Giripremi becomes first Indian team to scale Mount Meru

In a historic achievement, a joint team of mountaineers from Nehru Institute Of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarkashi, has become the first Indian group to climb Mount Meru - a 6,660 meters tall mountain located in Garhwal Himalaya. Considered one of the most difficult mountains to climb, Pune-based adventure club, Giripremi managed to scale the top of Meru.

The expedition was led by Umesh Zirpe, a veteran mountaineer. 

Giripremi’s Ganesh More, Vivek Shivade, Varun Bhagwat, Mingma Sherpa, NIM’s senior instructor Vinod Gusain and his colleagues Bihari Rana, and Ajit Rawat unfurled the Indian tricolor at the summit of Mt. Meru at around 0800 hours  on September 2, 2023. 

This marks the first-ever successful expedition to Mt. Meru (south) from India and the first-ever successful scale to Mt. Meru from the west face in the entire world.

Dawa Sherpa and Furtensing Sherpa also climbed the mountain along with Giripremi team. Lakpa Sherpa supported the expedition by climbing till Camp 1. 

“Mt Meru has been scaled by the team,” Zirpe told DH over phone on Saturday. 

Col Anshuman Bhadoria, Principal, NIM and Dr Major Deval Vajapayee, Vice Principal, NIM extended their guidance and support to the expedition.

Parth Chaudhari of P Cube Enterprises, Parimal and Pramod Chaudhari of Praj Industries, along with World Oilfield Machines (WOM), Namah Ropes played an important and pivotal part in making this expedition successful.

In May, the Giripremi team attempted Mt Meru from the same west face. However, due to extreme weather conditions, the team had to return only 200 meters from the summit. 

This expedition helped the team gain crucial experience and learnings that helped this time to mitigate the challenges. 

“From 25 August, the team was stationed at the base camp (4800 meters) located at Kirti Bamak glacier. Due to extreme and unusual rainfall in Himalayas, the team was sceptical regarding the favorable weather conditions. Fortunately, weather god favored us and the team could concentrate on climbing and battling the mighty challenges possessed by Meru,” said Zirpe.

After acclimatisation climbs, the team set for the summit bid on evening of September 1 from Camp 1 at 5500 meters. The route to the summit is almost 90 degrees with a combination of rocks, solid ice, and powdered snow. 

The team climbed 10 hours relentlessly showing exemplary skills of rock and ice climbing to reach the top of Mt Meru. The successful summit marks the historic feat in the  world of  mountaineering.