new delhi as many as 15 expeditions including some foreign ones from the us france and australia have already scaled peaks on the siachen glacier and the area has been open to civilians for some time now the government said on wednesdaythe siachen area has been open for quite some time defence minister a k antony said here on wednesday since july three teams from the us france and australia have ascended peaks straddling the 72km glacier he notedthe group of trekkers cleared to go to kumar post caught the eye as this expedition received publicity though other teams had regularly gone to the area for some time now antony told reporters on the sidelines of a coast guard commanders conference here despite pakistans opposition to the expedition to kumar post it was cleared by the defence ministry on wednesdayaccording to figures maintained by the indian mountaineering foundation imf expeditions and trekking teams had been going to the glacier even at the height of the confrontation with pakistani troopsteams from us have been to the area twice first in 2005 and then again in 2007 expeditions from france italyand britain have scaled peaks in the glacier between 2000 and 2007 the figures showed