Hoisting Tricolour at Everest a memorable moment: Dasrath

UTTARKASHI: For Dasrath Singh Rawat, the average looking, short, stoic but confident middle-aged figure working at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, scaling the highest peak in the world of Mount Everest, with the tricolor in his hand has been most memorable experience.

Dasrath Singh Rawat hoisting the National Flag at the summit of Mount Everest in 2009.

Ajay Ramola

Tribune News Service

Uttarkashi, January 25

For Dasrath Singh Rawat, the average looking, short, stoic but confident middle-aged figure working at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, scaling the highest peak in the world of Mount Everest, with the tricolor in his hand has been most memorable experience.

Dasrath Singh was a part of the record making 10-member team from the Uttarkashi-based Nehru Institute of Mountaineering that reached the 8,848-metre summit of Mount Everest on a single day, in 2009.

The 10-member team divided in two groups of five each climbed the summit at 0500 hours and 0600 hours thus creating a new kind of record back then.

Dasrath believes that the determination to hoist the tricolor at the highest peak of the world was a big motivation for the team that led them to achieve the goal despite several difficulties they faced during the expedition.

Reminiscing the days of expedition, he recalled that the preparation began well in advance with several acclimatisation treks and a climb at Satopanth Peak (7075 metre) in Garhwal Himalayas.

The most challenging stage of climb was crossing Khumbu Icefall 5,486 metres (17,999 ft) on the Nepali slopes of Mount Everest not far above Base Camp and southwest of the summit, said Dasrath.

The icefall is regarded as one of the most dangerous stages of the South Col route to Everest’s summit. The large crevasses open at Khumbu Glacier with little warning. Huge blocks of ice tumbling down

the glacier from time to time have led to several deaths in the past and it is estimated that the glacier advances 3 to 4 feet (0.91 to 1.22 m) down the mountain every day.

They also faced the avalanche that covered the whole team with snow and but fortunately all the members survived the nature’s fury. Apart from saving themselves, the NIM team members were able to rescue two climbers from Europe, who were caught in the crevasses.

“Despite such odds all 10 members of the team did make it to the summit and that moment of hoisting the National Flag at the highest peak of the world, the Mount Everest,” will remain engraved in their hearts for life,” said Dasrath Rawat.

He further said the 2009 Everest expedition conducted by NIM instilled new found confidence among many other young climbers who made it to the summit subsequently.