Climber’s Body Yet to Be Retrieved
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Climber Ko Mi-young, who used to say that climbing a mountain was not to conquer it, but to be embraced in its bosom as permitted by God, has been embraced by the Himalayas forever.
The 41-year-old climber was found dead in a ravine Sunday after falling from a cliff on Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas the previous day. She was descending from the peak of the world's ninth-highest mountain when she fell.
Her teammates planned to bring her body back Monday, but were having difficulty as the Pakistani rescuers were unable to mobilize a helicopter due to bad weather conditions, Ko's agency, Kolon Sport, said.
The Korean embassy there is soliciting the Pakistani government's help. Her sister and two relatives will depart for Pakistan Thursday to bring her body back to Korea.
Ko was one of five climbers in the race to become the first female to conquer all 14 of the highest Himalayan peaks. She and another Korean, Oh Eun-sun, had been rivals, as they have conquered 11 and 12 peaks, respectively, in just a few years, including Nanga Parbat, which was Ko's last.
Ko was relatively a rookie in the world of climbing. As a public worker, she started mountaineering in 1991 at Kolon Alpine School. Her fascination with mountains led her to quit her job and become a sports climber. She went on to sweep domestic and international competitions in both rock climbing and ice climbing.
Her first attempt at an overseas peak began in 2005 with the 6,447-meter-high Drifika in Pakistan. Since then, she had climbed 11 peaks in the Himalayas, conquering four of them this year ㅡ Makalu, Kangchenjunga, Dhaulagiri and Nanga Parbat.
She did have some hard times ㅡ she suffered a back injury at Drifika after falling from a 60-meter-high cliff, and lost three of her teammates on K2. But she never gave up and planned to scale the remaining three peaks within the year.
Oh, who reached the top of Nanga Parbat four hours before Ko, expressed her regrets. ``When I was descending, I met Ko and cheered her up. Her death is heartbreaking. People called us rivals, but we were more like senior and junior who encouraged each other. I'm speechless at losing such a good partner.''
Oh, who was scheduled to head for another Himalayan peak, Gasherbrum I, delayed her plans and is staying at the base camp in Nanga Parbat to provide any help in retrieving Ko's body, Oh's agency said.