Four Pune based mountaineers summit Mt. Annapurna-1

Giripremi is the first Indian Civilian Mountaineering Club to summit 8 of the 14 8000er meters mountains in the world

Mountaineers Bhushan Harshe, Dr. Sumeet Mandale and Jitendra Gaware scaled the Mt. Annapurna-1, 8091-meter tall and the world’s 10th tallest mountain, at around 2.15 PM on April 16, 2021.

It marks Giripremi’s 8th successful 8000er expedition after a series of Mt. Everest in 2012, Mt. Lhotse (fourth tallest mountain) in 2013, Mt. Makalu (fifth tallest mountain) in 2014, Mt. Cho Oyu (sixth tallest mountain) and Mt. Dhaulagiri (seventh tallest mountain) in 2016, Mt. Manaslu (eighth tallest mountain) in 2017 and Mt. Kanchenjunga (third tallest mountain) in 2019. All the eight expedition was successfully led by Umesh Zirpe.

The summit push was commenced in the midnight on Thursday after the spell of terrible snowfall at the Camp 4. Mountaineers faced the gushing winds throughout the climb till dawn. The route opening team fixed the rope till summit around noon. After the route opening team’s summit, Giripremi team soon followed them and reached the summit after a tireless and relentless climb.

Umesh Zirpe, leader of the expedition, sharing details said, “Due to the shortage of rope just 800 meters below the summit, the route opening team had to stop their climb midway and returned to the Camp 4 on April 15. Chhang Dawa Sherpa and I, who were operating from the base camp, arranged the necessary equipment from Kathmandu to Camp 4 on war footing. This ensured the second attempt of the route opening on April 16 which was looking distant a day before. All these dramas delayed the route opening by a day affecting the Giripremi’s summit push. Considering the weather forecast and the slimmer weather window, Giripremi’s team followed the route opening team for their summit push. All the mountaineers heading towards the summit faced the gushing winds along with bone chilling cold as temperature dropped significantly. The cloud cover started gathering near the summit in the morning affected the pace of the climbers. A steep couloir just before the summit tested the skills of mountaineers. Due to the slightly unfavorable weather at the fag end of the summit push made the summit uncertain. However, after overcoming all the challenges, Giripremi’s Bhushan, Sumeet and Jitendra unfurled the Indian tricolor at the summit of Mt. Annapurna-1.”

About Mt Annapurna – I :

Mt. Annapurna-1 is located in Nepal Himalaya’s Annapurna massif. This massif is a home of several tall mountains. It has sixteen 6000er and above mountains, thirteen 7000er and above mountain and Mt. Annapurna I is a solitary 8000er mountain with a height of 8091 meters. Annapurna Massif is 55 kilometers long, surrounded by Gandki and Marshyangadi glaciers. Long ridges, avalanche-prone areas are characteristic of the massif, which makes climbing extremely difficult.

To date, around 250 climbers have reached the summit of Mt. Annapurna-1 successfully.