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15. 03. 10. - 11:00

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15. 03. 10. - 11:00

Kaltenbrunner's assault on Mount Everest called into question

Upper Austrian extreme mountain climber Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner’s planned assault on Mount Everest (8,848 metres) could be thwarted because of Chinese law, according to today’s edition (Mon) of the newspaper Oberösterreichische Nachrichten.

China is refusing to allow any foreigners to enter Tibet, where uprisings against Chinese sovereignty recently occurred.

Kaltenbrunner, 39, and her husband Ralf Dujmovits want to climb Mount Everest on its northern side in Tibet rather than on the usual southern route in Nepal to avoid the numerous commercial expeditions that take place there in the spring.

But China’s crackdown now make it unclear if the expedition will take place. She is planning to wait for a while before deciding whether to call it off.

Kaltenbrunner, from Spital am Pyhrn, announced last October that Dujmovits, who has already scaled the world’s highest mountain at 8,848 metres, would accompany her in a climb without oxygen.

She added that she would then make another attempt to reach the summit of K2 in summer 2010 "if I am fit and healthy." She said it was "clear to me that I would be back" after she had to abandon her attempt to climb K2 earlier last year.

Kaltenbrunner had to abandon her second attempt to climb K2 in early August. At that time, her husband reported she had turned back because of deep snow at an altitude of 8,300 metres.

Mount Everest and K2 are the only two of the world’s 14 mountains higher than 8,000 metres that Kaltenbrunner has failed to climb. South Korean Oh Eun Sun, who has climbed 13 of them, and Kaltenbrunner are favourites to become the first woman to climb all 14.

Spaniard Edurne Pasaban, who has also climbed 12 of the 14 mountains higher than 8,000 metres, has already canceled a planned trip this month to Tibet, where she had wanted to climb Shisha Pangma at 8,013 metres. Instead, she may tackle Annapurna at 8,091 metres.

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