7 climbers including 2 women successfully summited Mt Cathedral (5900m), a peak located in Bara Shigri Glacier on 4th August, 2018. This is the highest glacier in Himachal Pradesh and is located in Lahaul Spiti region in Chandra Valley, Himachal Pradesh. The team includes 9 climbers namely Vivek Shivade, Krishna Dhokale, Jitendra Gaware, Varun Bhagwat, Rohan Desai, Saiyami Takale, Priyanka Mane, Amit Talwalkar and Anjali Katre. The team was led by Vivek Shivade, an experienced mountaineer and an instructor at Guardian Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering (GGIM) of Pune, India. Except Amit Talwalkar and Anjali Katre, all have summited the peak. However, both of them supported the team to get success.
Mt Cathedral (5900m)
The team started their journey from Manali on 27th July and after 3 days of trek they reached the Base Camp in Spiti Valley on 30th July. The campsite was on moraine but the surrounding views of magnificent peaks: Khang Siling, Shigri Parbat, Kulu Pumori, etc. were beautiful. In this journey they crossed Rohtang Pass and Karcha Nala stretch, the most challenging part of their trek. The team used rope-based river crossing technique to cross the rapid waterflow. The climbing part was also difficult as because they faced crevasses and moraine terrain. The summiters also climbed a 600ft ice wall (inclined at 70 degrees) before Summit Camp. Two guides, Mohor Singh, Umesh Raina along with leader Vivek Shivade opened the route. They fixed a rope of approx. 600ft length.
Veteran mountaineers Umesh Zirpe and Avinash Foujdar mentored and guided the team.
Expedition Summary
Route: Road Head: Batal (4000m) - Snout Camp (3900m) - Intermediate Camp (4300m) - Base Camp (4800m) - Camp-1 (5100m) - Summit Camp (5400m) - Summit (5888m)
Team: Vivek Shivade, Krishna Dhokale, Jitendra Gaware, Varun Bhagwat, Rohan Desai, Saiyami Takale, Priyanka Mane, Amit Talwalkar and Anjali Katre
Summit members: Vivek Shivade, Krishna Dhokale, Jitendra Gaware, Varun Bhagwat, Rohan Desai, Saiyami Takale and Priyanka Mane
Climbing Guide: Gangaram Thakur, Balkrishna Thakur, Mohor Singh and Umesh Raina
Summit time: 6:15am (4th August, 2018)
Organised by: Giripremi
Batal Camp Site
Crevasse and morraine field enroute Base Camp
Crevasses
View from Base Camp: Khang Siling (Left) and Kulu Pumori (Right)
Walk towards Summit Camp
Walking through Bara Shigri Glacier
Approaching the summit Camp. Mt Cathedral on right side. The Ice wall is at the centre
Team members marching close to summit
On the Summit of Mt Cathedral
Photo Courtesy: Giripremi
This news was revised on 25-08-2018
