The climbers set their foot on the highest mountain peak in North America and the US at 09.15 p.m. local time on Sunday or 12.15 western Indonesian time on Monday and promptly put up the red-and-white national flag there, the Secretariat of Seven Summits in Jakarta said on Tuesday.
Only four of the five core climbers managed to reach the peak. They were Fajri Al Lutfi, Iwan Irawan, Martin Rimbawan and Nurhuda, it said.
The other core climber, Ardhesir Yaftebbi, along with a guide returned to vase camp to accompany Metro TV journalist Popo Nurakhman who had difficulties when the team reached an altitude of 5,900 meters above sea level, it said.
The secretariat said the climbers started climbing the mountain on Tuesday (May 2). Because of bad weather they were confined to Camp 3 at a height of 4,328 meters above sea level until Thursday (May 12).
As the weather was improving they continued climbing the mountain and set up High Camp at a height of 5,242 meters above sea level. On Sunday (May 15) they reached the Denali peak following 15 days of climbing.
The weather was cloudy with the wind reaching 10 mph when the climbers reached the Denali peak. Yet they could not stay there any longer because they had to make their descent , the secretariat said.
All the climbers arrived back at High Camp at 04.15 a.m. local time on Sunday. They were expected to arrive at Talkeetna on Thursday (May 19), it said.
By conquering the Denali/McKinley peak, the climbers still have two of the world`s seven highest mountains to climb. They are the 4,897-meter-high Mount Vinson Massif in Antartica and 8,850-meter high Mount Everest in Nepal. The team will conclude their two-and-a-half year expedition in May 2012.(*)
(S012//HAJM/s012)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
