A team of climbers from Nepal and the United States stood atop Mount Denali (6,190m) on June 8, Wednesday making the first bilateral summit to America’s highest mountain.
The US-Nepal Friendship Expedition Team led by Mark Parella and Karma Tenzing climbed the mountain to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Nepal and the United States while also raising funds for cancer.
“Our team hoisted the US Nepal diplomatic relation diamond jubilee flag this morning 5.30 Am Nepal Time (15:15 Alaska Time Zone – 8 June 2022),” Chhang Dawa Sherpa, one of the team members, updated via Facebook. “All of our team members successfully scaled the highest mountain peak in North America,” he wrote.
Other members of the team include Chhang Dawa and his brother Mingma -both 14 peak summitters, Pasang Dawa Sherpa and Jangbu Sherpa.
Chhang Dawa wrote that the goal of the expedition was also to spread awareness about cancer with the message “Climb Against Cancer”.
On March 31, Garrett E. Wilkerson, Public Affairs Chief at US Embassy in Nepal, had handed over the diamond jubilee flag to the team in Kathmandu to unfurl it atop Mount Everest. Pasang Phurba Sherpa had taken the flag to the top of Everest on May 14. The same flag was then taken to Denali Top by the US-Nepal team.