Um Hong-gil

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Um Hong-gil
엄홍길
Born	(1960-09-14) September 14, 1960 (age 60) Goseong County, South Gyeongsang
Nationality	South Korea
Occupation	Mountaineer
Known for	being the first person to climbing the 14 highest points on Earth
Military career
Service/branch	South Korea Navy
Years of service	1980 - 1983
Rank	Navy Petty Officer Second Class
Korean name
Hangul	엄홍길
Hanja	嚴弘吉
Revised Romanization	Eom Honggil
McCune–Reischauer	ŏm Homkil
Website	www.umhonggil.com

Um Hong-gil (Korean: 엄홍길; Hanja: 嚴弘吉; born September 14, 1960) is a South Korean mountaineer.

He has led many South Korean summer expeditions to Mount Aconcagua in Argentina, where he has successfully climbed South America's highest mountain many times.

In 2000, he finally climbed K2 (8,611m), which means his team completed the whole mission to go up 14 peaks higher than 8,000 meters in altitude within 12 years.^[1] He tried to climb Mount Everest in September 2005, but failed.^[2] He tried again three years later and his attempt was successful. He also carried out a mission on Kangchenjunga.

Um Hong-gil has reached the summit of all 14 eight-thousand meters peaks in the world, and is the first person in climbing the 16 highest points on Earth.^[3]

He was awarded the Himalayan Crown when he completed the 14 highest peaks in 2001. He is the first South Korean and the eleventh climber in the world to hold this distinction.

He led successful expeditions up Everest in 1988, 2002 and 2003. He has climbed both the North and South Sides of the Everest. Um Hong-gil has stood on top of Everest three times.^[4]

On December 13, 2007, he succeeded in reaching the summit of Vinson Massif, the highest peak of Antarctica.^[5]

The film 히말라야/The Himalayas was released on December 16, 2015. It was directed by Lee Seok-hoon and starred Hwang Jung-min in the role of Um. The film is based on Um's real life, primarily focusing on his mentorship of two other climbers who later died during an ascent. The film beat the box office battle with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released the same weekend in South Korea.

Charitable activities[]

Um Hong-gil invested his time with The Beautiful Foundation in his native South Korea. He helped start the program "Gil Sarang Fund" (Loving the Road) in order to support cultural activities for handicapped people.^[6]

See also[]

• List of climbers, alpinists and mountaineers
• List of Mount Everest summiters by number of times to the summit

References[]