KATHMANDU: A South Korean climber, who lost all of his fingers to frostbite while scaling Mt Denali of North America in 1991, today successfully stood atop the world’s tenth highest mountain in Nepal, according to the expedition organiser.

Mingma Sherpa, Company Director at Seven Summit Treks, said that Kim Hong-bin, 53, along with four climbing Sherpas scaled Mt Annapurna (8,091 m) at around 11:30am. “Pechhumbe Sherpa, Gyaljie Sherpa, Chhiring Sherpa and Nima Tenji Sherpa accompanied the South Korean to the summit point,” he said. Mt Annapurna-I is considered as one of the deadliest peak in the climbing world.

According to the Department of Tourism Kim Hong-bin is the only foreign mountaineer who obtained a climbing permit for Mt Annapurna this spring. “Mt Annapurna is his twelfth eight-thousander,” Sherpa said.

Kim Hong-bin who scaled Mt Everest in 2007 completed the Seven Summits Challenge by climbing Mt Vinson in Antarctica in 2009. “Kim Hong-bin scaled Mt Lhotse and Nanga Parbat last year,” Sherpa said. According to him, the climber has a plan to scale Gasherbrum and Broad Peak to complete all 14 mountains above 8,000 m in the coming years.