India News | ITBP Mountaineers Scale World's 5th Tallest Peak Mt Makalu
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A contingent of mountaineers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has scaled Mount Makalu, the world's fifth tallest peak located in Nepal, making it a first among the central armed police forces in the India.
New Delhi, May 2 (PTI) A contingent of mountaineers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has scaled Mount Makalu, the world's fifth tallest peak located in Nepal, making it a first among the central armed police forces in the India.
The China LAC guarding force said in a statement on Friday that the 8,485-metre peak was summitted on April 19.
The exercise was part of a twin international expedition to Mount Makalu and Mount Annapurna (8,091m) in Nepal that was flagged off from Delhi on March 21, it said.
Both peaks were being attempted for the first time by 12 mountaineers from the ITBP, led by deputy commandant Anoop Kumar Negi, adding to the "challenge and legacy" of the mission.
The ITBP said in a statement that the Makalu team achieved 83 per cent success, with five climbers reaching the summit on April 19.
The Annapurna team faced "extreme" weather, including a blizzard and whiteout conditions, and made a "courageous" push up to 7,940 metres, just 150 metres below the summit, before making a safe and responsible retreat on the same day, it said.
The mountain-warfare trained force has conquered 229 peaks till now, including Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga, Dhaulagiri, Lhotse and Manaslu.
The team that undertook the two expeditions collected 150 kg of non-biodegradable waste from higher camps and brought them down for disposal, the ITBP said.
The expedition stood out as a milestone in ITBP's mountaineering legacy, showcasing courage, discipline and unmatched expertise in the harshest of conditions, the statement said.
The about 90,000 personnel-strong ITBP primarily guards the 3,488 km India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC), apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.
ITBP is a central armed police force (CAPF) under the Union home ministry. The other such forces are the CRPF, BSF, CISF and SSB.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)