Daily Mountain
47 years, Australia
Kim Hong-bin is the only foreign mountaineer who was given a permit for Annapurna this spring. “The man without fingers” (as he is called sometimes) is going to scale his twelfth eight-thousander. However, that does not mean that a 53-year-old Korean will be traveling alone. He probably has a big base camp support team and will be accompanied during his climb by four Sherpas.
In 1991, Kim Hong-bin suffered severe frostbite on Denali in Alaska, the highest mountain of North America. All ten fingers had to be amputated. In 2017, he scaled Lhotse in spring and Nanga Parbat in summer, his eight-thousanders number ten and eleven. Apart from Annapurna, only Gasherbrum and Broad Peak, both located in Pakistan, are still missing in his collection. Under optimal circumstances, he could climb all three mountains this year.
Paralympics athlete
A 1.76 meter tall South Korean, who lives in the city of Gwangju in the south of the country, has never let his disability slow him down. Kim is also a ski racer. So he took part in the Paralympic Games 2002 in Salt Lake City and finished both Slalom and Super G ninth. In winter 2017, he won – at the age of 52 – the gold medal in slalom at the Korean alpine ski championships of disabled athletes.
In spring 2007, Kim Hong-bin scaled Mount Everest. Barely two years later, in early 2009, he completed the Seven Summits Challenge by climbing Mount Vinson in Antarctica.
We wish Kim Hong-bin good luck and perfect weather!
Sourse: http://blogs.dw.com On top of the Seven Summits
|
We use cookies to enhance your visit to our site.