Kishtwar: West Bengal Sonarpur Aarohi Club, comprising a team of skilled and eminent mountaineers, successfully summited Mt Brammah-I on July 18.
This challenging peak, known for its technical difficulty, has been a long-standing aspiration in the mountaineering community since it was first climbed by British mountaineer Chris Bonnington about 50 years ago.
This remarkable achievement marks the first Indian team to conquer the summit, making history in the world of mountaineering.
A statement said that after meticulous planning and cooperation from the district Administration Kishtwar and various government and military bodies, the expedition commenced on July 16. However, adverse weather conditions, including whiteouts and heavy snowfall, forced the team to abandon their initial summit attempt.
During this unfortunate incident, a Sherpa member fell approximately 70 meters but, fortunately, survived with bruises, cuts, shock, and snow blindness while searching for the summit route. The team made a courageous decision to wait for his recovery and launch another attempt within 30 hours.
On midnight of July 17, the team set out once again, and at approximately 10:30 am on July 18, they achieved their goal, successfully summiting Mt Brammah-I. The team recorded the height as 6426 meters, which differed slightly from the topo map’s mentioned elevation of 6416 meters, based on four devices’ readings.
A total of nine climbing members and five Sherpas accomplished the momentous summit, while three members coordinated the activities from the base camp.
“Upon safely returning to the Base Camp on July 19 at 8:30 pm, the team expressed their gratitude to the district Administration of Kishtwar for their support, both direct and indirect, throughout the expedition. Besides thanks, Indian Army 17RR, Police, Forest Department, KDA and the local team, consisting of Ravinder Singh Thakur, Bhanu Badyal, Rajesh Thakur and Avleen Bhutiyal including 2 local Youth from Kishtwar who recently completed the Adventure Training Course at the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports, Pahalgam who has been making a remarkable difference by accompanying the climbers and providing essential support.,” read the statement.
However, the team faces a setback as their initial plan to climb Brammah’s had to be called off due to challenges in retrieving climbing equipment, leading to significant financial losses that may take time to recover without adequate sponsorship, it stated.
Nevertheless, the team remains resilient and committed to overcoming these obstacles. In the spirit of giving back to the local community, the team has brought school supplies to be distributed at Kibber Nala School for the students on July 22. The team will also conduct a medical camp, supervised by the team doctor, during the same visit.
Following these philanthropic activities, on July 23, the team will proceed to Kishtwar to express their gratitude to the office of DC Kishtwar for the invaluable cooperation extended to them during the expedition.
The West Bengal Sonarpur Aarohi Club believes that this successful summit of Mt Brammah-I will open up new avenues for future adventure tourism in the Kishtwar Himalayas. The route they follow is also a new route of discovery.
The team cherishes the memories made during this expedition and looks forward to more such inspiring journeys in the future.
The Summit Team Members include Rudra Prasad Halder, Partha Sarathi Layak, Satyarup Siddhanta, Rudra Prasad Chakraborty, Dr Uddipan Halder, Debasish Majumder, Avik Mondal, Tuhin Bhattacharyya, Naitik Naskar whereas Summit Sherpa members Phursemba Sherpa, Nurbu Sherpa, Janga Bahadur Rai, Pass Dukya Sherpa, Dawa Nurbu Sherpa.
Meanwhile, the injured Sherpa Member, namely Tenzing Sherpa. The base camp members i.e., Chayan Chatterjee, Joydeep Halder, Asim Dutta and the base camp cook i.e., Baijnath Thakur.
DC Kishtwar, Dr Devansh Yadav, congratulated the team for this remarkable accomplishment and expressed enthusiasm about boosting the tourist potential and tourism in Kishtwar.
He believes that this achievement will open up new avenues for future adventure tourism in the Kishtwar Himalayas.