Woman near goal on world's top 14 peaks

       A Korean left Kathmandu yesterday to start the ascent of one of the world's highest peaks in the Himalayas, closing in on her goal to become the first woman to scale all 14 of the world's highest mountains.
       Oh Eun-sun,43, said weather conditions will be decisive when she climbs Mount Annapurna in west Nepal next week, the world's 10th highest peak at 8,091 metres.
       "It is autumn and there are too many crevasses and avalanches," said Ms Oh,who is leading a seven-member Korean team to the peak."But I am not scared.I am more careful."
       Ms Oh, who has already climbed Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain, and 12 other peaks of more than 8,000 metres, will climb along the route pioneered by Frenchman Maurice Herzog in 1950 on the first 8,000-metrehigh mountain ever climbed.
       Only 17 men have scaled all the world's 14 highest peaks.