With her ascent of Gasherbrum I on the 3rd August, the Korean mountaineer, Oh Eun-sun, took a step closer to becoming the first woman to climb all 14 of the 8,000m peaks. She travels to Nepal this autumn to attempt the only summit now missing from her list, Annapurna.

Together with a strong Korean team and a group of Spaniards, Oh Eun-sun took 12 hours to climb from Camp 3 at 7,200m on the Normal Route (Japanese Couloir) to the summit, arriving a little after 1pm. One of the Spanish, Carlos Soria, is 70 and has now climbed all the Pakistan 8,000ers.

For many years no female had climbed more 8,000m peaks than Wanda Rutkiewicz, a Polish mountaineer who is widely acknowledged to be one of the all-time greats in women's mountaineering. Sadly Rutkiewicz died in 1992 while trying to ascend what would have been her ninth 8,000m peak, Kangchenjunga (evidence does not rule out the possibility that she reached the top, which would have made her the first woman to climb the World's three highest mountains).

In more recent times media coverage of female 8,000m collectors has centred on three names: the Austrian Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner; Italian Nives Meroi, and the Spanish-Basque Edurne Pasaban. These three have slowly and steadily worked towards their goal, and currently Kaltenbrunner and Pasaban have 12, while Meroi has 11.

However, two Korean female mountaineers, Oh Eun-sun and her friend Go Mi-sun have come rapidly through the ranks. Go only started climbing 8,000ers in 2006 and had climbed 11 before she was tragically killed on Nanga Parbat last month.

Forty-three years old Oh climbed Gasherbrum II in 1997 but only added Everest (with oxygen) and Xixabangma before 2007. In that year she added two more, in 2008 another four, and this year has climbed another four already: Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Nanga Parbat and now Gasherbrum I.

Several supporters of the European women have been critical of tactics sometimes brought to play by the Koreans: in order to make such fast transitions between peaks, Oh has occasionally used a helicopter to transfer between base camps, and a strong team of climbers to prepare part of the route up the next mountain while she is still at grips with her current objective.

On the 4th August Kaltenbrunner retreated from 8,300m (above the Bottleneck) in deep snow on her second attempt at K2 this season. She appears to have called it a day. Her other remaining peak is Everest, and it would seem both of these will now have to wait until next year. Pasaban has Annapurna and Xixabangma. The latter may be attempted this autumn but her original plans were not to try Annapurna until spring 2010.

Annapurna can be problematical due to the objectively dangerous nature of its standard route from the north. But it is now the only summit standing in the way of Oh's dream of reaching a goal first achieved by Reinhold Messner in 1986.
 

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