Cho Oyo, China (8201m)
Ascent with Mustagh Ata Ski.
On October 1st, Martina Palm, accompanied by her Argentinean companion Octavio Defazio, became the first Swedish woman to have scaled an 8,000 meter high mountain on skis.
The 32-year old athlete, who has been living and working in Chamonix in France for four years, was able to rely on perfect support from her Dynafit Mustagh Ata Skis and Dynafit Ski Boots and Bindings during her sensational expedition.
The two Dynafit athletes set out at the end of August. Expectations and tensions were running high. It had long been a dream of Martina’s to climb an 8000 meter peak on skis. Now the dream had become reality. The expedition up the world’s sixth-tallest 8000 meter peak was about to begin.
“Most women think of the expedition in terms of having to deal with freezing weather and incomfortable conditions and pushing on until exhaustion - they certainly do not imagine that there is any fun involved. On top of all that, you have to consider that women really do have some disadvantages to overcome because of their lighter builds.
There were some times when I would ask myself what I was doing there: for example, when it was 15 degrees below zero in my tent and I had to pull on my frozen shoes and my fingers hurt so badly from the cold that tears came to my eyes; I was more tired than I had ever been in my life. Yet in retrospect it was not all so bad and my efforts have all been repaidShort recovery in Camp.
