Clara returns from Everest with little public fanfare

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)