The Tata Steel Adventure Foundation has successfully completed two mountaineering and trekking expeditions organised recently for outdoor enthusiasts in the Leh region.

The participants had the opportunity to step out of their comfort zone, test the limits, collaborate, reach the challenging summits and explore the pristine nature in Leh region while testing their stamina and endurance during the Twin Peak Challenge (maximum altitude 20,571 ft) and the Sham Valley Trek (12,713 ft), which was led by legendary climber Bachendri Pal.

The team faced bad weather, strong winds, challenges of high altitude, snow conditions on the way to Twin Peak Challenge, said a TSAF official.

The premier adventure outfit had kept limited slots and small batch size to ensure all safety protocols were followed and minimise Covid risk.

The goal of the Twin Peak Challenge Expedition was to climb two peaks -- Kang Yatze II (20,571 ft) and Dzo Jongo (20,472 ft) in Leh region. This expedition was open for all and consisted of Tata Steel employees and individuals from the community. The team travelled to Leh and then proceeded by road to Chilling which was the starting point of the trek.

The team was led by experienced and certified TSAF instructors Asmita Dorjee, Dharmendra Singh, Rathu Mahato and Everester Sushanto Mahato. The expedition lasted for 15 days, a total of 8 participants along with 4 TSAF instructors made it a team of 12 out of which 7 participants were able to summit the first peak (Kang Yatze II) and 10 of them were able to summit the second peak (Dzo Jongo).

Arun Pratap Singh, Anurag Maloo, Vishal Kullu, Pankaj Kumar Sharma, Rahul Raj Singh climbed the Kang Yatze II peak. Arun Pratap Singh, Anurag Maloo, Vishal Kullu, Alok Kumar, Niti Gupta, Pallavi Mariyam climbed Dzo Jongo. All TSAF instructors and 3 members climbed both the summit in a twin peak expedition. This was the first of a kind expedition organized by TSAF.

Sham Valley trek was organised for the beginners. The 13-member team was led by Bachendri Pal along with TSAF instructors N S Panwar, Mohan Rawat, Poonam Rana (Everester), and Randeb. Maximum altitude reached during the trek was 12,850 ft. Team had great experiences, especially the inspirational stories from Pal and other TSAF team members.

TSAF will continue to organise similar mountaineering expeditions for beginners, medium and advanced category.