A 34-member mountaineering team from the Indian Army is all set to take Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Swach Bharat’ dream to greater heights. The expedition which is led by Major Ranveer Singh Jamwal, is undergoing special endurance and mountaineering training to scale the Mount Everest, and aims to bring back at least 4,000 kg of non-biodegradable waste left by climbers over the decades.
The team, comprising six officers and 24 other ranks, leaves for Kathmandu on April 4 and will commence their ascent in mid-May. This is the best time to scale the peak as there is least weather turbulence expected during this period.
The ascent earmarks the golden jubilee since a team of Indian Army mountaineers first scaled the mountain. The conquest was led by Captain MS Kohli who led nine climbers to the top of the peak. This was a world record at that time and remained unbroken for over a decade. Captain Kohli later scaled the Nanda Devi peaks with a special CIA squad to place a nuclear powered listening device aimed at monitoring Chinese missile tests. The device was however blown away by an avalanche and remains untraceable till date.
The world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest, is notoriously famous as the world’s highest trash heap as well. The race to scale the summit got intense over the decades. Mountaineers and adventure enthusiasts from across the globe climbed Mount Everest leaving behind tones of non-biodegradable waste like oxygen cylinders, tents, human excrement etc. on the peak. Incessant littering over the years has raised growing concerns about irreversible environmental damage.
Major Ranveer Singh Jamwal and his team will carry back trash when they come back to the base camps from forward camps for acclimatization. Each member of the expedition team will be carrying about 10 kgs of waste. The trash brought down from Mount Everest will then be disposed at Namche Bazar in Nepal. Meanwhile, an off-shoot team of the Indian Army mountaineers will head towards the fourth highest peak in the world, Mount Lhotse.
The daring team has already scaled several peaks in India while training for the Mount Everest ascent. The highlight of these missions was the fact that no non-biodegradable waste was left behind on any of the peaks. The new standard operating procedure of scaling peaks without leaving behind any form of non-biodegradable waste is setting new revolutionary standards in mountaineering. Such efforts aimed at raising awareness about environmental pollution are getting global media coverage as the world steers towards a greener, cleaner, and better future for all.
