Sports & Allied News
JAMMU, June 25:
Five experienced mountaineers, led by Everester Nirmal Kumar, an ace mountaineer of Tawi Trekkers J&K, who has also scaled Kangchenjunga, the third highest and Manaslu, the 8th highest peak in the world, today left for Gulab Garh in Kishtwar to attempt Chomochior peak.
Still virgin for the Indian mountaineers, Chomochior is technically a difficult peak. And, the team includes Rahul Jarngal of Hira Nagar in Jammu, who has scaled the Everest, the highest peak in the world; Kangchenjunga, the third highest besides Satopant (7075m) and some other peaks; Monty Rajkhowa, the third Indian woman to scale Kangchenjunga; Capt. S K Sangwan of Delhi, a war hero who had lost a leg in the Kargil War in 1999 and was the leader of an Everest expedition in 2017 and Subash Chand of Uttarkhand, a trained mountaineer.
The team shall be assisted by Tsering Tashi , a local mountain guide who had accompanied Nirmal Kumar during a week-long reconnaissance of the peaks in eastern Kishtwar, especially the Chomochior massif, last year.
“The expedition is being organized in pure alpine style without the help of high altitude or other porters, no fixed camps and is planned to be completed within 10 climbing days with only limited equipment. The highly technical expedition stands approved by Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), New Delhi, the apex body for adventure sports in the country,” informed president of Tawi Trekkers, J&K, Ram Khajuria.
Starting the trek from Chisoti after reaching there from Gulab Garh, the team shall reach the base camp ahead of the mouth of Chomochior valley, at an altitude of 4400m, after hiking for four days through Darlang Nala valley which is abode to highly technical climbs.
“Since there is not much space for pitching a proper tent ahead of advance Base Camp because of the presence of ice walls and rock towers, the climbers shall have to make at least two bivouacs to summit the 6322 m technically a very difficult peak. However, only Nirmal Kumar, Monty Rajkhowa and Subash Chand shall make an attempt on the peak as Capt. Sangwan and Rahul Jarngal have to come back from Base Camp because of official duties,” disclosed Khajuria.
