In a first, 9 mountaineers from Bengal scale Brammah I in Jammu and Kashmir

Kolkata: Nine mountaineers from Bengal scripted history on Tuesday morning by scaling the Brammah I peak located in the Kishtwar Himalayas in Jammu and Kashmir. This is for the first time that any mountaineer from the country has scaled Brammah I, which is known for its huge rise above the local terrain.

“The 9-member team along with 5 sherpas started their ascent from camp 2 at 11 pm on Monday and the news of their successful summit reached us at 10.30 am on Tuesday. They will be descending to Camp 2 and will rest there for a few hours before climbing down to the base camp,” Abhijit Chowdhury of Sonarpur Arohi said.

The expedition was held under the banner of Sonarpur Arohi and was led by Rudraprasad Halder.

There have been two or three attempts to scale the challenging Brammah but no Indian has ever completed the expedition till now. The expedition was held to mark 50 years of summiting of the peak.

British mountaineer Chris Bonington, along with Nick Estcourt and aided by the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, made the first ascent of Brammah-I in 1973 via the Southeast Ridge. It has witnessed only four successful ascents in its history, with the last one occurring 43 years ago in 1980.

Apart from Halder, Satyarup Siddhanta, Partha Sarathi Layek, Avik Mondal, Rudraprasad Chakraborty, Debasish Majumder, Naitik Halder, Uddipan Halder and Tuhin Bhattacharjee were in the team.

There is a total of six peaks in the Brahma massif in the Kishtwar Himalayas.

The team had started the climb on Sunday morning but were caught amidst massive snowfall and with another 136 m to reach the summit, one of the sherpas fell 70 feet downwards and the team were compelled to return to Camp 2.

However, their determination led them to start the fresh climb on Monday night with the improvement in weather.