High Mountain expedition lead by our team member Bhaskar
Sunday, August 14th, 2011We are proud and happy to announce that our team member Bhaskar has successfully lead an expedition to scale a 20000 ft / 6000 metres peak in Ladakh, and we would like to share his expedition report:
Mentok Kangri (6277m/20600ft) Expedition 2011
Organised By: Nature & Trekkers’ Club of Jalpaiguri
Approved By: Indian Mountaineering Foundation
Collaboration with: Help Tourism Pvt. Ltd.
Leaders’ Report by Bhaskar Das
Planning & Preparation
After successfully completing six mountaineering expeditions in the greater Himalayas the Nature & Trekkers’ Club of Jalpaiguri, planned another climbing expedition to a Himalayan peak. This time the club had chosen Mentok Kangri of 6277metre or 20600 feet in Ladakh Himalayas of Jammu & Kashmir. Mentok Kangri is situated just near the Tsomoriri Lake. The peak receives very few climbers every year & there was no record of climbing by any adventure club. The aim of the programme was to explore the area, gain experience of high altitude area & to give exposure to freshers of the club.
A six member team was selected for this mission. Five of them were experienced climbers while one member was a beginner. This time also I was given the responsibility to lead the team. Other climbers were Badal Debnath, Dipankar Sen, Mithun Biswas, Sujay Bhowmick & Samiran Mandal.
We received the Indian Mountaineering Foundation’s approval at the right time. Initially the team was facing financial crisis however
many well-wishers came forward to help the team for which we will always be grateful to them.
Flag Off & reaching road head
21st July 2011 was the date for flag off & departure of the expedition team. Shri. Jayanta Kumar Pal, IPS handed over the National Flag to us & the club’s President Shri. P.K. Das handed over the Club Flag. We boarded the Delhi bound Bhramaputra Mail at Jalpaiguri Road Station at 8:45 pm. The club members came to the station to see us off & gave their best wishes. After spending two nights in the same train we reached Delhi in the morning of 23rd July. The evening of the same day we started for Manali in a bus operated by the Himachal Government. At about 11 pm we halted somewhere on way due to a breakdown of the bus. We were shifted to another bus for rest of the journey & finally we reached Manali next day at about 12.30 pm. We checked-in at a hotel & after lunch we did some marketing for the programme. In advance we booked seats for a bus to Leh. On 25th July we started for Leh at 5:30 am. It was a rainy day & we expected a rough road. Truly before Rhotang Pass we got stuck in a big landslide. We shifted to another bus & reached Keylong at 7 pm. Sujay, Mithun & Samiran had to stay back with the heavy loads at the landslide site & could join us only late at night. Next day our bus stared early in the morning but it had to stop at Sarchu at about 11 am because of a landslide near Pang. After spending four hours at Sarchu the bus finally started for Leh. We could not complete the journey that day & had to spend the night at Pang. Next day we reached Leh in the afternoon. We spent two nights at Leh & made necessary & final arrangements. On 29th July at about 4:30 am we started for Korzok- our last road head. We covered the 225km distance in a small vehicle crossing landscape with scenic beauty. We reached Korzok at 11:30 am& checked-in at Hotel Mentok. Korzok village is situated at about 4540 metre of height, just beside famous Tsomoriri Lake. This picturesque village has a small but beautiful Monastery.
Establishing Base Camp
On 30th July 2011 we started our trekking at about 9 am from Korzok for establishing the Base Camp. We engaged three mules for ferrying our loads up to Base Camp. We also assigned Mr. Karma from the village as our guide. Route to Base Camp was not so steep but gradual ascend. At about 2:30 pm we had gained about 5420 metre height & decided to establish our Base Camp. We pitched three tents there & made one kitchen using polythene sheet. Badal Da didn’t come with us as he was not feeling well so he decided to stay back at Korzok. We could see Mentok Kangri- I, II & III & Tsomoriri Lake from the Base Camp.
Next day we climbed higher up to 5800 metre & did recce of the route. We made all necessary preparation before our final mission which was to start early morning the next day i.e. 1st August. We took dinner early & went off to sleep. The temperature outside our tents was below zero.
Summit Day
1st August 2011, we woke up at 2:30 am & took hot tea & porridge. After gearing up with all necessary equipment we started for our final mission at 4 am. One by one, Karma, Myself, Dipankar, Samiran, Sujay & Mithun started negotiating mountain slopes. Our battery lamps helped us to overcome the darkness to some extent. First we negotiated a scree slope & crossed a boulder zone on east face of the peak, then started climbing on the south-east face of the peak. Before reaching the south-east 
ridge we climbed almost 100 feet through a zone covered with sharp boulders on the steep southern face of the peak. At about 10 am we reached the ridge at 6000 metre. We fixed crampons on our climbing boot there & with the help of ice axe we started climbing on ice & snow slopes of 60 degree gradient. Sujay & Mithun stopped at 5950 metre height because of physical discomfort. At about 11:50 am one by one, Karma, Myself, Dipankar & Samiran reached the target point at 6277 metre or 20600 feet. Weather condition was bright however there was cold & swift wind which created major problem for us. Via a walki-talki we informed Mithun & Sujay of our glorious news. We hoisted the National & Club Flags atop the mountain. We also hoisted the emblem of Help Tourism, the organization which gave us immense support. As always we offered puja to almighty & took photographs as a memento of our achievement. Our dream came true; wishes of many people behind our venture had borne fruit. We spent 30 minutes there & then started descending. It was risky on our way down because of the snow condition & our tired body, so we negotiated all way very carefully & reached Base Camp at about 4 pm. After filling our empty stomach with Khichuri we put our exhausted bodies in to our sleeping bags.
Returning back & Conclusion
Next day we cleaned the Base Camp area & came down to Korzok where Badal Da was eagerly waiting to give us a worm welcome. We spent the night there & together returned to Leh on 3rd August. We passed on the news of our success to all our well-wishers by phone & mail. We returned our hired equipment at Leh. At midnight of 3rd August we started our journey from Leh & reached Manali on 4th August at about 9 pm. We spent two nights at Manali & reached Delhi on 7th August in the morning. Our train for Jalpaiguri left New Delhi station in the afternoon. Finally we reached Jalpaiguri late night on 8th August 2011 where our club members welcomed us with love & pride.
Our special thanks to:
Help Tourism Pvt. Ltd., Shri. Jayanta Kumar Pal, IPS, Shri. Sumita Ghatak, IFS, Shri. R.K. Baid, All well- wishers including advertisement contributors & press correspondents
We are thankful to:
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