8
2nd issue of May 2012
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The summit of all struggles
Every year in May, the highest peak of the world, Mt. Everest, incites mountaineers from across the world to
challenge their limits. This year was no different
V
isually challenged Eric
Weihenmayer’s success in
scaling Mt. Everest in 2001
has now become a mountaineering folklore, but each year, several stories of individual courage are
written on those near-impossible
heights. Some go unnoticed by the
media and general public, others get registered in terms of records set: “first
ever...”, “youngest...”, “fastest...” etc.
This year was no different, as mountain
lovers from across the world sought a
date with the world’s highest peak.
Four members of the Sagarmatha
Giryarohan
Expedition
from
Maharashtra summited the world’s
highest peak, once virtually barred to
private groups due to lack of funding, at
6.45 a.m. on May 19, said the team’s
guide and Everest hero from
Hyderabad,
Shekhar
Babu
Bacchinepally.
“This expedition is dedicated to
Ramesh Gulave,” said Shekhar, whose
ascent in 2007 as an individual climber
unsupported by any organisations
inspired dozens of Indian Everest aspirants subsequently.
Gulave developed breathing troubles
and other health complications last
month after the expedition had flagged
off and had to be airlifted to Kathmandu
and flown to India for medical treatment. He died on April 27.
Shrihari Tapkir, a 28-year-old avid
trekker
and
climber
from
Wadmukhwadi village in Pune,
was one of the four summiters.
Tapkir is also
one of the
On top of the world:
(from left) Maharashtra
mountaineers
Shrihari
Tapkir, Balaji Mane, Sagar
Palkar and Anand Bansode
who reached the summit of
the world's highest peak,
Mt Everest on May 19
founders of the Sagarmatha Giryarohan
Sanstha at Bhosari, which is now one of
the leading adventure clubs in Pune.
Accompanying the ordnance factory
employee on the 8,848 m peak were
Sagar Palkar, 27, from Chinchwad;
Balaji Mane, 34, from Latur district; and
Anand Bansode, 27, from Solapur.
Bansode also set a new Guinness
World Record for playing music on the
highest altitude with a concert at camp
II of Mt Everest on May 6, at a height
of 6,300 meters.
“It was a financial challenge,” said
Shekhar. “Most of the climbers took
personal loans, while the rest of the
money came from individual donors
and a few groups. Most corporates shied
away from offering sponsorship, thinking it would cost them ` 3-4 million per
climber. However, the boys did it on a
shoe-strong budget of `1.5 million per
climber.”
Shekhar himself had been a shoestring Everest conqueror, who owned
his boots to the Indian Army expedition
Bansode set a new Guinness
World Record for playing music
on the highest altitude with a
concert at camp II of
Mt Everest on May
6, at a height of
6,300 meters.
at that time as well as weather forecast
reports.
The name game
l It was in 1808, when the Great
THE OLDEST
Meanwhile, Tamae Watanabe from
Japan became the oldest woman to tame
the mountain.
The 73-year-old, who reached the top
as leader of the Asian Trekking
International Everest Expedition 2012,
along with Noriyuki Muraguchi, also
from Japan, recreated her own record.
Ten years ago, she had strode to the
top to become the then oldest woman
to stand there at 63.
THE YOUNGEST
A 21-year-old student became the
youngest British woman to reach the
summit of the world’s highest peak,
Mount Everest.
Mollie Hughes from Bristol, and her
team made it to the 8,848-metre summit in near perfect conditions, and posted pictures of the special moment on
her blog site.
Before the climb, Mollie said she was
“feeling confident but a little bit apprehensive”. Her mother Jane Spreckley
said: “We’re all beyond proud of Mollie.
She has raised an incredible 2,500
pounds for her charity
Action Aid.
Trigonometric Survey of British
India launched a project to specify
the exact height, location and
names of the world’s highest
mountains, that it was established
that the highest peak of the world
was not Kangchenjunga but another peak in Nepal, measuring 8,840
meters.
l Although the British had named
other peaks after the local names in
vogue — Nandakot, Thalaisagar,
Kangchenjunga — in this case they
named it after the Surveyor General
of India George Everest, and not
after the local name for it in Nepal
(Chomolungma or Sagarmatha).
The reason was they didn’t know
what it was locally called.
l The actual height of 8,848 got established in 1955 by an Indian survey.
l Mountaineers use two main climbing routes to reach the peak — the
Southern Ridge from Nepal,
which is easier and therefore more
frequently-used; and the north
ridge route from the Tibet side,
which is a tougher terrain.