Beijing, 2 May 2023 (TDI): Chinese mountaineer Dong Hongjuan became the first woman to ascend all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters on Earth.
On Sunday, the international mountaineering summit website 8000ers.com confirmed that Dong ascended to the summit of 8,027 meters Mount Shishapangma successfully.
According to the website, Dong Hongjuan is the first woman to have ascended all true summits of the 14 8000ers; thus, the day marks a historic day for mountaineers and mountain lovers.
Moreover, Dong, at the celebration banquet in Lhasa on Saturday, said she started her journey of climbing mountains out of curiosity. However, upon discovering the list of climbers who have ascended all the world’s eight-thousanders, she harboured a hope that a Chinese name would feature on it.
Dong climbed Mt. Qomolangma in 2013, completed Cho Oyu and Gasherbrum II in 2014, Qogir (K2), Nanga Parbat and Gasherbrum I in 2017, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse and Broad in 2018, Annapurna in 2021, and Makalu, Dhaulagiri, and Manaslu in 2022.
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Since 8000ers.com had strict requirements for collecting submitted information on 14 mountains over 8,000 meters, its confirmation is widely recognized in the international mountaineering community.
Therefore, Dong had to meet the requirements of the website. Therefore, she re-climbed Manaslu, Broad, Annapurna, and Dhaulagiri over the years.
She climbed Mt. Shishapangma in 2018; however, she later discovered that she had only reached the central peak, while the true summit certified by 8000ers.com is the east peak at 8,027 meters.
Regarding this, 8000ers.com stated, “Miss Dong Hongjuan already corrected all her false summits and needs only Shishapangma to be the first woman on all Main-8000ers.”
Upon climbing Shishapangma again, the 14th highest peak in the world and the only eight-thousander entirely within China, she not only fulfilled the requirements of the website to be one of the 8000ers’ ascenders but also the first Chinese lady to ascend all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters on earth.
The Chairman of the Tibet Mountaineering Association Tsering Samdrup appreciated Dong on her achievement and said that her character of perseverance is the best expression of the mountaineering spirit and represents the strength of Chinese women.
In addition to this, 8000er.com also recognizes another Chinese female mountaineer named Luo Jing, who climbed 13 mountains above 8,000 meters and reached the summit of Shishapangma on Sept. 2018.
Later, Luo released a statement stating that upon reviewing the summit video and consulting multiple sources, she concluded that she did not reach the actual summit of Shishapangma. Instead, she believes she made it to somewhere on the southern ridge at 8,012 meters.
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As a matter of fact, all the 14 independent mountains at an altitude of 8000 meters are located in the Himalayas and Karakoram. Therefore, The international mountaineering community considers it an achievement to reach the summits of these 14 mountains.
