by Rod Hughes

It is not unusual to see women climb to high places in Costa Rica—leader of a party delegation in the Legislative Assembly or the Vice Presidency, for example—but until now no Tica has aspired to climb quite so high as Gineth Soto. In fact, Soto plans to go all the way to the top—more than 26,000 feet—to the top of Mount Everest.

The young Costa Rican lass who lives in Redding, in northern California, plans to begin her climb April 13, reach the top in late April and finish the descent to base camp June 9. Although the country has had mountain climbers—one was set to climb Mt. St. Helens in southern Washington state in 1982 when the dormant volcano beat him to it by blowing its top in a devastating eruption—none has ever made the summit of Everest.

This 34-year-old married lady has climbed five of the tallest peaks in the world: Kosciuszko in Australia, Elbrus in Russia, Kilimanjaro in Tanzaria, McKinley in Alaska and Aconcagua in Argentina. But they all shrink in comparison to Everest where bottled oxygen is absolutely essential for most to the ascent (above about 12,000 feet) and temperatures are below freezing even in summer.

In 1997, two Costa Ricans, Eduardo Villalobos and Ronny Chaves, got above 18,000 feet on Everest’s flanks before storms drove them back to base camp. Of Central Americans, only Jaime Vinols of Guatemala has managed to reach the summit.