Darjeeling: A tribute to 50 years of Sikkim’s statehood will be etched across 50 mountain passes.

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) based in Darjeeling has set out to traverse 50 Himalayan passes, each climb a marker of the state’s golden jubilee.

Sikkim became an Indian state on May 16, 1975.

The expedition — Swarnim Shikhar Yatra — was flagged off by Sikkim’s tourism minister, T.T. Bhutia, in the presence of the state’s tourism secretary, C.S. Rao, and Colonel Rajneesh Joshi, the principal of HMI, from Gangtok on Wednesday.

“Over the course of a month, in three carefully planned phases, a team of highly trained mountaineers will navigate some of the most challenging terrains in the eastern Himalayas, covering both iconic passes and previously unexplored routes,” said Col Joshi.

Col Joshi is the leader of the 19-member expedition.

“The expedition will be conducted in three phases, and the composition of the team will be different in all three phases,” said Col Joshi. The HMI principal will be participating in all three phases.

The highest pass the team will cross is Donkia (or Dongkha) la, situated at an altitude of 17,998 feet.

The team will also visit the historic 13,999-foot Jelep la. The pass connecting east Sikkim with the Chumbi Valley in Tibet was part of the historic Silk Route but has remained closed to civilians since the Indo-China conflict in 1962.

The other well-known passes the team is expected to cover during its month-long expedition are Cho la at 15,059 feet and Naku la at 16,400 feet.

Naku la is a strategic military location and has been a site of patrolling and infrastructure contention between India and China.

Col Joshi said that the expedition was “a convergence of legacy and vision.”

The HMI, an institution of international repute, conducts its field training at Chaurikhang in west Sikkim at an altitude of around 14,600 feet.

The expedition is also aimed at opening new frontiers for adventure tourism, documenting high-altitude routes for future expeditions, and training and promoting eco-conscious exploration.

Sikkim intended to brand itself as an emerging global hub for adventure tourism, minister Bhutia said.