Bengal mountaineers ‘script history’, scale Mt Monto ‘without sherpa support’

Kolkata: A team of 11 Indian climbers associated with a mountaineering club in Bengal has created history by climbing the Mt. Monto group of peaks without a sherpa.

Only Mt. Monto 1 remained unclimbed because of bad snow conditions and not enough time to find the route.

Mt. Monto consists of 4 peaks and is located in the South East Ladakh region near Korzok village and approximately 55 km from the roadhead (Kiyang dum) near the south end of Tso Moriri Lake.

Since these peaks are near the border of Himachal and China, the detailed topographic maps were not made available due to the sensitive zone. Without the detailed maps, the only way to find the route to the summit was to go and explore.

The team started with full throttle and had kept enough days in hand to not only summit the peaks but also to explore the various gorges, cols, and unnamed peaks (some of which are above 6000m) to document future climbing opportunities. But as they reached the base camp, the weather turned bad, which was a reflection of the disasters in Himachal and the surrounding places.

The team had to keep itself inside the tent at the basecamp for almost 6 crucial days.

The team led by Rudra Prasad Halder and Satyarup Siddhanta, the deputy leader, divided themselves into teams and first did exploration to ascertain the routes for climbing. Following this, they took up the expedition and climbed the peaks.

The other team members were Naitik Naskar, Anirban Talukdar , Debasish Majumdar, Soumya, Niranjan, Wrik Raj, Bhaskar, Tuhin, and Arunabha Sanpui.

Incidentally, the team also did a cleaning drive around the bank of Tso Moriri with some local students and also distributed some educational supplies and clothes for the students.

The team also brought all the non-degradable waste back to Korzok and handed it over to the municipal garbage truck.