The pensioners between the ages of 60 and 70 conquered the nearly 6,000-meter (19,700-foot) Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with the aid of veteran climber Hubert Schwarz.

"It is admirable how much tenacity and will power the seniors brought to the challenge," he told reporters.

The group, most of them mountaineering novices, trained for weeks, shedding weight and building strength with a strict diet and a taxing fitness program. They began by scaling the 4,500-meter-high summit of Mount Meru to get acclimatized and fend off altitude sickness.

"Everyone is vulnerable to the thin air," Schwarz said.

The seniors reached one of Kilimanjaro's summits, Gilman's Point, at nightfall and were rewarded the next morning with a spectacular sunrise.

Sigrid Straub, a plucky 67-year-old with two artificial hip joints, said the trip was the experience of a lifetime.

"I am very proud of myself," she said.

The oldest participant, a 70-year-old who declined to give his name, said the other Kilimanjaro climbers had stopped and stared when they encountered the venerable troop.

"We showed them all," he said. "Most of them just laughed when they saw the old folks coming."