Seven Everesters & more records for trek school
Posted by barunroy on June 6, 2008
 |
| The team at Rangpo. Picture by Pema Leyda Shangderpa |
Rangpo, June 5: Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute in Sikkim created several records when seven of its members made it to the top of Mt Everest last month.
Not only has the team from the mountaineering school independently summitted Everest for the first time, but Phul Maya Tamang and Yangde Sherpa have their individual feats to boast of. The two women are the first from the Northeast to have climbed the 8,848m-high peak.
The oldest Indian to have made it to the top is 59-year-old Nima Wangchuk Sherpa, who while recounting the expedition at Rangpo this evening, said his only ambition in life has been fulfilled at last.
The SGMI team had arrived at Rangpo, the entry point to Sikkim, from Nepal at 6pm. They were given a warm welcome by a host of adventure sports lovers and tour operators. The joint secretary of the Sikkim tourism department V.R. Subba was present as well.
D.D. Bhutia was the first to scale the peak on May 22 followed by Kunzang Bhutia 10 minutes later. The trek was originally planned from the more treacherous northern ridge located in Tibet, but was cancelled because the Olympic torch run was scheduled on the route. Yaduram Sharma and N. Suraj Singh are the other two Everesters. The principal of the institute, G.T. Bhutia, had stayed back at the base camp.
Three persons from the police departments of Uttaranchal, Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir were also part of the expedition.
According to G.T. Bhutia, the key to the success lay in determination and a long preparation. “It is a success story not only for SGMI but also for Sikkim,” he said. Although the mountaineering school had four Everesters, it had never launched any individual expeditions.
“The realisation that we climbed the world’s highest peak has not really quite sunk in but we must say that with this feat we are now aware that even women can achieve anything if they have the determination. We stayed for ten minutes on the top of the world and the view was mesmerising. We also prayed there,” said Sherpa. Her companion, Tamang, had made an unsuccessful attempt in 2003.
“We became the first two women from Northeast to climb the peak,” said Tamang.
The successful climb of seven Everesters this time prompted the principal to say that good fortune was with them.
“Even if one of us had climbed Everest, it would have been history. But with seven members, it was incredible. It was also good fortune that there were no untoward incidents during the climb,” the principal said.
Sikkim tourism department hosted a dinner this evening in honour of the SGMI team and will also felicitate them later. [The Telegraph]
