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Quick stop home to pack new gear: Lhotse woman summiteer heading for the two Gs!
12:16 p.m. EDT Jun 11, 2003
This female climber simply doesn't know when to stop. Back home only days ago from her recent Lhotse summit -Edurne Pasaban is already packing her sleeping bag, getting ready to leave for the Karakorum and an attempt on the two Gasherbrums.
The Lhotse expedition was almost aborted when the news on Carlos Pauners disappearance on Kangchenjunga hit the expedition.
Says Edurne: “That was terrible, all came at once. We had returned from our first failed summit attempt somewhat discouraged and then I read a story saying Carlos had disappeared. We did not think of the summit anymore, just started to pack our things and prepared to go home. No one knew what had happened to him. Carlos is much more than an expedition partner to me - we were together on Makalu - and became closest friends.”
Then came the news of Carlos miraculous return. Spirits soaring, the team decided to give the summit another shot. The winds died down and all members made it to the top. The fact that Eudurne summited way ahead of the rest of the team she just commented with: "Well, I suppose I was well acclimatized."
Edurne Pasaban has already climbed four of the 14 8000 meter mountains in the world, Everest,Cho Oyu, Makalu and Lhotse. This year she is going for the two Gasherbrums. If she is successful with both she will have six 8000ers - a feat only accomplished by three women before her: Polish climber Wanda Rutkiewicz (8), French climber Chantal Mauduit (6) and American climber Christine Boskoff (6). Both Wanda and Chantal sadly perished in the mountains.
Image courtesy of www.edurnepasaban.net
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