Record-breaking mountaineering teams felicitated in Pune

The two successful adventure missions involved scaling Mt Meru and Mt Sudarshan, both located in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand.

Two mountaineering teams of Pune-based adventure club Giripremi - which has scaled two mountains in India and created records - were felicitated even as more missions are being planned. 

These two successful adventure missions involved scaling Mt Meru and Mt Sudarshan, both located in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand. 

On September 2, the Giripremi team became the first Indian group to climb Mt. Meru South, a 6,660-meter tall mountain - considered one of the most difficult climbs. 

On September 6, an all-women team scaled Mt Sudarshan peak at 6529 mts, another challenging peak. 

Both the teams were mentored by Umesh Zirpe, a veteran mountaineer and expedition leader, who is also the President of Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh (AMGM), the apex mountaineering body in the state. 

An Everester, Zirpe also led the expedition team to Mt Meru. 

Both the teams arrived on Monday to a grand welcome followed by a special felicitation ceremony that took place at the New English School on Tilak Road in Pune. 

They were felicitated by PCube Enterprises Managing Director Parth Chaudhari, Sanskriti School’s founder and Director Dr Girija Shankar Mungli, Shivshrushti Project founder Jagdish Kadam, Giripremi founder-President Ushaprabha Page, Giripremi founder-member Anand Palande and Giripremi president Jayant Tulpule.

"Both Mt Meru and Mt Sudarshan are tremendous challenges in terms of sheer remoteness, technical difficulties and physical endeavours. Having scaled these mountains, Giripremi has set a milestone in mountaineering history,” said Chaudhari. 

Describing Zirpe as “Himalayaputra”, Dr Mungli said: “One needs to be in sync mentally, physically, and spiritually with the mountain to be successful in the climbing endeavours.” 

The expedition to Mt Sudarshan was led by Smita Kariwadekar, who unfurled the tricolour on the peak. Team members Purva Shinde, Padmaja Dhanavi, Sneha Gude, Sneha Talwatkar, and Akhil Katkar, managed to climb up to 6300 mts.

Giripremi's Ganesh More, Vivek Shivade, Varun Bhagwat, Mingma Sherpa, Vinod Gusain, Senior Instructor, Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Bihari Rana and Ajit Singh reached the peak of Mt Meru.

Giripremi's Kangchenjunga summiteer Dr Sumit Mandale and Everest summiteer Bhushan Harshe were also present.