The final six members of an international peace climbing expedition - which included U.S., Soviet and Chinese mountaineers, including two Utahns - reached the top of Mount Everest Thursday.
The climb to the 29,028-foot summit of the world's highest peak gave the group bragging rights to several things:-It was the first joint climb by U.S., Soviet and Chinese climbers.
-It broke the record for the most climbers - 20 - from the same expedition to scale the world's highest peak. Fourteen had reached the summit earlier.
-The son of Sir Edmund Hillary was in the expedition, making this the first conquest of the world's highest mountain by two members of the same family.
-The group included the first Soviet female climber to reach the summit.
The American climbers are Peter George Athens, a 32-year-old mountain guide from Snowbird, Utah; Brent Manning, 39, Salt Lake City; Dana Quentin Coffield, a 31-year-old geologist from Colombia, S.C.; and lawyers Glenn Porzak, 41, Boulder, Colo.; Michael Browning, 37, Manitou Spring, Colo.
Utahns makes it on first try
Manning, achieved a rare fete - making the peak's summit on his first attempt.
From their suburban Salt Lake County home, wife Chris said she was happy to hear that Brent was among those reaching the top. Her last contact with Brent came last week in a letter.
"He said in the letter he will no longer do any major climbs," Chris said, "but he was probably just cold when he wrote that, so we'll have to see what happens."
The expedition set out March 15 and has been on the mountain for nearly two months.
Britt Manning, Brent and Chris' 17-year-old son, was at the expedition's base camp for several days but returned to Utah just last week.
"I usually don't worry too much, but he was having problems with his contacts (lenses) fogging over and we had to send some new ones out to him," Chris said.
Report from the top
The news was relayed from base camp at 17,500 feet by expedition leader James Whittaker, via satellite telephone links with United Press International in Beijing and with his wife, Dianne Roberts, in Seattle.
"We're stunned," Whittaker said in a conversation relayed from Seattle. "It just shows what you can do through international cooperation if you get the best people in the world together and focus on a goal."
"Everything has been just incredible," Whittaker told UPI earlier over the telephone link. "We had had storms knocking people off their feet, but all of a sudden it just clicked. We've had calm winds and clear weather."
Other information from the climbers included:
-First Soviet woman: Among the climbers to reach the summit Thursday was Ekaterina Ivanova, 29, the first Soviet woman to do so. Ivanova gave a 2 1/2-minute speech to the women of the world from the peak. The others were three Soviet men, a Tibetan Chinese and an American, Mark Tucker of Ashford, Wash.
-Heading for home: Whittaker said the team would begin to break its base camp over the weekend and leave next week for Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. They planned to fly out to the nearest major Chinese city, Chengdu, May 23 before returning to Beijing.
-They want a Big Mac: Team leaders said the McDonald's fast-food chain planned to fly hamburgers and other familiar treats into Chengdu from Hong Kong for a victory party.
"Someone asked the climbers what they wanted when they finished," Whittaker said. "They said they wanted a Big Mac."
Hillary congratulates Hillary
The elder Hillary, who in 1953 became the first person to conquer Everest, was among the first to congratulate his son, Peter, on reaching the summit.
"It's been a bit of a struggle over the years, but we're thrilled to bits that you're finally standing on top of the old mountain," Sir Edmund told his son by satellite telephone from Auckland.
"Congratulations to you all. I think everybody here is delighted at your success," he said in a conversation broadcast live on Radio New Zealand.
Whittaker, 61, of Port Townsend, Wash., was in 1963 the first American to conquer Everest, a decade after it was first scaled by the elder Hillary of New Zealand and Tenzing Norgay of Nepal.
As a personal reminiscence, Whittaker said he had climbed to a camp at 23,500 feet and looked down on what had been his route up Everest in 1963.
"It was good to see," Whittaker said. "But having done it once (reached the summit), that was enough."
Fourteen climbers from the three nations had earlier scaled the peak since Monday. The total of 20 broke the record of 17 Everest summit conquerors in a single expedition set by a Norwegian team in 1986, Whittaker said.
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Two tons of garbage
Organizers had wanted to reach the summit April 22 to mark the 20th anniversary of Earth Day by symbolically picking up trash and other debris left by previous expeditions on Everest.
The climbers have collected as much as two tons of garbage. About two-thirds is old food and fuel containers, and the rest included broken tents, camp stoves and oxygen equipment.
"We're going to burn what we can, bring back whatever can be recycled and bury what cannot be recycled," deputy expedition leader Warren Thompson said.