UNAIR NEWS – Airlangga Indonesia Denali Expedition (AIDeX) Team of Universitas Airlangga Mountaineering Club has reached camp 4 at 14,100 feet or 4,297 meters above sea level.
The news was received by Wahyu Nur Wahid from global positioning system (GPS) sent by three athletes on Denali Mountain, Alaska, the USA on Sunday, June 5.
The three athletes are Muhammad Faishal Tamimi (Faculty of Vocational Studies student/2011), Mochammad Roby Yahya (Faculty of Fisheries and Marine), and Yasak (alumnus of Faculty of Social and Political Sciences) in the tenth day.
According to Roby, there were snow showers where the weather changes often. They were also caught in a whiteout.
“The whiteout really reduces our visibility. It blurs the horizon and may cause disorientation,” said Roby.
Beside the weather, the athletes must stay in minus thirty degrees Celcius. In this condition, Roby admitted that the team is in fatigue. But they are safe and ready to continue the expedition to the summit of Mt. McKinley at 6,190 meters above the sea level.
The team reached Below Kahiltna Pass, Camp 2 at 9,350 feet on June 1. At Camp 2, the athletes rested for a day before continuing the journey the next day. From Camp 2 to Camp 3, three athletes left their stuff and brought only a single carrier.
On June 3, in Camp 3 at 10,900 feet above sea level, they buried their logistics under the snow (drop cache). They headed to Windy Corner at 13,250 feet and then headed back to Camp 3. Windy Corner is a pass between two hills so the wind blows hard.
On June 4, the ninth day, along the journey from Camp 3 to Camp 4, the team had to walked against the gust of wind.
“Limited oxygen and wind chill made them difficult to go through and some fell into the thick snow. We shouted our motto ‘Resilience until the end” over so we could keep the spirit,” said Roby.
After eight hours, they walked against the strong wind and limited oxygen, the team finally reached Camp 4.
While on June 6 Alaskan time, they will go down to Windy Corner at 13,250 feet (4,038 above the sea level) to take their stuff and get back to camp 4 to rest and prepare for the journey to Camp 5.
To reach Mt. McKinley’s summit, the athletes have to get to Camp 5 first, the last one befor the summit. If there is no obstacle, Wahyu predicted that they will reach the summit on Friday, June 9.
“They will reach the summit on Friday, June 9 at this rate. They could reach Camp 5 early than the scheduled time,” he said.
Their smooth journey through the obstacles in Denali is from their relentless preparation they did before the climb. For 18 months the AIDeX team was greatly supported by PT. PP Properti (Tbk) and PT. Pegadaian Persero.
Mt. Denali is not the first summit that has been climbed by UKM WANALA member. Previously they had climbed Four of seven highest summit, included, Mt. Cartenz (Indonesia/1994), Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania/2009), Mt. Elbrus (Rusia/2011) and Aconcagua (Argentina/2013).
After Denali, other expedition to Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctic and Mt. Everest in Himalaya will complete the expedition seven summit of UKM WANALA.
Author: Defrina Sukma S
