A panoramic view of Mount Kamet

Waist-deep snow, temperatures way below zero and a treacherous terrain covered with boulders and glaciers.

Just some of the adversities that a team from Calcutta overcame while climbing the third-highest peak in India, Mount Kamet.

Ten climbers from the Himalayan Club?s Calcutta Section achieved the feat on June 24 and are now on their way back to the city.

?It was a big battle. Not against Nature, but to bring out the best of our physical and mental abilities,? Debajyoti Bhattacharya, manager of the team, told Metro from Hardwar on Tuesday.

The 7,756-m-high Kamet was first climbed on June 21, 1931, by a British team led by Frank Smythe, also a member of the Himalayan Club. This expedition was to commemorate the 75th year of the climb.

The peak in Uttaranchal is ranked after Kanchenjunga and Nanda Devi on the list of India?s tallest peaks. The 10-member team that reached the summit comprised Gautam Ghosh, Subrata Chakraborty, Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Pradeep Chandra Sahoo, sherpas Dawa, Lakpa, Mingma and Lama, and High Altitude Friends (or porters) Devender Singh Rana and Kapil Rana.

Gautam and Jayanta belong to Calcutta Police, while Pradeep is employed with a steel company. Subrata holds a national record for mono-cycling while at 17, Kapil is the youngest sherpa from Garhwal to climb this peak.

?The trip took 45 days. We started the trek from a small Uttaranchal village called Ghamsali. There were lots of adversities along the way. The temperature even at the base camp was minus five degrees. We had to climb rock walls inclined at 90 degrees, and the way was filled with giant boulders and glaciers,? recalled Bhattacharya.

The journey cost nearly Rs 3.5 lakh.

The first Indian ascent to Kamet was in 1955 by Nandu Jayal. A French and American team had climbed it as recently as in October 2005.

?Anything above 7,000 metres tells on you. The Meade?s Col summit camp at 7,010 m was wind-swept,? offered Priyadarshi Gupta, local secretary (honorary) of the club.

The team is scheduled to return to Calcutta on July 7, after which a celebration is on the cards.

Distinguished mountaineers from across India and abroad will assemble at the Indian Museum to make presentations on Mount Kamet and screen films on it.