Clara returns from Everest with little public fanfare
JAKARTA (JP): It was sunny but windy. The temperature was minus 30 degrees Centrigade. It was at that moment that Clara Sumarwati planted Indonesia's national flag into the 8,848-meter summit of Mt. Everest.
Filled with thanksgiving, the 30-year-old woman then prayed "Our Father who art in Heaven..." five times and "Hail Mary" 50 times while counting her rosary beads.
"I did not cry but was overwhelmed with a strong feeling of gratitude to God," the first Indonesian and the first Southeast Asian to scale the world's highest peak told The Jakarta Post by phone yesterday.
Clara, a devout Catholic, arrived unnoticed at Soekarno-Hatta airport Wednesday. "No one welcomed me," she said. "But that's okay. I have told the State Secretariat about my arrival and am waiting for a formal reception from Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono."
A number of reporters were at the airport Wednesday evening, but they missed Clara as they were welcoming a group of young Australian riders arriving to race in the 2nd round of the Asia Pacific Motocross Championship today.
The State Secretariat and the National Sports Council jointly financed Clara's expedition to Everest. Clara does not know yet whether she will be given an award from the State Secretariat for her feat. She has already received awards from Nepal's government, Nepal's Pasang Lhama Mountaineering Foundation and China's Mountaineering Association.
Clara reached Everest's summit on Sept. 26 after a five-day journey from Camp 3 at 6,500 meters, at which she completed her three-week acclimatization program.
The severity of the final journey was highlighted by when she had to part a thigh-deep sea of snow on a 60 degree slope on China's North Col. "Five sherpas assisted me in the climbing. One of them was Kaji Sherpa. He has an excellent feel for the weather. It was him who told us to halt or progress," Clara said.
Clara denied any "further" help by the Sherpas. Some people from the Mapala University of Indonesia mountaineering association have doubted her achievement, saying that she might have been dragged or carried in a litter by the sherpas to the peak.
Clara, a 1990 psychology-pedagogy graduate of Jakarta's Atma Jaya Catholic University, took the most common route to reach the summit: a three-day journey to reach Camp 3 from the Base Camp and a five day journey from Camp 3 to the peak, then she spent two days going down to Camp 3 and one day (11 hours) from Camp 3 to Base Camp.
Now that her ultimate dream has come true, Clara said she is turning to fulfill other goals: she wants to organize a seminar on mountaineering for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and hopes that she can form an ASEAN team of female climbers. "I hope there are people who will extend me financial aid to help me realize this goal," she said.
Will she climb the Everest again? "No," replied the former taekwondo teacher quickly. "It's finished now. I've heard enough about seasoned climbers who have climbed Everest five times and died on the sixth attempt." (arf)