First all-women team scales highest mountains on all seven continents

A group of Nepalese returned home on Friday after becoming the first all-women team to climb the highest mountains on all seven continents.

The team started their quest in 2008 by climbing Qomolangma, known as Mount Everest in the West, and ended by scaling Mount Vinson in Antarctica on Dec 23.

The women received an enthusiastic welcome at the airport, where team leader Shailee Basnet said they would continue to climb even though they have achieved their goal.

Only four of the seven team members were able to go on the journey to Antarctica because of a lack of funding. They have been paying for the trips using personal savings, sponsorship cash and the proceeds of fundraising events.

They scaled Qomolangma in Asia, Kosciuszko in Australia, Elbrus in Europe, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Aconcagua in South America, Denali or McKinley in North America, and now Vinson in Antarctica.

Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association confirmed it was the first all-women team to scale all the peaks.

Nepal has eight of the 14 highest mountains in the world, but few mountaineers from the Himalayan country are women. Of the more than 4,000 climbers who have scaled Qomolangma, more than half are Nepalese - but only two dozen of those are women.

The women aimed to change the all-male image of mountaineering in their country. Nepalese women rarely had a chance to climb because they were confined to their homes while their husbands led expeditions or carried equipment for Western climbers.

It was only in 1993 that a Nepalese woman - Pasang Lhamu - first reached the 8,850-meter summit of Qomolangma. She died on the descent.

The team members have been talking to schoolchildren and encouraging other women to follow their example.

(China Daily 01/10/2015 page11)