Mountaineer Baljeet Kaur gets rousing welcome at Solan

Ambika Sharma

Solan, April 29

Baljeet Kaur, the mountaineer who braved inhospitable conditions for 48 hours without food, water and oxygen while descending from Mt Annapurna, was accorded a rousing welcome on her arrival at Solan today.

She was reported missing for several hours on April 18 before being rescued by an aerial search team. Kaur attributed the incident to a combination of factors.

Was deserted by Sherpa

• Baljeet Kaur was provided an experienced Sherpa by her agency
• He was, however, paid some extra money by a foreigner after which he deserted her midway
• She has urged the government to ensure that the Indian climbers do not face undue problems due to Sherpas

She has sought intervention of the government for ensuring that the Indian climbers do not face undue problems due to Sherpas deserting them in the midst.

She was provided an experienced Sherpa by her agency, but he was paid some extra money by a foreigner after which he deserted her midway, she alleged.

She was promised that she would be provided another experienced Sherpa, but the new Sherpa had little experience of scaling that peak.

“The new Sherpa was not only inexperienced, but also tired as he had not taken rest for the past two days. For once, I thought of giving up the journey. However, after being convinced by the Sherpa, I decided to go ahead,” she said.

She scaled Mt Annapurna on April 17 around 6 pm after remaining without food, water, sleep and oxygen for 36 hours. She, however, developed hallucinations and acute mountain sickness as soon as she started the return journey.

She alleged that she was deserted by the Sherpa who did not even let her use oxygen despite being gasping for breath. He told her that he would tell the authorities concerned that she used oxygen during the expedition, she said.

She started descending alone and even tried to seek attention of those at camp IV. Her cries, however, remained unheard. Attempting to read Gurbani, she saw an App uploaded on her phone for seeking help in case of emergency. After she sought help from a rescue team, an aerial mission was launched to locate her. After about five hours, she was airlifted in a helicopter.

She attributed her success to her mentor Balkar Singh, besides good wishes of parents, sponsors and others. Annapurna (8,091 m) is the 10th highest mountain in the world.