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Oiarzabal summits Cho Oyu and achieves 19th 8000er
08:03 a.m. EDT Sep 27, 2003
Juan Oiarzabal did it! This morning he ventured alone to the summit of Cho Oyu and crowned his nineteenth 8,000m peak. In doing so, he surpassed Reinhold Messner’s record of eighteen 8,000m summits and tied Ang Rita Sherpa’s nineteen summits. (Ang Rita has summited four different 8,000m peaks a total of nineteen times, with several repeat ascents. Juan has summited all fourteen 8,000m peaks with repetitions on four mountains.)
But Juan isn’t ready to call it quits yet. He may go for summit Number 20 later this week when he climbs Cho Oyu with Gumersindo Ibáñez, who is attempting his first 8,000er. The two are planning their summit bid within seven days. However, Juan saw an opportunity to climb at dawn on Tuesday. He set out alone and reached Cho Oyu's summit at 6:30 (local time.)
He radioed down that he was “happy and contented” with his accomplishment. Snows had covered any trace of the tracks from Monday’s summit bids, making the ascent more difficult than Juan's climb on the peak last year.
Stay tuned to see if more mountain history is made later this week.
Image of Juan Oiarzabal courtesy of Juanitooiarzabal.com.
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