HYDERABAD: The recent earthquake that shook Nepal and gave jitters to those trekking the Himalayas does not seem to deter mountaineers here in the city.
A team comprising seven mountaineers and adventurers have been training for the past six months in Hyderabad to scale three Himalayan peaks – Golep Kangri, Stok Kangri and Lungsar Kangri.
This expedition will begin today and the team aims to also plant a flag representing the 10 districts of Telangana on the highest of the three peaks – Lungsar Kangri (6666 mt high) on June 2 which is Telangana State formation day.
This 18-day trek will start from Leh. Ranga Rao, president of the Telangana Adventure Club and leader of this expedition said, “This is the first of its kind as we aim to cover all the three peaks within a period of 18 days if the weather conditions are favourable. Otherwise, we aim to complete it in 20 days. This trek generally takes a month to cover on an average. It is definitely going to be a tough one.”
Rigorous Training
Mountaineers have undergone six months of rigorous training for the expedition. “Our training sessions began early in the morning and went on for two hours. We ran a 10 km stretch with weights on our backs on the Tank Bund road,” shared Kiran Kumar, chief instructor. All the members of the team are trained mountaineers from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering.
The team is also prepared to face any kind of eventuality. “Avalanche beacons will intimate any kind of danger during avalanche. We have walkie talkies that will keep us connected to each other and also the base camp. Apart from this the Meteorology Department will give us hourly reports of the weather conditions,” explained Ranga Rao.