figure and was sometimes exposed to severe criticism. For example, Hans Kammerlander , a climbing partner of Reinhold Messner and himself an advocate of the classic alpine style , said about Oh:

“There is nothing sporty about your company. Climbing an eight-thousander with the help of oxygen bottles is a bit like tackling the Giro d'Italia with a moped instead of a racing bike. "

- Hans Kammerlander

In a similar way, Andi Dick judged Oh for the magazine of the German Alpine Club :

"So she [...] was more on the level of commercially run mountain tours, instead of demonstrating excellence in professional sports."

- Andi Dick : DAV magazine

In contrast, Oh is also defended by Reinhold Messner with regard to her style. He said in the profile interview that Oh had much less support than her European competitors. As an example, he cited that Oh had been flown to base camp less often than Kaltenbrunner and Pasaban. These would also use fixed ropes and the help of height girders, even if Kaltenbrunner denied this. Regarding the criticism of the use of additional oxygen - for example by Wolfgang Wabel, department head for top-class sport at the German Alpine Club , who classified additional oxygen as doping - Messner said:

“It's funny: When I and Peter Habeler first climbed Mount Everest without artificial oxygen, the media condemned us to the ground. [...] We were insulted as ambitious and irresponsible. [...] I think it's funny that things are turning around today and that oxygen is even referred to as doping. "

- Reinhold Messner : Interview

Chronology of the expeditions

The first eight-thousander that Oh Eun-sun climbed is the 8,034-meter-high Gasherbrum II .

• 1993: Attempt on Mount Everest with the Korean Women Everest Expedition
• 1996: Mont Blanc
• July 17, 1997: Gasherbrum II over the northwest ridge
• 1999: Trials on Broad Peak and Makalu
• 2001: attempt at K2
• July 24, 2002: Elbrus
• May 24, 2003: Mount McKinley via West Buttress, first solo ascent by a Korean woman
• October 13, 2003: Ascent of the Nirekha (6169 m) in Nepal by the "First Asian Women Expedition"
• January 9, 2004: Aconcagua
• May 20, 2004: Mount Everest with additional oxygen over the northeast ridge as the first solo ascent by a Korean woman
• August 19, 2004: Kibo via the Marangu route
• November 12, 2004: Mount Kosciuszko
• December 19, 2004: Mount Vinson over the West Side
• October 3, 2006: Shishapangma over the southwest face
• December 3, 2006: Carstensz pyramid
• May 8, 2007: Cho Oyu
• July 20, 2007: K2 with additional oxygen
• May 13, 2008: Makalu
• May 26, 2008: Lhotse
• July 31, 2008: Broad Peak
• October 12, 2008: Manaslu
• May 6, 2009: Kangchenjunga (contested) according to its own statements without additional oxygen, which, according to Edurne Pasaban , who was on the mountain at the same time, should not be true
• May 21, 2009: Dhaulagiri three days after arrival at base camp and after twelve hours of ascent under stormy conditions, according to information from its sponsor Black Yak without additional oxygen
• July 10, 2009: Nanga Parbat
• August 3, 2009: Hidden Peak despite difficult snow conditions, again without additional oxygen according to information from its sponsor
• April 27, 2010: Annapurna

See also

• List of climbers who have climbed all eight-thousanders

literature

• Andi Dick: climbed or conquered? The 14 eight-thousander women . In: Deutscher Alpenverein (Ed.): Panorama. Magazine of the German Alpine Club . No. 4/2010 , August 2010 ( article online as PDF on the website of the German Alpine Club, approx. 2.3 MB [accessed on August 1, 2010]).
• Hans Gasser: Race on 14 eight-thousanders: The fast Miss Oh . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung . November 4, 2010 ( article online at sueddeutsche.de [accessed October 10, 2011] interview with Oh Eun-sun).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ March 06 , 8000ers.com, accessed March 6, 2012
2. ↑ Oh Eun-Sun on britannica.com, accessed March 6, 2012
3. ↑ Statistics of 7 summits climber Oh ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 6, 2012 
4. ↑ Oh Eun Sun es la primera. April 28, 2010, archived from the original on September 6, 2010 ; Retrieved August 22, 2010 (Spanish). 
5. ↑ ^{a b} Eberhard Jurgalski : Climbers who have ascended to the summits of all of the world's 14 mountains over 8000 meters. (PDF; 15 kB) Accessed July 30, 2010 (English). 
6. ↑ Holger Kreitling : Oh Eun-Sun and the hunt for more. In: Welt Online . April 27, 2010, accessed September 1, 2010 . 
7. ↑ Sigi Lützow: Head of the day: Oh Eun-sun . In: The Standard . April 28, 2010 ( article online on the Standard website [accessed August 7, 2010]).
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} Statistics of 7 summits climber Oh. In: 7summits.com. Retrieved August 22, 2010 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Eberhard Jurgalski: Top 5 Ladies. (PDF, approx. 14 kB) In: 8000ers.com. May 24, 2010, accessed August 4, 2010 . 
10. ↑ ExWeb special: Himalaya fall season kick-off with a huge spring flashback. In: explorersweb.com. August 24, 2009, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
11. ↑ Oh Eun-Sun summits Gasherbrum I, her 13th 8000er. In: planetmountain.com. August 4, 2009, accessed August 29, 2010 . 
12. ^ Eberhard Jurgalski: The "Race". In: 8000ers.com. April 26, 2010, accessed August 4, 2010 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Doubts about the Korean woman's summit record. In: online edition of the world . April 27, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b c} Michael Wulzinger: Race in the death zone. In: Spiegel Online . January 11, 2010, accessed January 15, 2010 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Stephan Orth: Rival doubts Oh Eun Sun's world record. In: Spiegel Online . April 27, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
16. ↑ Oh Eun-Sun summits Annapurna - becomes the first woman 14x8000er summiteer! In: explorersweb.com. April 27, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
17. ↑ Park Si-soo: Oh Completes Record 14-Peak Climb. In: Korea Times online . April 27, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
18. ↑ ^{a b c d} Andi Dick: Climbed or conquered? The 14 eight-thousander women . In: Deutscher Alpenverein (Ed.): Panorama. Magazine of the German Alpine Club . No. 4/2010 , August 2010 ( Panorama number 4/2010 online on the website of the German Alpine Club [accessed on September 12, 2012]). }
19. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Park Si-soo: Truth or Lie: Woman Climber's Claim in Question. In: Online edition of the Korea Times . December 3, 2009, accessed August 6, 2010 . 
20. ↑ Dario Rodriguez: Miss Oh. Alcanzo la cima del Kangchenjunga? In: Desnivel . No. 291 , October 2010, p. 30 ff .
21. ↑ ^{a b c} Stephen Mulvey: Korean woman climber's Himalayan record challenged. In: Internet pages of the BBC . April 13, 2010, accessed August 6, 2010 . 
22. ^ Claire Cozens (AFP): Winds delay S. Korean climber's record attempt. April 24, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
23. ↑ ^{a b} Park Si-soo: Oh's record gets nod from Hawley. In: Online edition of the Korea Times . May 4, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
24. ↑ Choe Sang-hun: Korean Is First Woman to Scale 14 Highest Peaks. In: Online edition of the New York Times . April 27, 2010, accessed August 22, 2010 . 
25. ↑ South Korean Association doubts summit success. In: Spiegel Online . August 27, 2010. Retrieved August 28, 2010 . 
26. ↑ Oh Eun-sun's Climb Claims Under Doubt. In: The Chosun Ilbo. August 27, 2010, accessed August 28, 2010 . 
27. ↑ Fiona Govan: First woman to climb world's highest peaks stripped of title. In: Online edition of the Daily Telegraph . August 27, 2010, accessed August 28, 2010 . 
28. ↑ ^{a b c d} Tina Goebel: "Kaltenbrunner and Stangl operate tourism". In: online edition of profil . September 6, 2010, accessed September 13, 2010 . 
29. ↑ Stephan Orth: Korea's eight-thousander queen. The stories of the Oh. In: Spiegel Online . November 9, 2010, accessed November 9, 2010 .  Original quotation from Oh Eun-Sun's Kangchenjunga 2009. In: ExplorersWeb. February 16, 2011, archived from the original on October 15, 2011 ; accessed on November 21, 2011 (English). 
30. ↑ Bernd Steinle: Summit meeting of the mountaineering scene. The truth of the Oh Eun-sun. In: FAZ.NET . November 8, 2010, accessed November 9, 2010 . 
31. ↑ Stephan Orth: "I'm done". In: Spiegel Online . November 8, 2010, accessed November 9, 2010 (interview with Oh Eun Sun). 
32. ↑ Stephan Orth: Korea's eight-thousander queen. The stories of the Oh. In: Spiegel Online . November 9, 2010, accessed November 9, 2010 . 
33. ↑ ExWeb Oh Eun-Sun report, final: Edurne Pasaban takes the throne. In: ExplorersWeb. December 10, 2010, accessed December 11, 2010 . 
34. ↑ Oh Eun-sun over all mountains . In: The Standard . April 28, 2010 ( article online on the Standard website [accessed August 7, 2010]).

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Oh is the family name here, Eun-sun is the first name.