Belgians reach peak of Everest

15 May 2007

BRUSSELS – Three Belgians reached the peak of Mount Everest today. Bjorn Vandewege, Stein Tant and Stef Maginelle were on top of the world today at 2 pm Belgian time (8 pm local time).

The three climbers, from Ghent and Louvain, left for Kathmandu on 29 March. Their goal was to be the first Belgian expedition to reach the top of Mount Everest at 8,850 metres via the north side of the mountain.

The climb is part of Bjorn Vandewege’s dream to climb the ‘7 summits’, according to his website. He has already climbed Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Denali and Mount Vinson.

According to the MountEverest.net website, the first Belgian citizen to successfully summit Everest from Tibet was Pascal Debrouwer in 1999. Brouwer died on descent however. On 17 May 2006 last year, Belgian Roland De Bare de Comogne also reached the summit from Tibet.

The first Belgian to summit Everest was Rudy Van Snick in 1990 and Ingrid Baeyens was the first Belgian female to reach the top in 1992.

Subject: Belgian news