Sahoo on way to Kamet

Jamshedpur, July 13: A top Tata Steel executive has scaled Mount Kamet, the third highest peak in India.

Pradeep Chandra Sahoo, chief, HR implementation, was part of a 12-member team that set out in May to summit the Garhwal peak. At 25,445 feet, Kamet, located in the triangle where India, Nepal and Tibet meet, is the third highest in India after Kanchenjunga and Nanda Devi.

The expedition was organised by Himalayan Club, Calcutta, to commemorate the 75th year of the first ascent of Kamet and sponsored by Tata Steel. Although there were 12 members in the team, only four, Sahoo included, reached the top.

Kamet was first conquered in 1931 by a British team led by Frank Smythe and was at the time the highest peak climbed.

Fresh from his success, Sahoo said he had been in love with the mountains ever since his college days in Roorkee. ?I got awed by the Himalayas then.?

The team had left on May 18. Just over a month later, on June 24, Sahoo, along with three others, reached the summit.

Sahoo said while scaling Kanchenjunga needs a lot of resources, planning and money, the Centre has banned mountaineering on Nanda Devi to get back the ecological balance. The next choice was Kamet.

It was an arduous climb, the major problems being the lack of oxygen at higher altitudes and the drop in temperatures.

?After 16,000 feet, one enters a permanent snow zone. We faced minus 35 degrees Celsius there. We had narrow escapes with avalanches and rock falls crossing our paths,? he said.

Sahoo maintains the most draining aspect of such a difficult climb is the emotional and mental fatigue. “On such expeditions, one is entirely cut off from the outside world and family. Emotionally one gets drained too much. That’s when one needs to take inspiration from nature and be firm in his mind about getting to the target. When we unfurled the Indian flag and our company’s flag on the summit, it was an amazing feeling. Our next thought was reaching the base camp safely. We managed and now it feels very nice.”

The team carried a weight of 2,000 kg of supplies while individually each member carried luggage of anything between 10 and 25 kg depending on the altitude.
Sahoo, whose wife Chetna too is a mountaineer, hopes his success would inspire other executives to walk the trek.

“Emotional stress levels are high in the corporate world. But those who have done these activities can deal with stress better,” he believes.

Ace mountaineer Bachendri Pal is also elated at Sahoo’s feat. Pal said: “They went through six base camps before reaching the summit. Sahoo had also taken strict physical training before leaving. Taking time out from his busy schedule, Sahoo used to run 21 rounds of the JRD Tata Sports Complex. He faced hardships as well. His whole faced would be badly disturbed due to the ultraviolet rays. But in spite of this, he achieved his goal. There are so many things to be learnt from nature,” said Pal.