National Geographic Adventurer and youngest Bangladeshi Everest summiteer Wasfia Nazreen successfully reached the summit of Carstensz Pyramid, highest mountain of the Australasia/Oceania continent.
She reached the summit point of the Papuan territory on November 18 at 10:19am with her Indonesian friend Joshua Noya.
Wasfia became the first ever Bangladeshi, male or female, to have completed the Seven Summits record, through the much harder ‘Messner’ variation. This is also the very first time any Bangladeshi has climbed this extremely difficult mountain, said her spokesperson Korvi Rakshand.
She called Korvi in Bangladesh from the summit, using a satellite phone and said: ‘Because we had launched this campaign in celebration of Bangladesh’s 40 years of independence, it only makes sense to dedicate the completion to the Spirit of ‘71 and all those who are fighting to protect it. I pray peace return to Motherland soon!’
She thanked all those who have assisted over the last four years to complete this goal, and the peoples of Bangladesh both home and abroad who have rallied for her.
Before the climb, the trek into base camp included 220km of grueling trekking through thick mud-clad rainforest, river-crossings in often chest-deep water, raging through thunderstorms, tropical malaria infested areas and slippery rock faces. She left the country early November but due to security issues within the Papuan territory and jungle, the expedition details had to be kept in secret.
Carstensz entails the most consistently steep and technical climbing of all the Seven Summits at an altitude of 16,024feet or 4884 meters. Deep in the heart of the Sudirman Range in the western central highlands of Irian Jaya lies this mountain also known as Puncak Jaya to Indonesians. Irian Jaya (formerly West New Guinea or Dutch New Guinea) is in present day part of Indonesia, a large collection of islands in southern Southeast Asia northeast of Australia. The bare, rocky, and near-vertical slopes of Carstensz Pyramid rise above the lush jungle environment and small settlements that characterize the moderately large island of New Guinea.
Source: New Age
