Indan Army Kanchenjunga Expedition

An 11-member Indian Army Kanchenjunga Expedition led by Lt. Colonel S.C. Sharma, SC, VSM which was flagged off on 19 August, 2004 from New Delhi by Gen. NC Vij, Chief of the Army Staff, Indian Army successfully summitted Kanchenjunga the third highest peak (8586m) in the world at 0955 hrs. today. The expedition ascended the peak from the South Western approach and the leader of the team, Lt. Col. SC Sharma has in the past successfully summitted Mt. Everest and Mt. Annapurna-I. The expedition included Major MS Chauhan, Subedar CN Boudh, SC, Subedar Mohinder Singh, SC, Subedar Nil Chand, Sepoy Surendra Singh and Sepoy Ashok Kumar, each one of them being veteran mountaineers having accented a number of 7000m plus peaks. The four accompanying Sherpas namely: Mr. Pembar Rinji, Mr. Damai Shiri, Mr. Dawa Wangchu and Mr. Nima Wagdi also scaled the peak.

2. Indian climbers have been climbing the Nepali Himalayas since early 60s and in the recent past there have been numerous successful attempts on the major peaks by the Indian Army expedition. One such expedition under the leadership of Col. K. Kumar in the Spring of 2001 scaled Mt. Everest and placed eleven climbers on top of the peak. In the year 2003, a Joint Indo-Nepalese Army Expedition, first of its type, created a world record of placing 31 climbers on Mt. Everest and 12 on Mt. Lhotse under the leadership of Col. A. Abbey. In the year 2002, another expedition led by Lt. Col. SC Sharma, had successfully scaled Mt. Annapurna-I.

3. This expedition to Kanchenjunga had entered Nepal from the East on 24 August and reached Base Camp from Taplejung on 12 September 2004. The expedition is likely to return by mid October.