Edurne Pasaban

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Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar
Born (1973-08-01) 1 August 1973 (age 50)
NationalitySpain Spanish
OccupationMountaineering.
Websitehttp://www.edurnepasaban.com
Poster with Edurne Pasaban

Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar (born August 1, 1973) is a Spanish mountaineer. On May 17, 2010, she became the first woman to climb all 14 of the eight-thousanders – and the 21st person to do so.[1] Her first 8,000 peak had been achieved 9 years earlier, on May 23, 2001, when she reached the summit of Mount Everest. She has also completed the seven summits.

Life and career[edit]

Pasaban was born in Tolosa, in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain.

Climbing[edit]

She summited her ninth eight-thousander, Broad Peak, on July 12, 2007, together with the Austrian climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner. On May 1, 2008, Pasaban summited Dhaulagiri, as did Kaltenbrunner the same day again. Both downplayed the aspect of a race between them for the first woman to climb all 14 eight-thousanders. On May 18, 2009, Pasaban climbed Kangchenjunga with, among others, Juanito Oiarzabal and the Polish climber Kinga Baranowska. With that she exceeded Kaltenbrunner and Nives Meroi and she became the first woman to climb twelve eight-thousanders.[2] Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner equaled her two days later when summited Lhotse. Nives Meroi, an Italian climber, then tried to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga, but was forced to abandon the climb when her husband and fellow climber, Romano Benet, began suffering health problems during the ascent.

On April 17, 2010, she added Annapurna to her record,[3] and proceeded directly thereafter to climb Shishapangma, where she completed her quest on May 17.[4]

Temporary Dispute Over 14 Peaks Record[edit]

On April 27, 2010, it was announced that Pasaban might have lost out on becoming the first woman to climb all 14 8,000 meter peaks to Korean climber Oh Eun-sun.[5] However, Pasaban and other experts disputed Oh's summit of Kangchenjunga.[6] Following a conversation between Elizabeth Hawley and Pasaban, Hawley announced that Oh's summit would be marked as "disputed" in future editions of her Himalayan database.[7] On May 3, Oh had an hour long discussion with Hawley in Kathmandu, in which she asked Oh about the details of her Kangchenjunga climb.[8] "Oh will be credited for her climb to Kangchenjunga but the ascent will be marked as disputed," Hawley later told the press.[8] "Her account was completely different from Pasaban's so I really don't know who is right," she added.[8] Hawley reportedly said the Kangchenjunga entry will be switched back to "successful" if the Spanish team withdraws its allegations.[9] Rejecting Pasaban's claims, Oh added, "I believe that according to Pasaban, some Sherpas told her that I hadn't climbed Kangchenjunga. But no names of the Sherpas have been mentioned. Why?"[8]

On May 4, 2010 Pasaban mentioned the names of the seven Sherpas involved: "Dawa Ongchu Sherpa, Pema Chiring Sherpa, Chheji Nurbu Sherpa, Dawa Sangge Sherpa, Ong Darchi Sherpa, Cuombi Sherpa and Phurdorchi Sherpa."[10] She declined to give these names earlier as these Sherpas were still working for the Korean climber. Later Pasaban conceded that she was the second woman to climb the 14 highest peaks, but questioned whether the Korean climber had actually conquered them all.[11]

However, on August 29, 2010, it was announced that the South Korean Hiking Federation, after examining the proofs presented by Oh, had refused to acknowledge her Kangchenjunga ascent, accepting the sherpas' version according to which Oh was not able to complete the ascent due to bad weather conditions.[12] [13] [14] Oh later admitted that she had to stop a few hundred meters below the Kangchenjunga summit, and the mountaineering site ExplorersWeb considered on December 10, 2010 that Edurne Pasaban is the first woman that has climbed all fourteen peaks,[1] settling the debate. [15]

Eight-thousanders climbed[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b ExWeb Oh Eun-Sun report, final: Edurne Pasaban takes the throne, ExplorersWeb, Dec 10, 2010
  2. ^ Top-5 women to reach more eight-thousanders, with dates
  3. ^ "Annapurna summit push watch: SUMMITS!". Explorersweb. 2010-04-17. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  4. ^ "Shisha Pangma: Edurne Pasaban summits - completes the 14x8000ers". Explorersweb. 2010-05-17. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  5. ^ Stephen Mulvey (2010-04-27). "Is Korean Oh Eun-sun first woman to climb 14 top peaks?". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  6. ^ Spanish TV, Photo of Oh Eun-Sun at Kangchenjunga, which has created serious doubts (in Spanish)
  7. ^ "Korean woman climber's Himalayan record challenged". BBC News. 2010-04-23.
  8. ^ a b c d Sophia Tamot (AFP) "S.Korean climber defends claim to 14-peak record" May 3, 2010 Retrieved on 2010-05-12.
  9. ^ Chosun Daily "Mountaineer Oh Eun-sun Meets Arbiter of Himalaya Ascents" May 4, 2010 Retrieved on 2010-05-15.
  10. ^ Pasaban da los nombres de los sherpas que dicen que Miss Oh no hizo cumbre (in Spanish)
  11. ^ "Spanish climber concedes she is second woman to climb world's 14 highest peaks", Telegraph.co.uk 23 May 2010 Retrieved on 27 May 2010
  12. ^ "First woman to climb world's highest peaks stripped of title". The Telegraph. Telegraph.co.uk. 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  13. ^ "S.Korea rejects woman's world-record climbing claim". channelnewsasia.com. 2010-08-27. Archived from the original on 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  14. ^ "Pasaban se acerca a su cumbre más difícil". Eurosport (in Spanish). Yahoo. 2010-08-29. Retrieved 2010-08-31.
  15. ^ Ángel Cruz (2010-08-31). "La notaria del Himalaya corona a Edurne Pasaban" (in Spanish). As. Retrieved 2010-08-31.

External links[edit]

Awards
Preceded by Spanish Sportswoman of the Year
2010
Succeeded by