Veteran Indian mountaineer Amulya Sen passes away due to cardiac arrest

Dream Wanderlust | Jun 1 , 2019

Amulya Sen, a veteran mountaineer from West Bengal passed away at the age of 84 today at 1.30am due to a heart attack.

He led approximately 50 expeditions in his entire lifetime. Even at the age of 80, he used to be present at the Base Camps on many expeditions, alongside many rock-climbing expeditions regularly.

His most notable expeditions are Panchachuli (6904m), Nilgiri (7062m), Kedarnath (6940m), Satopanth (7075m), Gangstang (6162m), Kedar Dome (6831m), and then-virgin Radhanath (6210m) which Sen’s team named after their successful summit. Apart from these notable voyages in his climbing career, he has also said to have led the Everest expedition team from Bengal in 1993 but it was not successful.

Mr. Sen had been conferred with several Awards in India. Most notably, he received the West Bengal State Sports Award, alongside Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award - highest national recognition for outstanding achievements in the field of adventure on land, sea, and air - an equivalent to Arjuna Award for other sports; and several others.

He is the only Bengali adventurer to have been featured at the photo gallery of Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI). He also served as vice president of Youth Hostel Association of India, an honorary member of National Adventure Foundation (NAF) and a lifetime member of the Gangotri Glacier Exploration Committee (GGEC).

During a conversation with Dream Wanderlust a few months ago, Mr. Sen shared his philosophy on safe mountaineering saying,

“I always endeavored to lead my team with one motto - safe return is the best return."

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He always pointed that out as the reason his expeditions had registered least casualties, compared to recent few years. He famously said,

“Nowadays, death counts have been on its utmost high because of inattentiveness towards safety. My philosophy is as similar as what Frank Smythe used to say, that the mountains are going to be there for us to come back next time and climb again. Because we can never have conquered mountains. Every expedition must be a unique blend of sports and science.”

He was also amongst the first ever team of explorers to collect 430 specimens from Valley of Flowers in the Garhwal Himalayas, in the state of Uttarakhand, under the leadership of Botanist U.C. Bhattacharya. Those specimens are still on display at the Northern Regional Centre Dehradun: Botanical Survey of India.

Earlier this year, another two eminent climbers from Bengal - Birendra Sarkar, and Karunamoy Das - Sen's expedition cohort during Kedarnath expedition in 1967 and passed away on 29th December 2018 and 5th January 2019.

“Not only is Mr. Amulya Sen an acclaimed mountaineer but also a wonderful human being,” Mrs. Dipali Sinha, a prominent Bengali mountaineer says,

“Mr. Amulya was a very calm and composed man with a good sense of humour. He was slightly superstitious as a leader,” Himadri Bhattacharya, another renowned Indian climber expressed.

“Amulya Sen was widely accepted in the mountaineering fraternity for his calm composure, humbleness, and down-to-earth personality.“ is what senior mountaineer Mr. Shyamal Sarkar had to say.

His Notable Expeditions

1. 1962 - Nilgiri - 21240 ft.
2. 1967 - Kedarnath - 22770 ft.
3. 1967 - Kedar Dome - 22410 ft.
4. 1968 - Radhanath - 21910 ft.
5. 1968 - Satopanth - 23213 ft.
6. 1970 - Jogin - 20807 ft.
7. 1980 - Rudugaira - 19091 ft.
8. 1980 - Siniolchu - 22597 ft.
9. 1984 - Sudarshan 21350 ft.
10. 1986 - Brahama - 21050 ft.
11. 1987 - Guan Nalda - 20680 ft.
12. 1989 - Gulab Kangri - 19357 ft.
13. 1989 - M-1 - 18800 ft.
14. 1990 - M 5 - 20900 ft.
15. 1991 - Ganstang 20218 ft.
16. 1991-Koktang - 20166 ft.
17. 1991-Rathong - 21911 ft.
18. 1993 - Everest - 29028 ft.
19. 1994 - Radhanath - 21910 ft.
20. 1999 - Rubal Kang - 20300 ft.
21. 2000 - Rataban - 20230 ft.