SA climber on top of Everest

South African mountaineer John Black has summited the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, on 21 May 2009 at 7.15am (local time).

Black, climbing with fellow South Africans Robby Kojetin and Gilad Stern, left for Kathmandu on 28 March 2009, and spent the next two months ascending the slopes via icefalls, deep snow filled valleys and ice faces.

Sponsored by Cape Union Mart. Black (29), from Cape Town has now completed five of the world's seven summits, including Mount Aconcagua (South America), Mount Elbrus (Europe), Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia) and Mount Everest (Asia).

His climbing partner Kojetin, who is climbing to raise money for cancer patients, is expected to summit in the next day or two, while Gilad Stern decided to abort his summit attempt earlier this month when he was caught in an avalanche.

Said Stern (51), "I decided I am not going to go up the icefall again. I have sat with this for a few days and am thrilled to have had such an amazing and utterly privileged experience."

Black, Kojetin and Stern were set to climb Everest in 2008 but unfortunately plans were put on hold when their permit for climbing the mountain was retracted at the last minute due to conflict between Tibet and China.

Evan Torrance, Marketing Manager of Cape Union Mart said of the ascent: "We are extremely excited that John Black safely summited Mount Everest wearing K-Way merchandise. This is something many dream about but John's dedication, hard work and years of training have finally paid off. K-Way has made it all the way to the top of the highest and coldest mountain on the planet and all of us at Cape Union Mart could not be prouder of John and this amazing achievement."

For more information visit http://mounteverestsouthafrica.spaces.live.com or www.capeunionmart.co.za.

Source Article: iAfrica.com