The Himalayan Club team atop Mount Nilkanth

A gruelling climb of 57 hours, with two breaks of three-four hours each — that’s what members of Himalayan Club, in central Calcutta, had to endure in the last phase of their expedition to ascend Mount Nilkanth (6,596 metres).

This was the fifth ascent of the peak, in the Garhwal Himalayas, that had even defeated Edmund Hillary. It was also the first successful civilian attempt.

The 11-member team started from the west ridge of the south face of the mountain, from the Panpatia glacier-end, along the route opened by a Scottish team in 2000.

“The most difficult part of the climb was the stretch from Camp II to the summit,” recalled Debraj Dutta, lead climber of this stretch. “We climbed 57 hours with two short breaks in between, as there was no flat ground to set up a camp. We had to bivouac twice, at 5,900 metres, by anchoring ourselves to the almost vertical rock face to rest in our sleeping bags.”

Dutta, who earns a living by giving tuitions, was the first to step atop the snow-capped mountain, at 2.07pm on June 11.

Climbing leader Gautam Ghosh, a veteran of several expeditions, feels the Nilkanth climb “had posed a challenge because of the technicality involved in negotiating the mountain”.

He had a problem with the harness, with which he was anchored, while descending from the summit. “Dutta came to my rescue,” said Ghosh, who is a constable at Park Street police station.

The climbers received “constant support” from their leader, Air Vice-Marshal (retd) Apurba Bhattacharya, who was stationed in the base camp and was in constant touch with them through walkie-talkie.

The sub-divisional magistrate of Joshimath had requested the team to investigate rumours about a fissure atop the mountain that could trigger avalanches. “We found cornices (overhanging ledges of snow on a ridge or the crest), but no fissure on the south-western, western or south-eastern face,” said Bhattacharya.

The team witnessed the impact of global warming, as a survey of the Panpatia glacier revealed that one of the two streams at the snout had dried up. Besides, the glacier itself had receded by 1.5 km.