Army flags down team to Sanglaphu in Sikkim

Gangtok, Nov. 17: A 21-member team on an expedition to Mt Sanglaphu in North Sikkim returned to Gangtok disappointed after being pushed back by the Indian army posted on China border for “absence of permission” from the military.

However, the climbers from the North East Adventure Foundation (NEAF) found a substitute challenge and scaled Lama Wangden peak (5,868m) in North Sikkim on November 7 and 8.

The team had set out on the expedition to acclimatise themselves to high altitude conditions as part of an exercise before their planned trip to Mt Everest.

“On our way up to Mt Sanglaphu (21,000ft), we established the base camp at 17000ft on October 28. We had taken permission from the state government for the expedition and reached the base camp after going through formalities at all check posts along the way,” said Everester Kunzang Bhutia, who led the team.

However, the mountaineers were told to leave the base camp by the army on October 31.

In its letter to the climbers, the army acknowledged that they had permission from the civil authorities concerned for the expedition.


Members of the NEAF with minister Dawchoo Lepcha in Gangtok after the expedition. Picture by Prabin Khaling
“However, no sanction has been sought from the army. Whenever such expeditions had taken place in the past, they had been duly approved by the military authorities, which is not the case this time,” the army said in its order.

However, the climbers quickly regained their enthusiasm and got nod from the government for an expedition to Lama Wangden peak. “We lost a lot of time, money and resources because of the unexpected exit from the base camp of Mt Sanglaphu. We are thankful to the government for giving us permission swiftly to scale Mt Lama Wangden,” said Kunzang, who is from Sikkim.

The team set up base camp at Lachen and raced to the summit camp at 16,200ft on November 5. Two groups consisting of nine members each reached the summit on November 7 and 8. Two persons did not climb the mountain because of fatigue and health problems. .

Despite the Sanglaphu misadventure, the mountaineers said, the scaling of Lama Wangden had prepared them for the Everest expedition.

The climbers believe a communication gap between the government and the army had led to their eviction from the base camp of Sanglaphu.

“We are hugely disappointed that we could not make it to Mt Sanglaphu. We are all Indians. While the government gave us permission to undertake the expedition, another wing of the government pushed us back. We suffered a lot because of communication gap and such things should not happen in future,” said Henry David, another climber.

He was speaking at a flag-in programme at the residence of Sikkim animal husbandry minister Dawchoo Lepcha in Gangtok.

The minister asked Kunzang to submit a report on the incident to the state home and tourism departments. “We will look into the matter and ensure that such problems do not arise in future,” said Lepcha.

Apart from Kunzang, the team consisted of two other Sikkimese mountaineers. They were Sagar Rai and Tshering Eden Bhutia.

The NAEF, based in Guwahati, will organise its first expedition to Mt Everest in March. “Although mountaineers from the Northeast have climbed Everest before, they were part of other expeditions,” said David.

According to Kunzang, selection of team members for the Everest expedition will be done by an NEAF committee in the first week of December. “The team will have 14 or 16 members,” he said.

David said the NAEF would approach the DoNER ministry, all Northeastern states and corporate houses for funds for the Everest climb.

Sikkim Push to save life on peaks

Gangtok, Nov. 20: Stakeholders in adventure tourism and tour operators have set in motion an exercise to devise a rescue and relief mechanism to handle high-altitude mishaps during mountaineering and trekking expeditions.

The move comes in the wake of the deaths of two mountaineers and injuries to other members of a trekking team from Mumbai in an avalanche on October 19. The mishap occurred when they were descending from the 19,700-feet Mount Thinchingkang.

Soon after, a 69-year-old American on a trekking expedition to Dzongri died because of altitude sickness and was cremated in Yuksom. Both the peaks are in West Sikkim.

Added to these are occasional road accidents involving tourists, especially on the routes to Yumthang in North Sikkim and Nathu-la in East Sikkim.

Paljor Lachungpa, the president of the Travel Agents’ Association of Sikkim (TAAS), said a meeting had been held with the officials of key state government departments to discuss the issue.

Members of the Sikkim Amateur Mountaineers Association also attended the meeting.

Lachungpa said famed British mountaineer Roger Payne, who had recently scaled 18,300-feet Mount Jupno in West Sikkim, had offered several inputs to the TAAS for setting up a rescue mechanism in the state. Payne has brought in several international mountaineers to the state for expeditions in the past six years.

“He has offered to share with the TAAS the knowledge and experience he gained in the past three decades by climbing mountains in all parts of the world and has pointed out that different rescue models exist in different Alpine areas,” said the TAAS president.

Payne has suggested that the stakeholders here first study various models in other places before evolving a mechanism for Sikkim.

“Payne suggested that an expert team should be formed with all equipment to train porters, guides and yak boys. There should also be a 24-hour help-line with a good communication system, especially for West Sikkim. He expressed surprise that there was no radio system along the Dzongri trek and porters had to come running down to Tshoka bearing bad news,” said Lachungpa.

Fast Facts - MOUNT KANGCHENJUNGA

MOUNT KANGCHENJUNGA



Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world. But calculations based on the results of the British Great Trigonometric Survey in 1849 then showed it to be but the third highest, at 28,169 feet (8586m).
In 1899, British climber and explorer Douglas Freshfield and Italian photographer Vittorio Sella travelled illegally through eastern Nepal and became the first to circumnavigate the mountain and to view its great western face.

After several attempts, Kangchenjunga was first climbed in 1955 by a British expedition lead by Charles Evans. George Band and Joe Brown made the first ascent and were followed the next day by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather.

Elevation: 28,169 feet (8,586 meters)

Location: Nepal/India, Asia
First Ascent: George Band, Joe Brown (UK), May 25, 1955

Fast Facts

• The name translates “Five Treasures of Snow,” referring to Kangchenjunga’s five peaks. The Tibetan words are: Kang (Snow) chen (Big) dzö (Treasury) nga (Five). The five treasures are Gold, Silver, Precious Stones, Grain, and Holy Scriptures.
• Four of Kangchenjunga’s five summits top 8,000 meters.
• Kangchenjunga is the highest mountain in India and second highest in Nepal and is the easternmost 8,000-meter peak.
• The first attempt to climb Kangchenjunga was in 1905 by a party led by Aleister Crowley and Dr. Jules Jacot-Guillarmod on the southwest side of the mountain.
• The 1955 first ascent party included famed British rock ace Joe Brown, who climbed a 5.8 rock section on the ridge just below the summit.
• The first ascent party and most subsequent parties stop just below the summit to respect the Sikkemese belief that the top is sacred space.
• The 2nd ascent was by an Indian Army team up the difficult northeast spur in 1977.
• In 1998 Ginette Harrison became the first woman to summit. Kangchenjunga was the last 8,000-meter peak to be climbed by a woman.
• Mark Twain traveled to Darjeeling in 1896 and later wrote in Following the Equator: “I was told by a resident that the summit of Kinchinjunga is often hidden in the clouds, and that sometimes a tourist has waited twenty-two days and then been obliged to go away without a sight of it. And yet was not disappointed; for when he got his hotel bill he recognized that he was now seeing highest thing in the Himalayas.”