Scaling heights isn’t environment friendly

Army flags off expedition to Mount Satopanth in Uttarakhand to clean the snow-capped peak

Scaling heights isn't environment friendly

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Scaling heights isn't environment friendly

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Army flags off expedition to Mount Satopanth in Uttarakhand to clean the snow-capped peak

The earth is heating up and so are the mountains.

Every year hundreds of back-packers and tourists visit the peaks but tend to leave behind leftovers as their footprints.

To not let the magnitude of this problem turn grave and add this as another factor for global warming, the Indian Army flagged off an expedition to summit Mount Satopanth part of Garhwal Himalaya of Uttarakhand to clean the snow-capped mountains by collecting wastes while returning back.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0

"Challenging the extremes with courage and conviction is a norm with the Indian Army. In our expedition this time, our motto is to collect all the waste materials left over by the previous mountaineers. There are tons and tons of waste amassed on the mountains that only adds to global warming. Our team will try to clear the waste and make the environment retain its essence," said General Officer Commanding (GOC) Kharga Corps Lieutenant General Chetinder Singh.

Lieutenant Saurabh Mall, who is leading the expedition said, "The journey is planned with a view to promote and inculcate the spirit of adventure among all ranks. The rigorous and intricate nature of climbing the mountains demands determination and unflinching resolve from the members of the expedition team, who will also learn to maintain the nature without the effects of global warming."

At a height of 7075 meters, this peak is popularly called "path to heaven", as "Sato" means heaven and "Panth" is path. As per mythology, this path was traversed by Pandavas to their heavenly abode. Mountaineers across the country consider this peak the most challenging as it involves technical difficulties in climbing the peak.

It's life & death
One of the three members of the expedition Subedar Tejpal Singh said,"This was my second major expedition after Cho-oyu, world's 6th highest mountain. While we were climbing the peak we came across many dead bodies buried in thick snow. All the bodies looked fresh as if they died just two to three days back. Avalanche was a common sight in the area."

He also narrated a shocking incident of Cho-oyu where he fell into a 50 meters deep pit and was almost dead. He was hanging there for at least half an hour before he was pulled up by his co-mountaineers. "On May 23, 2006, around 2:30 in the afternoon I fell into a deep trench. The incident was one of the most horrendous moments of my life. I kept shouting but no one came to my rescue. Later I was being pulled up with a help of a rope," added Tejpal.