Jaime Viñals Massanet (born November 17, 1966) is a

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

mountaineer Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

, the first person from

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and Caribbean region ever to climb the Earth's highest peak,

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

, after reaching the summit together with the American Andy Lakpass and the Danish Asmus Noreslet on an expedition from New Zealand organized by Russell Brice, Since then, he became one of the few people to have reached the

Seven Summits The Seven Summits are the highest mountains of each of the seven traditional continents. Climbing to the summit of all of them is regarded as a mountaineering challenge, first achieved on 30 April 1985 by Richard Bass. Climbing the Seven Summits a ...

- the highest mountains of each of the seven ( sub-)

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions are commonly regarded as continents. Ordered from largest in area to smallest, these seven ...

s. also he has finished to climb the Seven Islands of the World.

Biography

Born in

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

, Viñals studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

at the Universidad de San Carlos. He began climbing locally in 1987, aged 26. Since then, he has climbed over 300 mountains in 42 countries. Viñals first attempted to get to the top of Mount Everest in the spring of 1994. After having passed the 8,000 meters mark, the expedition was unsuccessful at reaching the summit due to the inclement weather, and had to return. The group, however, succeeded at establishing a new ascending route. Viñals returned to the Everest in the spring of 1999, climbing through the

South Col The South Col is a sharp-edged col between Mount Everest and Lhotse, the highest and fourth-highest mountains in the world, respectively. The South Col is typically swept by high winds, leaving it free of significant snow accumulation. Since 195 ...

route. While climbing, he injured himself, again unable to complete the ascent. Viñals had climbed all the other peaks of the

challenge, including the ones listed on alternate definitions of the summit list, but still had not reached the peak of Everest. In 2001, he attempted the ascent for the third time. Using the less frequented

North Col __NOTOC__ The North Col (; ) refers to the sharp-edged pass carved by glaciers in the ridge connecting Mount Everest and Changtse in Tibet. It forms the head of the East Rongbuk Glacier. When climbers attempt to climb Everest via the North ridge ...

as the climbing route, he and others reached the summit of the Everest on May 23. Viñals became the third

Latin American Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-eth ...

person to climb to the peak of Everest and to complete the ascent to the Seven Summits, and the first from

or the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

to achieve such feats. In 2002, Viñals embarked on an attempt to climb the highest peak of each of the seven largest islands in the world. This project involves climbing the highest summit of the seven largest islands of the world: Viñals has been involved in a project to climb the '50 Most Prominent Peaks on Earth'. As of March 2016 he has attained 33 of them.

Honours

In 1995, Viñals was awarded the '' Orden del Quetzal'' from Guatemalan President

Ramiro de León Carpio Ramiro de León Carpio (12 January 1942 – 16 April 2002) was the President of Guatemala from 6 June 1993 until 14 January 1996. Career De León studied law at the University of San Carlos and then at the Rafael Landívar University, wh ...

References

External links

* Spanish / Englis
Official Web Site
* Spanish / Englis
Official Web Site

Terra.com Dedicated web site
Guatemalan mountain climbers Summiters of Mount Everest 1966 births Living people People from Guatemala City Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala alumni 20th-century Guatemalan people 21st-century Guatemalan people {{climbing-bio-stub

Biography

Honours

See also

References

External links