Members of NE Mt Everest delegation with Governor Gurbhachan Jagat at Kangla
Mail News Service
Imphal, Feb 25 : The first ever expedition of mountaineers from north east to Mt Everest was flagged off from the historic Kangla fort here today by Governor Gurbhachan Jagat.
The Governor speaking on the occasion said after the historic event on May 29, 1953 in which Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people in the world to climb Mount Everest many attempts were made to conquer it. He wished all the 16 climbers a grand success and handed over the mission flag to the team leader Dr L Surjit.
Governor said, “People of the north east are known for their stamina and willpower and the terrain they live in is generally mountainous but it is quite surprising that very few of them join the mountaineering movement. They are one of the best candidates for this discipline. One can still count on one’s fingers the number of people from the north east who have conquered the Mt. Everest, the acme of mountain climbing. No doubt, even the number of Indians who have climbed this peak is not many. One of the reasons may be the high cost involved.
I congratulate the Manipur Mountaineering &Trekking Association for taking the initiative to organize this expedition with members comprising people of the north east in their attempt to scale the highest peak. I am confident that they will achieve the goal that they are setting out for.
In recent years during the climbing season, there is a traffic jam near the peak with a very large number of climbers attempting to reach the peak. Despite such large scale attempts, it still remains as one of the most challenging human endeavours. It pits man against nature which despite tremendous scientific progress man has made, still cannot be tamed.
Nature has its own way of surprising us every now and then. The path to Mt. Everest from the base camp onwards, I am told, continues to surprise and is full of dangerous obstacles, like altitude sickness, crevasses, unpredictable weather and wind, seracs,shifting blocks of ice, etc. That is why the attempt is regarded as the ultimate challenge.
Irengbam Hemochandra, Minister said the 16 climbers from the north east are attempting to script history. He prayed to Mother nature and God Almighty to bless the mountaineers and help them while climbing Mt Everest.
Dr L Surjit President of the MMTA said, “It is the dream of every mountaineer in the world to scale the Mt. Everest in their life . The team members include seven from Manipur, two each from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Mizoram and Sikkim and one from Meghalya. There will be three women climbers including Anshu Jamsenpa, the first lady from Arunachal Pradesh, who has scaled Mt. Everest twice . N. Chinkheinganba 16 who is also part of the team from Manipur will be the youngest to scale the Mt Everest. Dr L Nelson from Manipur will take part in the team as the expedition doctor.
This mission is to funded by NEC, Shillong. According to the organizers the main objective of the Mount Everest Expedition is to share the experiences of Adventure-sports to the youths to foster amongst them a spirit of risk taking, co-operative team work and the capacity of ready and vital response and alertness to challenging situations and especially the quality of ‘Endurance’.”
Officials of NEC, north eastern states former Mt Everesters from the state also attended the function. The expedition is expected to last for about 70 days.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/first-north-east-mt-everest-expedition-flagged-off/
