Showing grit, four Leh girls scale Mt Everest

Ravi Krishnan Khajuria & Yangchen Dolma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, May 26

Exhibiting indomitable spirit and grit, four young girls from Ladakh scaled Mount Everest - the highest peak in the world.

The four young girls from Leh district in the Ladakh region were part of an NCC cadet girls' contingent of 10 members that scaled the highest peak on May 22.

It is the first time in the history of the state that four young girls from the NCC have scaled the summit. They are Stanzin Laskit of Ney, Rigzin Dolker of Nubra, Tsering Angmo of Spithuk and Tashi Laskit of Stok.

On March 9, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh had flagged off the first-ever all girls’ National Cadet Corps (NCC) Mount Everest expedition from New Delhi.

The team was led by Col Gaurav Karki along with 15 service personnel. “The girls had the world at their feet and considering dangers involved in scaling the peak, it is no less than a commendable feat by them,” said Defence Spokesperson Col SD Goswami.

Director General, NCC, Lt Gen A Chakravarty, had proposed the conduct of the first-ever NCC girls’ expedition to the Mount Everest in 2014. All India trials at 25 selected hubs were carried out and 100 girl cadets were nominated to undergo the customised mountaineering course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling, from January 7 to February 3 last year.

Based on their performance, 40 girl cadets were selected for the first pre-Everest expedition.

Pre-Everest Expedition to Mount Deo-Tibba at 19,688 feet near Manali in Himachal Pradesh was conducted for 40 cadets in April and May 2015. A total of 15 cadets were selected for the next phase based on their performance.

In August 2015, the team set off on the second pre-Everest expedition to the Mount Trishul at 23,360 feet and helped in selecting 10 girl cadets for the final Everest expedition. The culmination of pre-expedition activities was winter training at the Siachen Base Camp from January 11 to 31 this year. The training camps exposed the team to extreme cold conditions and further refined ice craft skills.

40 cadets took part in pre-Everest expedition to Mount Deo-Tibba at 19,688 feet near Manali in 2015. 

15 cadets were selected for the next phase based on their performance. 

10 cadets were selected for the final Everest expedition.