Fifty-year-old Ingólfur Geir Gissurarson reached the top of Mt. Everest this morning, making him the oldest Icelander to climb the 8848 metre peak, Vísir reports.
Ingólfur ascended the peak from the southeast ridge. Located on the south side of Everest in Nepal, it is one of two main routes to the top of the world’s highest mountain. The other route is via the north ridge and begins in Tibet. While the southeast ridge is considered the easier of the two main routes, another Icelander, Leifur Örn Svavarsson, is currently ascending the peak from the north ridge and is expected to reach the summit on Thursday.
Ingólfur began his ascent from the 5000 metre base camp just over a month ago and has been climbing with a team organized by Adventure Consultants, which includes 10 climbing enthusiasts from countries such as Iceland, Sweden, USA and Australia and a support crew of medical and climbing professionals as well as 23 local sherpas.
Meanwhile, mbl has reported that the Chinese billionaire investor and Icelandophile, Huang Nubo, is currently trying to reach the peak from the north ridge. While they have not yet crossed paths, Huang has already topped Leifur in terms of supplies and crew size as he is reported to have more sherpas, cooks and oxygen tanks.
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