Mercedes Sahores has become the first Argentine woman to reach the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, at 8,848 metres above sea level.
Sahores, 34 years old, reached the peak on Monday.
Her father, Luis Sahores, explained how she arrived at around 9 pm and called her family via satellite telephone. “I couldn’t really understand anything,” he said, “but I managed to hear ‘we’ve arrived, we’ve arrived!’” The expedition was leaded by another mountain guide, Damián Benegas, who was born in Puerto Madero and now lives in Bariloche. Two Americans also took part, Eugene Rehfeld, 63, and Johnny Collinson, 17.
The mountain climbers first set up camp at the base of Everest, needing to acclimatize to the 5,500 metre altitude.
Throughout the climb, Sahores, a ski instructor and passionate for adventure sports, was communicating by telephone and email, from certain camps that had installed satellite connection.
Asides from being a sportswoman, she has a biology degree and works with birds, and in particular on the Andino Condor Project., which is dedicated to the preservation and study of the American bird species.
The first Argentine to reach the summit of Everest was the photographer Tommy Heinrich, on 15th May 1995. After 65 days of climbing, he nailed the blue and white flag into the highest mountain in the world.
