A 10-member team of the Nature and Trekkers’ Club of Jalpaiguri (NTCJ) will head for a mountain expedition in the Himalayas on next month to scale a peak that is at a height of 20,050 feet and is also a famous glacier.
“Our team members will scale the Lady of Keylong peak located in Lahaul-Spiti, Himachal Pradesh. The significance of this peak is that even during intense snowfall, there is no deposition of ice on some of its stretches, which creates the illusion of a woman’s figurine,” said Dipankar Purkayastha, secretary of the club.
He said that as the way to the summit is tough, no animal can be used to ferry the load to the base camp.
“Our members will have to carry the items with them. We have decided to engage minimum support staff for the expedition,” added Purkayastha.
The team, NTCJ members said, would be led by Bhaskar Das, a member of the club and an experienced mountaineer who has scaled a number of Himalayan peaks earlier.
The other members of the team are Dipankar Sen, Jayanta Sarkar, Mujibar Sheikh, Sujoy Banik, Amit Das, Janak Koch, Pasang Dorjee Sherpa, Abir Choudhury and Sanjit Chhetri.
“The team will be flagged off from here on July 11. They will head for Delhi and from there reach Manali. From Manali, they will reach Teenno Gaon, a remote village perched at 10,000 ft. From there, the team members will start trekking,” said Purkayastha.
The team will set up its base camp at 12,000 feet and three advance camps in higher elevations in due course.
“If the weather remains congenial and we do not face any other problem, we will try to make it to the summit on July 24 or 25. The extreme cold winds, consistent snowfall and the crevices along the glacier are our prime challenges,” said Bhaskar, the team leader.
The NTCJ, which has been conducting adventure sports activities for decades now, has organised nine mountain expeditions so far. “Our members succeeded in all these expeditions and we are confident that they will make it to the summit,” said Mihir Banerjee, vice-president of the club.
