On the 4th of October, the Chief Minister of the State, Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat flagged off an expedition of six – mountaineers including two women to summit peaks in Uttarakashi’s Gangotri range.
The team set out on ‘Mission Atal’ on the 7th of October from Gangotri to summit four virgin peaks at a height 6000 to 6600 mtrs.
Principal NIM Col Amit Bisht along with Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board member Avdesh Bhatt, Jyotsana Rawat and Anamika Bisht under the guidance of Instructor Rakesh Rana from National Institute of Mountaineering, mountaineer Vishnu Semwal and high altitude porters Prem and Gailbu, were part of this daring team.
Col Amit Bisht tells us, “before going on the expedition we enquired from IMS who confirmed that these four peaks were unnamed and un-scaled, so it became a challenge for us to undertake this feat.”
Talking to us, post summiting the peaks, the youngest member of the team Jyotsana Rawat recalls, “The entire expedition happened in a blink. It still hasn’t sunk in.” She adds, “not only were the peaks a technical challenge, uncharted route, inclement weather and a fixed time span made mine and Anamika’s maiden expedition a great experience.”
Post the expedition, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board member Avdesh Bhatt has set themselves another daunting task. Bhatt ji tells us, “we named this ‘Mission Atal’ and when we returned on 19th of October post summiting the peaks, we under took an initiative to name these, ‘Atal Ridge’ in the memory of former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpaee. We procured a no-objection certificate from local authorities in the region and are working on a report to be presented to IMF, Uttarakhand Government as well as Survey of India after which we will appeal to the PMO to name the four peaks Atal 1, Atal 2, Atal 3, and Atal 4.”
A task that this determined team assures us will be accomplished soon.
