Imphal, June 18: Manipur mountaineer N. Suraj Singh created history when he became the first person from the state to scale Mt Everest.

He expressed his satisfaction in making his state’s presence felt at the summit during a candid chat with The Telegraph at his residence in Palace Compound here.

He is on a week’s leave from his Central government job and landed here last Saturday.

Suraj said it was the most exhaustible and physically straining experience but his confidence in himself and his regular practice of yoga kept his momentum going without any major breakdown during the ascent to as well as descent from the summit.

“The whole expedition took around 80 days and on Arpil 15 we reached the base camp and was on acclimatisation for three days before the actual climb began. We began our climb on April 19,” Suraj said.

“From our last camp, we proceeded to the summit on the evening of May 21 and after four attempts we finally scaled the peak on May 22 at 7.10am.”

“It was a dangerous trek towards the summit, amid extremely unpredictable and hostile weather conditions. During our final ascent, we came across a body being ferried down.”

“Once we reached the summit, all our fears evaporated and all the 10 members of the team were in great spirits, forgetting the arduous journey up the summit,” he recalled.

“I prayed and left the photographs of my late parents atop the summit,” the climber said.

Suraj also clarified that the Everest expedition was organised by Sonam Gaytso Mountaineering Institute, Sikkim, and he was not a part of the Army’s Snow Lion team as reported earlier.

Suraj said the 10-member team was given a rousing welcome by the Sikkim government.

“The governor, chief minister, chief justice and chief secretary hosted tea parties to celebrate our success and it was such a wonderful gesture.”

The Sikkim government had decided to hold a public reception for the 10 members on World Tourism Day.

The Manipur government’s reaction, on the other hand, has been lukewarm and no one from the government showed up at the airport to receive him.