Cleanup Crew Scales Mt. Everest : 3-Nation Expedition to Retrieve Debris Left by Others

Six climbers from the United States, China and Soviet Union reached the top of Mt. Everest today in an expedition intended to foster goodwill among their nations and pick trash off the world’s highest peak.

The official New China News Agency said they reached the summit of the 29,028-foot-high peak this afternoon.

In Seattle, Dianne Roberts, spokeswoman for the expedition, said she learned of the ascent by radio. She said six more climbers will try to reach the summit Tuesday and another six later.

The climbers had said they would plant the flags of the three nations atop the peak to symbolize achievement possible through cooperation.

The six are part of a 46-member expedition that began climbing Everest in March and originally had hoped to put climbers at the top on April 22, Earth Day.

The climbers neared the peak in late April but were forced by high winds to retreat to their base camp. They set out a second time on April 30.

On their way back down the mountain, the climbers are to pick up an estimated 2 tons of cans, tents, oxygen bottles and other debris left by previous expeditions.

The news agency said the six who reached the top included Americans Stephen Gall, of Woody Creek, Colo., who operates a mountain guide service in Aspen, Colo., and Robert Link, 31, of Ashford, Wash.

With them were Soviets Sergey Arsentjev and Grigory Lunjakov and Tibetan climbers Jiabu and Daqimi, on the Chinese team. Both Tibetans use only one name.

“They are now on their way down,” Roberts said in Seattle.

The expedition’s coordinator, Jim Whittaker, is Roberts’ husband. Whittaker, who in 1963 became the first American to reach Mt. Everest’s summit, is directing the climb from base camp.

Roberts quoted Whittaker as saying: “This successful joint summit attempt of three countries is proof that through friendship and cooperation the highest goals on earth--including peace and a clean environment--can be achieved.”