Pune mountaineering club Giripremi announces Mount Meru expedition

Pune-based Giripremi, the premier mountaineering club in the country has planned an ambitious expedition to Mount Meru, a 6660 metres tall mountain located in Garhwal-Himalaya.

The expedition is scheduled in August-September 2023.

The team of experienced climbers will attempt the summit from South-West ridge, a route that has never been attempted by an Indian team before.

Giripremi team will become the first Indian team to climb Mount Meru, if they make it to the summit.

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Till date, Giripremi climbers have reached to the summit of eight of the top fourteen mountains in the world including Mount Everest, Mount Kanchenjunga and Mount Annapurna. In addition, the team of climbers from the club unfurled the Indian tricolor on Mount Manda, a challenging mountain in Indian Himalayas in 2021.

All these expeditions have been led by Umesh Zirpe - and the veteran will be leading Mount Meru Expedition also.

“Giripremi is known for summiting 8000-metre mountains. In the span of 10 years, Giripremi’s climbers unfurled the Indian tricolor on eight eight-thousander mountains and proved their skills. Now we want to focus more on the mountains that are located in Indian Himalayas and equally challenging as eight-thousanders. We were organising expeditions to such mountains, however, this time we want to set the bar high by climbing the world’s toughest mountains such as Mount Meru,” said Zirpe.

According to him, South-West ridge possesses several challenges but the team of experienced mountaineers will surely overcome all the challenges to reach the summit and return safely to the base camp.

Mount Meru summit will be attempted by the team consisting of experienced as well young climbers.

Wing Commander Devidutta Panda, the former Vice Principal of HMI, Darjeeling and the head of Adventure Wing, Airforce, Ashish Mane, summitter of five eight-thousander mountains, Dr Sumeet Mandale, summitter of Mount Chyo Oyu, Mount Kanchenjunga, Mount annapurna and Mount Manda, Krishna Dhokale, summitter of Mount Everest and Mount Kanchenjunga, Vivek Shivade, summitter of Mount Kanchenjunga, Mount Ama Dablam and Mount Manda, Pawan Hadole, summitter of Mount Manda, Varun Bhagwat, an ace rock climber and mountaineer will be the part of the climbing team. Akhil Katkar joins the team as Base Camp Manager.