Mountaineering expedition to Mt Gorichen flagged off

From Our Correspondent

Itagar, Sep 9: The Indian Army has always been in the forefront of adventure activities.  In keeping its fine traditions, the Blazing Sword Division’s General Officer Commanding on Wednesday flagged off a mountaineering expedition from Chu here to Mt Gorichen, one of the highest mountains in Eastern Himalaya’s located in Aruchal Pradesh at an altitude of 21450 feet above mean sea level.

It is one of the difficult peaks of the Himalaya’s to climb owing to its terrain, rock faces, avalanche prone zones, ice walls and technicality involved in reaching the summit. In Aruchal Pradesh and Eastern Himalayas, it is second only to Mt Kangto.

The team of 23 members is led by Lt Col Munish Bhardwaj of Indian Army’s Blazing Sword Division, an avid mountaineer who has been part of previous expeditions to Macholi /J&K in 2003 & Mt BhagirathII/Uttarakhand in 2010.

The team has undergone intense and arduous selection process and is a band of highly trained mountaineers from Blazing Sword Division. The team is further assisted by technical experts from Army Adventure Wing and tiol Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (NIMAS), Dirang.

The team flagged off from Chu, embarks on a challenging expedition route to Jithang, Merathang and Chokarsham. The team plans to set up Base Camp at Chokarsham at an altitude of 16,500 feet and two camps North of Chokarsham in the glaciated area before planning to summit Mt Gorichen Main at an altitude of 21,410 feet on September 18th or 19th depending upon weather conditions.

Adventure in the Army has been one of the foundations of a soldier’s basic curriculum for time immemorial. The expedition to Mt Gorichen provides an opportunity to train and exercise soldiers in extreme conditions thus testing their physical & mental robustness to its optimum level and preparing them to face similar challenges in any future conflict.

The expedition will also prove to beam inspiration for future mountaineering expeditions to various untraversed mountain peaks in the Himalayas.