Cheap packages to Mt Everest can put lives at risk, warn mountaineers

There are no short-cuts to mountaineering and nothing more precious than life, say two record-holding Everesters. Veteran mountaineer and trainer Umesh Zirpe and Col Ranveer Singh Jamwal feel that mad rush to Mt Everest without proper training is not going to help anyway.

Col Jamwal and Zirpe, who has scaled Mt Everest, thrice and twice respectively, were interacting with journalists at the Mumbai Press Club, on Monday evening.
Budding mountaineer Kamaya Karthikeyan, a Class VII student from Navy Children School, who recently summited Mt Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America and outside Asia, also narrated her experiences.

"We have to understand that mountaineering is not just Mt Everest... yes, it is the highest peak and is the dream of every mountaineer... but you have to go systematically... today, young people do a couple of courses and straight away go for Mt Everest. Not only they risk their lives, but they also put others at risk," said Col Jamwal, the first person from India to have climbed the highest mountain of all seven continents.

Zirpe, who had successfully led Indian expeditions to seven of 14 highest peaks in the world including the largest Indian civilian expedition to Mt Everest said, mountaineering is a big subject.

"Mountain teaches you science, art, nature, geography, geology, flora, fauna and much more," Zirpe said. "There are many mountains that are not as tall as Mt Everest but climbing them is far more difficult," he said.

Zirpe, who is associated with Pune-based Giripremi and Guardian Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering, said that the Everest jam is not something new. "Ultimately, in the long run, it will kill the thrill," he said, adding that just going to Mt Everest should not be the goal.

"There is more to explore in the Himalayas," added Col Jamwal. "People go for cheap packages and risk themselves...they just want the glamour associated with Mt Everest," he added.