A joint mountain expedition of six adventure clubs based in north Bengal was flagged off from Jalpaiguri on Monday.
A 12-member team — 10 men and two women — from these clubs will head for Ladakh on Tuesday to make it to the summit of Mount Pologongka, a Himalayan peak located at a height of 6,390 metres above sea level.
On Monday, Col Rajneesh Joshi, the principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling, formally flagged off the expedition and handed over the Indian national flag to Bhaskar Das, a veteran mountaineer and team leader.
“This is an important endeavour. This joint expedition of the adventure clubs will encourage more and more youngsters to pursue mountaineering as an adventure sport. They will also feel interested in training as mountaineers to join such expeditions,” said Col Joshi.
“Also, the expedition will build coordination among the clubs and pave the path for similar plans in the future,” said Col Joshi.
The clubs that have joined the expedition are the Rovers & Mountaineers Club (Alipurduar), the Cooch Behar Mountaineers Club, the Odlabari Nature & Adventure Society, the Mainaguri Environment & Adventure Club, and the Nature & Trekkers Club (all three in Jalpaiguri) and the North Bengal Explorers’ Club (Siliguri).
Named “Team North Bengal”, the group will leave for Delhi on and head for Manali. From there, they will reach the base camp in Ladakh at a height of 16,000 feet on July 7. The team will set up two more advanced camps in due course and attempt to reach the summit on July 12 or 13. On July 19, the team will return to Siliguri.
“In north Bengal, there are many adventure enthusiasts, but financial constraint is a major issue. The clubs run on donations and find it tough to arrange the expeditions alone. That is why we planned a joint expedition and hope we will be able to scale the peak,” said veteran climber Das, who is also a member of the Indian Mountaineering Federation.
Along with the 12 members, two guides and two kitchen staff members will join the team in Ladakh. “They will join us at the base camp,” said Das.
