1st Asian climbs all 14 Himalayan giants

Um Hong-Gil, the Dobong Mountain boy, has become a world-class mountaineer, conquering all 14 giant peaks of the Himalayas that rise above 8,000 meters.

It took a grueling 6 hours, 15 minutes for Um to reach the peak of K2 (8,611 meters) at 10:15 a.m. July 31. Um and his team set forth at 4 a.m., estimating that it would take more than 10 hours to reach the top, but the team made better time.

Um left K2 for last because it is the most difficult to climb, despite the fact that K2 is not as high as Mount Everest, the highest peak of the Himalayas (8,848 meters).

The achievement makes Um the world¡¯s seventh person, and the first Asian, to succeed in climbing all 14 peaks since he started his Everest trek in 1988.