Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine December 2017 | Page 96

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Explore | Interview
INTERVIEW
MATHILDA DWI
LESTARI AND
FRANSISKA DIMITRI
INKIRIWANG
MAKING
FOOTSTEPS ON
THE WORLD’S
HIGHEST SUMMITS
Interview by Lisa Siregar
The end of the year is often
a time for contemplation
and to make resolutions for
the upcoming new year.
However, things are different
for mountain climbers
Mathilda Dwi Lestari and
Fransiska Dimitri Inkiriwang,
who set their goal for 2018
a few years ago.
Hilda and Didi are currently in the running
to be the first female mountain climbers
from Southeast Asia to conquer the ‘seven
summits’, the highest mountains in each of
the seven continents. Historically, there have
been a few different versions of the seven
summits, but Hilda and Didi’s list comprises
Puncak Jaya, also known as the Carstensz
Pyramid, in Papua (4,884m above sea level),
Vinson Massif in Antarctica (5,535masl),
Elbrus in Russia (5,642masl), Kilimanjaro in
Africa (5,895masl), Aconcagua in South
America (6,962masl), Denali in Alaska
(6,190masl) and Everest (8,848masl) on
the border of Tibet and Nepal.
As of November 2017, there were 416
mountain climbers who had successfully
made their ascents of the seven summits,
but only 71 of them were women.
“There are only eight seven-summits
climbers from Indonesia and none of them
are women,” Didi said. “We learn [about
mountain climbing] from our seniors,
but we also have to figure out certain
things by ourselves.”