Milestone: 3 Bengal mountaineers scale 2 unnamed peaks in Himachal

Kolkata: Three mountaineers from the state successfully summited two challenging peaks over 6,000 meters in Himachal Pradesh without the aid of any Sherpa or guide.

Rudraprasad Chakraborty, Naitik Naskar and Tuhin Bhattacharya submitted Shinkun West, 6,127 metres, on October 18 and another unnamed peak just beside it having a height of 6,030 metres was scaled by Rudraprasad and Naitik, two days later on October 20.

Three other mountaineers Rik Raj Roy, Anirban Talukdar and Chayan Chatterjee were also a part of the six-member team that embarked on the expedition.

They assisted the trio in achieving the feat but did not risk their lives in making it to the peak overcoming the chilling wind during the climb.

The team led by Rudraprasad Chakraborty under the banner of Sonarpur Arohi had left Kolkata on October 8 and after completing the administrative procedures set up their base camp at a height of 5,160 m close to Singola pass in Himachal Pradesh.

On October 16, they established their summit camp at Teranga Call which is at a height of 5,550 metres. It was on October 17 when they did a reiki of the unnamed peak.

On October 18, they left the summit camp at 6 am and finally at 3 pm the three climbed Shinkun West (6,127m). They rested at the summit camp on the next day at 5 am and left the summit camp and at 2.45 pm Rudraprasad and Naitik scaled the unknown peak (6,030 m).

However, the GPS that they were carrying showed both the peaks to be 15-20 metres higher. “The greatest challenge for the team was the hostile wind of the Singola pass. Presently they are at Manali and will be returning to Kolkata on October 26,” said mountaineer Rudra Prasad Halder.