Mountaineer takes to Facebook to raise funds to pursue dream of scaling Seven Summits

Kolkata: Noted mountaineer from the state Satyarup Siddhanta who had successfully climbed the Mt Everest in June 2016 is now beginning his expedition of scaling the Seven Summits in December. However, with the expedition involving an amount of Rs 66 lakh, Siddhanta has sought for sponsorships and funds from interested persons through the page of his social networking site. The mountaineer is also putting some of his priced mementos that he had received in his previous expedition on auction to procure funds for his expedition.

"Out of the 7.6 billion population of this world, only a handful few (in hundreds) has the feat to climb all the 7 Summits i.e. climbing the highest mountain in each of the continents. No civilian Bengalee has been able to scale the Seven Summit before. So it will surely be a matter of pride for our state," an optimistic Siddhanta said.

He termed it as an adventure of a lifetime to scale the "top of the bottom of the world", Mt Vinson Massif (4892m), the highest mountain of Antarctica. "Post the climb, I am going to ski the last degree to South Pole from 89 Degree South to 90 Degree South. The incredible and adventurous journey distance is 60 nautical miles in length," Siddhanta said. Mt Vinson Massif is one of the most remote and cold mountains on earth.

The mountaineer will return back to Chile to climb the highest Active volcano in the world, Mt Ojos Del Salado which is also the highest mountain in Chile. The expedition will start on December 1 and will end on January 20.

The first 7 summitter from India, Malli Mastan Babu, in 2015 died of hypothermia at Tres Cruces Sur, on the Chile-Argentina border when a storm came.

"I want to pay a homage to this legendary mountaineer by climbing this mountain which is also an integral part of my expedition," Siddhanta said.

However, the whooping cost of around Rs 66 lakh for the expedition has been a matter of concern for him. He has already started putting advertisements for auctioning of some of his precious possessions through his Facebook page.

The things that has been put for auction includes a wooden comb that he had collected from the Masai village while scaling the highest peak of Africa Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2012, a glass made of animal horn that he had collected while scaling Mt. Elbrus in Europe and stones collected from Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia during his expedition.

Apart from the Everest, Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, Siddhanta who hails from Haridevpur in Kolkata has already scaled Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina, Mt. Denali in Alaska, Mt. Mont Blanc in France to name a few.