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Lhotse summited this morning!
May 13, 2003

Nepal’s Ministry of Tourism has announced that twelve more climbers summited Lhotse this morning from the joint Indian/Nepali Army team. This joint expedition is also going for Lhotse’s bigger brother, Everest, and has been one of the leading expeditions on the South Side this season - they are also the largest, filling up two permits.

ExplorersWeb forecasts predicted about 14 m/s of wind this morning at the summit of Lhotse.

This past weekend, along with several other teams, climbers from the Indian/Nepali expedition staged a summit attempt on Mount Everest, but aborted when weather conditions were not favorable. In an earlier expedition leader meeting it was decided that their team was going to fix ropes above the South Col, 7900m, to the summit.

Because the Army team aborted thier Everest attempt this weekend, the ropes have not been set and there are two other smaller teams currently in Camp II, 6500m, going for their summit bid.

This past weekend eight climbers on a Japanese team summited Lhotse as well.

Indian/Nepali Army Lhotse summiters: Indian Army - Chering Norbu Bodh, 33, Palden Giacho Negi, 33, Neel Chand Dogra, 32, Surjeet Singh Thakur, 35 and Champa Younaten, 29

Royal Nepali Army - Ram Chandra Shrestha, 39, Rudra Prasad Timilshina, 37, Ram Sharan Karki, 29

Sherpas - Pemba Tshering, 22, Pemba Rinji, 26, Pemba Tshering, 20 and Pasang Rinji, 25

Lhotse, 8516m, is the world’s 4th highest mountain, but often gets overshadowed by Everest because they are so close. It’s just a hair over 100m shorter than K2, and shares the same route as Everest until 7500m. Lhotse has two lower subsidiary peaks, Lhotse Shar and Lhotse Middle. The later was the highest unclimbed subsidiary peak until 2001 when a team of Russians became the first to summit.

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Everest 2005: Indian Army girls switching sides
Mar 23, 2005

The Indian Army has finally confirmed that an all-female team will attempt Everest this spring. However, the uneasy political situation in Nepal has dissuaded the army officials from entering the country. Instead, the team will launch the climb from Everest’s Tibetan side.

Abduction threat

Army chief General JJ Singh explained the decision to media last Friday in New Dehli: "The Nepalese government had cleared the team’s attempt from the southern side. But keeping in view the team’s security and the movement of stores over a long distance prone to Maoists attacks, we have decided to let the women team make the bid from the Chinese route."

Apparently the threat was serious for Indian climbers. Intelligence officials told India Daily that the Maoists were planning to kidnap the Indian military personnel.

Tough girls from hills and plains

The 10-member team, comprised of women aged 20 to 27, was selected after screening 140 volunteers. The team includes women from various parts of the country, ranging from West Bengal to Gujarat, and from the remote areas of Leh and Ladakh to the villages of Orissa.

The women have trained at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi, and they have been working out hard, indeed. In addition to high-altitude glacier marches, the women were trained in ice, snow and rock climbing skills. As a preparatory climb, the women summited Mt. Abi Gamin (7,355 m) in the Garhwal Himalayas in October 2004. The selected women also trained in sub-zero temperatures on the Siachen glacier in January. "The team braved the harsh terrain and hostile climate with tremendous mental and physical toughness," an army spokesman told the New Kerala.

Male escort

The team will fly to Lhasa via Kathmandu, and from there they will drive to Everest’s North side BC. The leader of the expedition is Maj. S.S. Shekhawat, who has climbed Everest twice. The group is supported by a technical team of experienced climbers from the Indian Army.

Another - all-male, this time - Indian Air Force team was confirmed earlier last week. They will follow the women’s team and climb the North Col route as well.

Though Indian women have climbed Everest in mixed expeditions, this is the first time that an Indian all-woman team will be making a bid for the peak.

Mountaineering creates some tough soldiers and the Indian Defense has always cut its teeth on high peaks. Everest Navy summited last year. This year the Indian Army is sending an all-female expedition, and the Indian Air Force has launched its own expedition as well.

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Army women create history by scaling Mt Everest
New Delhi, June 02 2005 (PTI)

Indian Army's women mountaineers created history today (June 2, 2005) by becoming the first women's expedition to scale the Mt Everest.

Captain Shipra Mazumdar, Captain Ashwini Pawar, Cadet Tshering Ladol and Trainee Dechin Lhamo scaled the 8848-metre high peak between 06:15 hrs (IST) and 09:39 hrs (IST) hours this morning.

The peak was also summitted by five members of the support team, Major S S Shekhawat, Subedar Surjeet Singh, Naib Subedar Jagat Singh, Havildar Topgey Bhutia and Commando Kaman Singh.

The Indian Army's women mountaineering team scaled the world's tallest peak from the Chinese side through the North Col Route, the Army said in a release.

With this unprecedented feat, the Indian Army has scaled four eight thou sanders in the last four years and Mt Everest has been climbed thrice by the Army in the last five years.

The Army Women Everest Expedition was flagged off by Chief of Army Staff Gen J J Singh on March 18 this year.

The Army Chief, who is a mountaineer himself, has congratulated the team on its feat.