FIRST INDIAN CIVILIAN EXPEDITION ASCENT OF NILKANTH (6596m)
The Himalayan Club mountaineering team from Kolkata arrived at Joshimath in the Garhwal Himalaya amidst reports of a large crack having developed near the summit of the magnificently sculpted icy spire of Nilkanth. Undaunted, the team left for the base camp at the Panpatia glacier, on the 24 th of May 07. Inspite of the original plan having been to undertake reconnaissance of both the unclimbed SE ridge as well as the west ridge routes on the mountain, severe porter shortage caused the team to reach the base camp area only on the 29 th of May. Consequently, plans of reconnaissance on the long and tortuous SE ridge had to be set aside and focus was made on the west ridge route, which had not been ascended till date by any Indian climbing team.
Three days of frenzied load ferrying followed through a hazardous ice fall on the Panpatia glacier and Camp 1 was established c. 5250 m on a snow field on the 2 nd of June. A further camp site was opened c. 5400 m on the 5 th of June. All the climbers were well acclimatized by then and looked forward to tackling the sheer 1000m that lay between them and the summit .Siege was now laid on the imposing twin rock towers on the west ridge. The first tower was successfully negotiated on the 6 th of June, while the ramparts of the second tower were scaled on the 8 th of June. Ascending the towers had necessitated high skills of rock climbing.
Early morning of the 10 th, saw the seven members and four Sherpa, retrace their steps on the rock towers, carrying tent outer fly covers, as a bivouac eventuality in the higher realm of the mountain. Climbing was slow as several anchor points had to be secured on the way up, and by late evening they reached a point c. 5900 m on the southern slopes of the west ridge. Finding no suitable camp site here, they had no recourse but to huddle together in their sleeping bags under the open sky, with atmospheric temperature hitting a low of minus 20 deg Celsius. They rested fitfully and began moving again in the early hours of the 11 th of June (0130 hrs), with their head lamps eking out a faint path on the rock and ice gulley .They progressed slowly but surely , and successfully reached the ice slopes of the summit ridge c.6100m after a grueling 8 hours of continuous climbing ( 0930 hrs) .This location afforded a suitable camping site .However, the weather being good and the climbers in good stead , they changed their plans of establishing camp and pushed on ahead along the summit ridge. The icy slope of the summit ridge was openly crevassed, and it had to be negotiated carefully and a rope line was fixed on this final stretch. They soon came across three precariously balanced cornices on the northern end of the summit, which the climbers carefully avoided. Debraj reached the summit first at 0207p.m. and over the next twenty minute or so, the remaining climbers reached the sacred summit of Nilkanth. Chaukhamba, Parvati, Satopanth, Balakun, Kamet and Mana were distinctly visible. Unfortunately, the Nanda Devi sanctuary side had already been hidden by deep clouds.
The ecstatic climbers soon started descending around 3.30 in the afternoon and had planned to climb back all the way to camp 2. They descended through the nocturnal gloom till about the early hours of the 12 th morning (0400hrs), resting fitfully for about three hrs & then again continued down to reach the camp-2 site by 1330hrs in the afternoon of the 12 th. Nearly 57 hrs of climbing & descending had been undertaken by this team , interspersed by only a couple of brief rest periods in totally open conditions – an amazing expression of their grit, determination and focus on being successful. It is also noteworthy to observe that three of the summiters were on their very first expedition! Thus the team had shown a remarkable blend of youthful exuberance and seasoned campaigners.
The first Indian ascent along the west ridge route as well as the first Indian civilian team ascent of Nilkanth had now been accomplished by this Himalayan Club expedition from the Kolkata Section, under the very astute leadership of veteran climber AVM (Retd) Apurba Bhattacharyya, who once again demonstrated that real climbers never really hang up their boots! The members at Base Camp had also undertaken studies on the Panpatia glacier and around the Panpatia Col area. The team received a joyous reception on return at the Howrah station, Kolkata, amidst popped champagne bottles .A press brief was given on the 28 th of June at the Calcutta Sports Journalists club premises. The team also thanked the Indian Navy for their invaluable support in term of considerable technical equipment on loan. This ascent was the fifth ascent of Nilkanth .The previous ascents were :( 1974, North face route, 1993 (NE ridge route), 2000 (west ridge route), & 2001(west ridge route).
The team:
1. Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya Leader
2. Gautam Ghosh Climbing Leader
3. Dr. Sushanta Bhattacharya Medical Officer
4. Debajyoti Bhattacharya Manager
5. Subroto Chakraborty
6. Debraj Dutta
7. Gautam Saha
8. Debabrata Ghosh
9. Jayanta Chattopadhyay
10. Brijendra Singh
11. G.Prasanna Kumar
12. Dinesh Singh Rawat
Sherpas: Mingma Norbu Sherpa, Ang Nima Sherpa, Thendup Sherpa Pemba Sherpa
Summiteers:
Gautam Ghosh, Debraj Dutta, Gautam Saha, Subrata Chakraborty, G Prasanna Kumar,
Brijendra Singh, Dinesh Singh Rawat & the four Sherpas.
