Chinese mountaineer Dong Hongjuan has become the first woman to conquer all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters on earth.
Dong, 42, successfully ascended to the
"It was a historical day for the mountaineers and mountain lovers, who care about true summits. Now Dong Hongjuan is the first woman to have ascended all true summits of the 14 8000ers," said 8000ers.com on its front page.
"I started climbing out of curiosity, but when I found out about the (eight-thousander climber) list, I hoped there would be a Chinese name on it," said Dong at a celebration banquet in Lhasa on Saturday.
Dong reached the summit of 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, Makalu, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu in 2022.
The 8000ers.com operated by mountaineers specially collects summit information of 14 mountains over 8,000 meters, and its confirmation is widely recognized in the international mountaineering community.
To meet the website's requirements, Dong re-climbed Manaslu, Broad, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri over the years.
"Miss Dong Hongjuan already corrected all her false summits and needs only Shishapangma to be the first woman on all Main-8000ers," said 8000ers.com earlier.
Dong had climbed Mt. Shishapangma in 2018. But she later found out that she had only reached the central peak, but the true summit certified by 8000ers.com is the east peak at 8,027 meters.
Tsering Samdrup, Chairman of Tibet Mountaineering Association, said Dong's character of perseverance is the best expression of the mountaineering spirit and represents the strength of Chinese women.
Located in Nyalam County under Xigaze, Shishapangma is the 14th highest peak in the world and the only eight-thousander entirely within China.
Previously, Luo Jing, another Chinese female climber, had been recognized by 8000ers.com for climbing 13 mountains above 8,000 meters, and reached the summit of Shishapangma on Sept. 29, 2018.
However, Luo later issued a statement saying that after reviewing the summit video and checking with various sources, she believed that she did not reach the true summit of Shishapangma, but somewhere on the southern ridge at 8,012 meters.
The international mountaineering community considers it an achievement to reach the summits of the 14 independent mountains above 8,000 meters, all of which are located in the Himalayas and Karakoram.
