We all know there is a very big sporting event which starts at the end of the week – yes the Winter Olympics –  to be held at Whistler, Vancouver. Of the 15 sports to hold events none is perhaps as crazy as this one – shovel racing. What? Shovel racing – yes its a case of going flat out down a hill whilst sat on the blade of the shovel.

Is it not time that the powers that be introduce a gold medal for shovel racing? Oh come on – it is not serious enough – lighten up guys – you have to see the funny side of the sport – check out this video from NickGASfan

Well that is how things were but we are able to provide an update courtesy of Miguel Bustillo of The New York Times who has reported on the resumption of shovel racing at Angel Fire Resort in New Mexico this past weekend.

After 25 years people had become a little bored with sliding down the mountain on the shovel and had become rather more creative in their design. As long as the blade of the shovel was on the snow what was built above the blade did not matter.

Faster and faster speeds were recorded and the sport became more dangerous and extreme as people created contraptions like those seen in the video above and therefore in 2005 the authorities had to stop the racing for fear of liability concerns and insurance claims.

This past weekend, Angel Fire resumed shovel racing’s “World Championship” for the first time in five years, but with a big catch: Only old-fashioned metal grain shovels were permitted. Customization was confined to paint and wax.

“People get worked up about losing the modified shovels, but at least we don’t need an aircraft-carrier net anymore to stop people from crashing into the resort,” said Gail Boles, a 47-year-old pharmacist from Taos and former world-champ shovel racer in both the modified and traditional competition.

For now, die-hards hope that the return of “production” shovel racing, the name given to competition featuring mass-produced hardware-store shovels, will spur interest in the more extreme varieties.

For competitive reasons, aficionados are loath to reveal the finer points of shovel-racing technique, but the basics are simple:

Place your hindquarters in the shovel’s rounded end, with the handle between your legs. Straighten your body and lean back as close to the ground as possible. Push off. Pray.

Steering can be attempted by subtly lowering a hand into the snow to correct course, but a speeding shovel has the maneuverability of a shooting cannonball.

Cardinal rule: Never grab the handle, as it only veers you more wildly off track.

More than 100 riders raced time trials beneath turquoise skies this weekend. Shovels flew and no one got hurt. Jeff Hamblin, who clocked a time of 13.4 seconds and reached a top speed of 63 miles per hour, won the men’s championship.Kelly Haukebo, 46, an Angel Fire real-estate agent won the women’s world championship.

Amazingly we have not been able to find a video of the event held last weekend – ESPN used to include shovel racing in their Winter X games but they decided to drop it for demographic reasons – is it that shovel racing is just too extreme – well you could say you were flying by the seat of your pants!

… and this Saturday it’s the KITEWING (wingsurfer). Could it be faster than a kitesurfer? Hmmm, I’d love some comments from you guys out there…

We have devoted some column inches over the last couple of weeks extolling the virtues of Whistler, Vancouver which is to host a feast of extreme sports in the Winter Olympics which start a week today with what we are sure will be a spectacular opening ceremony.

But Whistler is not only famous for its winter sports activities for it is a different mode of transport about which we write today. If you are seeking your thrills – and no doubt a few spills – you will have to change your mode of transport from the ski/snowboard to the mountain bike. In the summer the Whistler area becomes a haven for bikers of all different standing – be you beginner or expert you will have a great time in the warm months of summer.

So just in case you mountain bikers are feeling left out we thought we would give you a little information on Whistler – or a mountain bikers heaven as some would rather have you call it.

The Whistler website reckons a lot of work is being done to the intermediate trails in Garbanzo, a new Whiskey Jack single track trail and increased maintenance of existing trails. Sure sounds mouth watering and if you include the A line opening you can look forward to an exiting year mountain biking at Whistler.

Photo courtesy of Whistler Outfitters

Whistler Mountain Bike Park lift tickets provide access to over 4,900 vertical feet of lift-serviced gravity fed, adrenaline fueled descending trails. Something for every level of rider. Gentle, banked cruisers through the Coastal forest. Tight and twisty single track – perfect for intermediate riders. For the armour clad, full face wearing, 50lb. bike group there are steep rock faces, gnarly, root strewn lines, drop offs of all descriptions and more.

Day ticket prices vary depending on the time of year you vist – there are high season prices and otherwise – it is best you check from the website http://www.whistlerbike.com/tickets-passes/lift-tickets/index.htm but they vary from $52 to $45 for an adult and $46 to $40 for a youth. These prices are based in the loonie but there isn’t much difference these days.

If you need to rent a bike there should be no problem – rental shops offer downhill and valley bikes at $100 for the day and should you require armour that is also available!

In this great video below from SnowboardPowder you can experience through the eyes of a helmet can some of what Whistler has to offer : here we see both the upper and lower A line followed by Double Vision and then Spinal Tap – wicked!

If that hasn’t whetted your appetite whatever will – below are the 2010 opening times – no problem!

The Bike Park opening day is set for May 15, 2010.

There’s no such thing as “too old” – or not in Poul Rasmussen’s case. At 85 years old his passion is kitesurfing (AdvanceCopenhagen).

There are many much better and much longer videos, but unfortunately all with a lot of interviews included – and the language is Danish. Now, I have nothing against the Danish language, but I’m not sure how many of our readers are fluent in it! So I apologise to Poul, but the quick snip I’ve shown of a man to emanate will, I hope, whet your appetite to keep reading!

So that’s kitesurfing out the way, what about some of our other favourite sports?

Donna Vano is the oldest pro-snowboarder in the world. At 56 she is a legend in the snowboard and skateboard industry- an action sports veteran in every sense of the word. For 16 years she  has competed in Superpipe, Slopestyle, Boardercross, Slalom and Giant Slalom. She currently holds three Guinness World Records as the Oldest Inline Vert Skater in the World, the Most Gold Medals in the USASA in all 5 disciplines, and the Oldest Female Amateur Snowboarder Competing in Pro Tours in the Superpipe. She also runs the South Tahoe Snowboard Series USASA Nationals, which was the top for 8 years in a row and has been top in the series for 12 years. “I’m not getting older, I’m getting better,” she says.

The oldest person to have climbed Mount Everest is a Nepalese Sherpa called Min Bahadur Sherchan. He was 76 years and 340 days old. The second oldest is 75-year-old Japanese Yuichiro Miura, who reached the top two days after him, and the third is another Japanese, 71 year old  Katsusuke Yanagisawa, a teacher by profession.

In 2009,  Amanda Richmond, 54, a PE teacher from Ipswich, England, battled electrical storms, giant snow plumes and freezing temperatures to scale the 8,850m mountain, the highest on earth and so became the oldest woman to have climbed Everest.  She said: “It was incredible. I feel privileged to have been in that situation – to stand on top of the world.”

I’m trying to find the oldest wingsuit flyer, but in the meantime I have come across the oldest skydiver. Frank Moody, aged 101, made a tandem jump in 2004. Now that’s quite something isn’t – anybody who ‘doesn’t dare’ should be ashamed of themselves!!!

Still struggling to find the oldest wingsuit flyer, I have to allude to Yves Rossy – or ‘jet’ or ‘fusion’ man as he is also known. At 50, he has to be the oldest and most successful person to have achieved sustained human flight with the aid of a jet-powered fixed wing strapped to his back. His next project is to fly across the Grand Canyon. Rossy is both a highly experienced skydiver and a veteran aircraft pilot.

“My biggest concern is what happens when I get bored with this (wingsuit flying),” says veteran BASEjumper Phil Smith on the risks of wingsuit jumping from buildings, bridges and cliffs, and that’s about the last word I have on the oldest wingsuit flyer. I know Dwain Weston was 30 when he died practicing the sport he loved, but as for the oldest wingsuit flyer?  Mum’s the word.

Since 2006, Russell Allen, an American cyclist has been the oldest living American Olympian Cyclist – he got his medal in 1932. But cycling has a venerable reputation for more aged participants. The oldest participant for the ‘Les 24 Heures Velo’ – a team-endurance cycle event to be held in August this year at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit – will be 82 years old. Whereas, In 2007 in Ladysmith, South Africa, Mkhulu Mkhize, was given a brand new set of wheels at the venerable age of 112. Ok, fair enough, he’s not about to be competing at that age – but to still be cycling yourself around the countryside is quite something.

And as for the Olympics, it seems like our sportsmen are going on for ever and ever. The 2008 event was a real eye-opener. Japanese horseman Hiroshi Hoketsu lead the pack at Beijing, returning to the Games after a 44-year break, aged 67. Laurie Lever turned 60 in October 2007, the last thing on his mind was retirement with the Australian show jumper focused on riding in his first Olympics. The title of oldest Olympian is held by Swedish shooter Oscar Swahn, who collected his sixth medal at the 1920 Antwerp Games aged 72 years and 280 days. “We are a fitter generation,” said Lever, whose appearance on Ashleigh Drossel Dan in the show jumping in Hong Kong is believed to make him the oldest debutant at the 2008 Games.

Laurence J. Brophy of Wales at 77 years old took part in last years’ RacingThePlanet Atacama Crossing – surely one of the most testing of the ultramarathon/endurance races. He didn’t complete all stages, but he did most of it. An extraodinary undertaking for any human being let alone one on the other side of 70 and at 74, Jack Denness of the UK, took part in  the Sahara Race. He said: “It is fantastic to be here. I love it. It is great for my ego as even the front runners give me lots of respect because of my age.”

Sports academics are not surprised by the ability of athletes to remain competitive longer and expect increasing numbers of over 40s to stay competing at top level sport as training techniques and technology continue to improve.

“Ageing is inevitable for humans. But if you have goals in life, you should go through the physical and mental training, forget about age and embark on the challenges,” said Yuichiro Miura.

Something to think about, isn’t it…

Yesterday we talked about the skeleton event at the forthcoming Winter Olympics to be held in Whistler, Vancouver, Canada and today we turn our attention to an extreme sport that is closely related to skeleton – the luge.

In luge – the French word for “sled” – racers begin by sitting on open fibreglass sleds. Pulling on fixed handles in the ice, they burst out of the start. After this explosive start, they use spiked gloves on the ice surface for extra acceleration before lying down on their backs, feet stretched out in front of them, heads back to be as aerodynamic as possible. Luge racers steer using their legs and shoulders, and brake by sitting up, putting their feet down and pulling up on the sled runners.

Therefore the fundamental difference between skeleton and luge is that the skeleton pilots go down the track head first lying on their stomachs whereas the luge pilots are feet first lying on their back. Which is crazier we are not sure – but a similarity would appear to be that you can see very little be it luge or skeleton.

Luge races have grown considerably faster with refrigerated luge tracks and aerodynamic equipment, so that speeds now regularly reach 140 kilometres an hour or more and G-forces reach over 5G.

The singles events consist of four heats over two days. The individual with the lowest combined time over the four runs wins. Men and women compete on the same track, but the women and doubles begin further down the course. The four-run format is unique to the Olympic Winter Games and designed to reward consistency, endurance and ability to withstand pressure – particularly on the second day.

The doubles event consists of two runs over one day, with the fastest total time determining the winner. All events in luge are timed to the thousandth of a second.

Two athletes — Peter Minsch of Switzerland and George Robertson of Australia — who in February 1883 instigated what was called “The Great International Sled Race”. Their time: 9 minutes and 15 seconds, to slide down a four kilometre track joining the Swiss villages of Klosters and Davos was nothing very special but that didn’t matter – it was the idea that mattered.  But it was not until 1964 that luge for men, women and doubles made its Olympic debut at the Games in Innsbruck.

The action kicks off right at the beginning of the games with the men’s singles competition being held over the 13th and 14th Feb. Then it is the turn of the girls who race over the 15th and 16th of Feb – and finally the doubles who compete on Feb 17th.

The favourites for medals in the luge are the Germans who have dominated the event for the last 10 years and in all probability they have a very good chance of winning again. But strong competition usually comes from Austria, Italy, Russia and the USA but with home advantage see what the 2010 Olympics Luge Coach Wolfgang Staudinger says about the Luge Canada team’s chances at the Vancouver 2010 Games. Thanks RayVanEng for the video.

The Canadian team have monopolised the tracks at Whistler in sports such as the skeleton – gaining an advantage over their opponents. All the other visiting nations will have just six practice runs under Games conditions when they get to Whistler to take them to a total of 40 descents each on the track before the skeleton gets under way on 18 February. The Canadians will be up near the 400 mark.

There are two individual skeleton events in the Olympic Games: one for men and one for women. Both events consist of four heats held over two days, timed electronically to 0.01 seconds. The individual with the lowest combined time wins. The tracks run from 1200 – 1650 m, 1200 m of which are downhill

Men’s skeleton was raced at the 1928 and 1948 Olympic Winter Games, both in St. Moritz. Skeleton then re-appeared as a permanent Olympic sport for both men and women at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.

Skeleton got its name from the sled used — originally metal, now fiberglass and metal — as it resembles a human skeleton. To start, a skeleton slider grasps the handles on either side of the sled, runs as fast as possible for approximately 50 metres, then dives head first onto the sled. Sliders lie on their stomachs and steer by shifting their bodies very slightly.

Like the other sliding sports of bobsleigh and luge, the start is crucial in skeleton — where a tenth of a second lead at the start can become three-tenths of a second by the bottom of the run. These athletes train much like sprinters to develop the powerful legs they need to explode onto the track. But speed is not the only factor: they must also find the best line and steer smoothly through each turn to keep their speed high.

Canadian skeleton slider Mellisa Hollingsworth won a bronze medal for Canada at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games shortly after winning the overall World Cup title that season and will start as one of the favourites for the women’s event in Whistler.

She will have to be in top form as speeds of up to 140 kmh can be achieved on what is believed to be the fastest track in the world. Athletes  from Germany, Latvia, United States, Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Canada, Korea, Australia, Russia, Norway, Japan, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Ireland, Slovenia,  Bermuda will be lining up to challenge her.

And why not use the home advantage – wouldn’t you – and what else is home advantage for? The Canadians deserve a good return in terms of medals for putting on what we are sure will be a great Winter Olympics – bring them on!

The video below from Blickinsfreie shows you how skeleton is done.

This video from newsliders gives you an idea of the speed you attain as it is filmed from a camera attached to the helmet of the skeleton pilot – terrrrifying!

… and 3 hopeful skiers from New Zealand have already arrived.

Jossi Wells, a freeskier who will be challenging the world’s best in the men’s skiing slopestyle; his brother Byron, who will be competing in the superpipe event, and Shelley Gotlieb, currently ranking 6th in the world in women’s snowboarding. She will be competing in the women’s snowboard slopestyle. All 3 skiers are Cardrona Alpine Resort team athletes from South Island, New Zealand.

Canada is gearing up for their winter games and the mood is almost carnival despite the freezing temperatures. Canadian powers-that-be are aiming to ensure that everyone in Canada benefits from them, including Canada’s original settlers – a people now called The First Nations.

With this in mind, over the next 16 days more than 300 First Nations, Inuit and Métis youth, aged 19 to 29, will experience the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be at Canada’s Games in person and showcase their culture and region through a range of activities and special events.  The games, after all, are being held in the traditional lands of the Lil’wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

The flame was lit in Olympia on 22nd October,2009 and traveled from Greece over the North Pole to Canada’s High Arctic and on to the West Coast and Vancouver. The relay started its long Canadian journey from the British Columbia capital of Victoria.

In Canada, the torch will travel approximately 45,000 kilometers over 106 days, making it the longest relay route within one country in Olympic history. The Olympic Torch will be carried by approximately 12,000 Canadians and has venerated one of them – Jack Poole (VANOCwebteam).

Jack Poole was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was at the head of the Canadian bid committee, called VANOC, that was responsible for bringing the Winter Games to Canada. They are also responsible for everything since then – the planning, organizing, financing and staging of the XXI Olympic Winter Games and the Paralympic Winter Games in 2010. Jack Poole died of pancreatic cancer on the 23rd October, just hours after the Olympic Flame was lit at Olympia.

The Olympic Torch is getting closer to its destination – today it is traveling from Fort St. John  to Prince Rupert, B.C.

Speed skater Clara Hughes, 37,  a five-time Olympic medalist, will carry the Canadian flag at the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee said Friday. She is not only a speed skater but a Canadian cyclist too, which makes her one of the few athletes to medal at both the Summer and Winter Games of the Olympics. She is the second most decorated Canadian Olympian. The most decorated is also a speedskater – Cindy Klassen with six medals.

“This is without a doubt the greatest honour of my sporting life,” Hughes said. “Leading the Team into BC Place is something I look forward to because of the world class Canadian athletes beside me, and the inspiring stories behind each one of them.

“These Games will have a profound impact on every Canadian, fostering so many hopes and dreams. I remember being that young person and seeing the Games in Calgary – that was the beginning of my amazing journey that has brought me here today.”

Hughes is the sixth speedskater to be name flag-bearer, following Gordon Audley in 1952, Ralph Olin in 1964, Gaetan Boucher in 1984, Sylvie Daigle in 1992 and Catriona Le May Doan in 2002.

Super G World Champion, Didier Cuche from Switzerland, is determined to be at the Games despite surgery on Saturday after fracturing his right thumb in a fall in Friday’s giant slalom at Kranjska Gora. “The Olympics are still on. We will see how the operation goes and how (the injury) can be protected,” said the super-G world champion. Apart from the thumb, he is superb form. Last week he produced a double downhill-super G triumph on the Streif at Kitzbuehel to take his season win tally to four and career total to 13.

He will definitely not want to miss the big one and certainly not for a broken thumb. He broke a rib 6 weeks ago in Val d’Isére and that didn’t slow him down much either.

We are showing a cerebral video this weekend for a change (FFreeThinker). Something that slips into our extreme weather catagory. Make of it what you will, but if people would only stop bickering and commit themselves to the future, I am sure there will be something better there for our children than the way we are going now…

Sir Hugh Thomas Munro was born in 1856 and was an intrepid hill walker and mountaineer.

He was one of the original founding members of the Scottish Mountaineering Club which was founded in 1889 and from 1894-1897 he served as its president.

His attention to detail made him the ideal man to be chosen for the task of mapping all mountains in Scotland over a height of 3,000 ft (914.4m), now known as a Munro Top.  So little was known about Scotland’s mountains at this time that it was thought there were only about 30 over this specified height. We are talking about the days when great landowners could forbid people walking over their lands.

Being a landowner himself, Munro appreciated this law and so rather than risk the ire of the landowners or their estate rangers, he climbed several of the peaks at night!

By the time Munro had charted them all, the list had increased to 538!

He was a stickler for exactness and the tables he made about Scotland’s mountains (now known as the Munro Tables)  are still used today although, with improved measuring devices, some information has been updated. Munro himself used a barometer to calibrate the height of each mountain as he climbed it. His brief was to provide basic information on each peak – it’s height, it’s location and the best ascent.

Dedicated? Definitely. Slightly crazy? Perhaps…

Scotland’s mountains, although not very high, are challenging at the best of times. The weather is totally unpredictable and can be very treacherous because of their latitude and their exposure to the Atlantic weather systems. Even in summer you cannot anticipate an improvement: thick fog, strong winds, driving rain and freezing summit temperatures are not unusual.  Returning from one of his climbs, Munro commented that “they had to scrape me down with a knife before I could enter the house” - so covered in ice was he.

Winter ascents of certain Munros are widely accepted to provide among the most challenging ice climbs in Europe. Some walkers are unprepared for the often extreme weather conditions on the exposed tops and many fatalities are recorded every year, often resulting from slips on wet rock or ice.

A Munro top is a summit over 3000 ft which is not regarded as a separate mountain and Munro’s Tables detailed these in a two-tier system: category A and B. A category was the highest and most important peak of which there were 283. The B category were also peaks over 3,000 ft but satellites to the main peak. The only time he diverged from this rule was on the Isle of Skye where he put the peak Sgurr Dearg in category A, although another in the same range, The Inaccessible Pinnacle – or In Pinn as it is colloquially known, is a few metres higher. In Pinn (RonWalker1955) is the one peak where real rock climbing skills are required. It is a needle of rock pointing into the sky which has 2 pitches, each of about 30m.

By now, word was out that all the Scottish peaks were being climbed and Munro was suddenly not on his own. The Reverend Archie Robertson, a charismatic figure of Victorian mountaineering, invented the rules of a game that had not yet been invented – to be the first.

Everyone knows that “being first, if you manage to do it, is something you will carry in your back pocket for life…” although some, like Edurne Pasaban, who we wrote about yesterday, has realised that being alive and yet having achieved your aim is, in the long run, more important! The Reverend Archie had lucky escapes, one time, whilst out climbing, he was struck by lightning and catapulted 1,000 ft down a hill. However, he lived to tell the tale with no more than 20 stitches in his head.

What does Munro Bagging entail?

In Munro’s opinion, to have bagged the Munros (as they have subsequently become known) you had to climb every one of the 538 peaks. Robertson, however, detected a loophole. He interpreted it as only (did I say only?) having to bag the most important peaks – the A category ones – 283 of them, and so he became the first person, in 1901, to ‘bag’ the Munros. But the list had become more important than the mountains to him, and it is certain that he did not climb In Pinn. There is also now doubt that he reached the summit of Ben Wyvis.

If this is the case, then the first Munroist is Ronald Burn, who completed them in 1923. Burn is also (indisputably) the first person to climb all the subsidiary “tops”.

As of 2009, some 4,000 people have become Munroists.

Hugh Thomas Munro, himself, was overtaken by rheumatism and never completed the task. He died in 1919 before he had the chance to climb the last 3 peaks. He never said what he thought of the Reverend Robertson completing the task before him, but it must be remembered that the Rev. Robertson only climbed 283 peaks. Munro had climbed 535…

The list was revised in 1997 and there are now 284 Munro Tops.

Edurne Pasaban has summitted 12 of the 14 Eight Thousanders – the 14 independent mountains on earth that are more than 8,000 m (26,247 ft) high above sea level. She is closely followed by Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and Nives Meroi who have both climbed 11. Only Oh Eun-Sun is ahead of her with a successful 13.

The Eight Thousanders make up an impressive list, and not surprisingly they are all found in the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain range:

• Everest – 8848m – Nepal/China
• K2 – 8611m – Karakoram
• Kangchenjunga – 8586m – Nepal/India
• Lhotse – 8516m – Nepal/China
• Makalu – 8485m – Nepal/China
• Cho Oyu – 8188m – Nepal/China
• Dhaulagiri 1 – 8167m – Nepal
• Manaslu – 8163m – Nepal
• Nanga Purbat – 8126m – Pakistan
• Annapurna 1 – 8091m – Nepal
• Gasherbrum 1 (or Hidden Peak) – 8080m – Karakoram
• Broad Peak – 8051m – Karakoram
• Shishapangma – 8027m – China

The Karakoram is a range of mountains are on the border between Pakistan and China, but claimed by India. The most common ascent routes to the summit are via Pakistan with some climbing from the China side.

Flight over Khumbu-region; six eight-thousanders and some seven-thousanders (two identified) are visible

18 men have climbed all 14 peaks without oxygen.

The first to climb all fourteen was Reinhold Messner an Italian mountaineer and explorer from South Tyrol, often cited as the greatest mountain climber of all time… He completed the task on October 16, 1986. A year later, in 1987, Jerzy Kukuczka from Poland became the second man to accomplish this feat. The fact that only 18 men have climbed all 14 peaks shows how hazardous the feat is. Too many people have died in pursuit of this goal.

Juanito Oiarzabal, a well-known Basque mountaineer, holds the record for climbing these mountains the most times – a total of 23 times between 1985 and 2009.

And now Edurne Pasaban is hot on the trail of conquest. With 12 peaks under her belt, only Annapurna 1 and Shisha Pangma elude her.

Born in 1973 in Tolosa, Spain, Pasaban is determined to conquer the 14 peaks, but not in an all out mad dash to be the first. As she said in an interview in September 2009,  “After 11 years of Himalayan climbing, I won’t push my luck at the end. It would be a major mistake. I’d rather end up second, third or whatever… as long as I live to complete the 14×8000ers.”

Magnanimously she recognises the fact that Miss Oh (as she has been nicknamed – as against Miss Go, also from South Korea,  who fell to her death on her descent of Nanga Parbat last year, 2009),  “I think Miss Oh will summit Annapurna and become the first female to summit the 14×8000ers – that’s how things are,” she said, “I am just sorry for Gerlinde, Nives and – yeah, myself too. We’ve known and respected each other for a long time; we all fought to get funds, time and power for every mountain we climbed. The three of us forged our summits and dreams through the years, each doing it our own way, but all following a logical evolution.”

“As for Miss Oh… well, she’s been offered to star in an impressively well-funded project aiming for a world’s record, and she has accepted the role. The prize is a female world’s first – and she is about to win.”

There is a fear that there is too much pressure on female climbers to be “the first one” to complete all 14 peaks. Back  in Korea, some local climbers said that media, sponsors and the “first-ism” of society had fueled a competition between Miss Go and Miss Oh – forcing the climbers to take undue risks.

Good luck to them all, but we agree with Edurne Pasaban’s sentiments – rather be alive to enjoy your achievements than be dead because of  a desire to be “the first….”

Our condolences, of course, go to Miss Go’s family.