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| Kim Hong-bin |
Korean mountain climber Kim Hong-bin, 53, also known as "the fingerless climber," crowned the summit of Nanga Parbat for the first time this summer.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan said Saturday eight climbers including Kim reached the top of Nanga Parbat and Kim was the first mountaineer to reach the summit.
At 8,126 meters above sea level, Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain in the world and the second highest in Pakistan. It is known as the killer mountain for its lethal difficulty level of climbing. Nanga Parbat was Kim's 11th out of his goal of 14 eight-thousanders.
Kim left for the Himalayas on June 9 and launched a first summit push on June 20 but it wasn't feasible due to the heavy snow. He attempted a second push on June 30 with two Sherpas and reached the top Friday night.
This was 49 days after Kim conquered Lhotse on May 19. Kim and his team gave up on ascending the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516-meter in 2015 due to the earthquake in Nepal.
Kim lost all of his fingers due to frostbite while climbing up Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America in 1991, but he didn't give up on his attempt to conquer some of the highest peaks in the world.
Kim is also scheduled to compete at next year's Parlaympics, which will take place at the Korean resort town of PyeongChang.
Last February, Kim won the men's slalom standing ski race at the 14th National Winter PARA Games in 1 minute and 51.61 seconds. With the win, he qualified for the 2018 Paralympics.
The PyeongChang event will be Kim's second Paralympics appearance as he already competed at the 2002 Paralympics.
