Cheating accusation hangs over mountaineering record

South Korean climber's attempt to be first to scale 14 highest peaks

A South Korean climber is claiming to be the first woman to scale all 14 of the highest mountains in the world after a tense race with rivals that has been marred by controversy.

South Korean television cameras filmed Oh Eun-sun planting her national flag on the final summit of the set, Annapurna in Nepal, potentially pipping her closest rival to a place in history.

Bagging all 14 of the world's mountains above 8,000 metres high is one of mountaineering's greatest challenges and only 18 climbers have achieved the feat since Reinhold Messner first managed it in 1986.

The 44-year old kicked off her epic adventure with her first ‘eight thousander’ 13 years ago, but until recently she was not considered to be a serious contender for the record.

Just last year three female European mountaineers were well ahead in the race to complete all 14 peaks and it was expected that one of those would grab the glory first. However by scaling an incredible four peaks in just the first half of 2009, Oh Eun-sun, along with another South Korean climber who was later killed, managed to thrust herself into the lead.

Despite the wave of adulation that has greeted Eun-sun’s claims at home, in some quarters doubts remain about the legitimacy of her achievement. Edurne Pasaban, one of the three other rivals for the record, has claimed that Eun-sun failed to make it all the way to the top of the world's third highest peak, Kangchenjunga, when she climbed it last year.

The claims are being taken so seriously that mountaineering journalist Elizabeth Hawley, considered the ultimate arbiter of such disputes, has now recorded Eun-sun's Kangchenjunga climb as disputed and launched an investigation.

Eun-sun has vigorously denied the claims, but if her name is to go down forever in the history books as she hopes, then her conquest of Annapurna may not be the last tough challenge she has to overcome.