Karakoram Mountains: Broad Peak on the right, K2 in the background (archive image)
Photo:
WOLFGANG RATTAY / REUTERS
According to media reports, a South Korean climber who is missing all ten fingers has climbed the 14 highest mountains on earth.
The 57-year-old Kim Hong Bin is the first person with a disability who is known to have made it, reported the newspaper "The Korea Herald" and the national news agency Yonhap on Monday, citing the Alpine Association of Gwangju in South Korea.
Kim reached the summit of the approximately 8,050-meter-high Broad Peak in the South Asian Karakoram Mountains on the border between Pakistan and China on Sunday.
He climbed all 14 eight-thousanders, including Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth, and K2.
South Korean President Moon Jae In congratulated Kim in a message on Twitter.
He brought hope to people who were tired from the corona pandemic.
Kim lost his fingers 30 years ago due to frostbite from a solo ascent of 6,190-meter-high Denali (formerly Mount McKinley) in Alaska.
According to the Alpine Association, Kim is the 44th person and the seventh South Korean to have climbed the 14 highest mountains so far.
wit / dpa