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Chinar Corps Harmukh Expedition 1

A 45-member team of Srinagar based Chinar Corps scaled peak of Harmukh.

Srinagar based defence spokesperson said Tuesday evening that the expedition team was led by three times Everester Col SS Shekhawat KC, SC, SM, VSM.

“The team gathered at Gulmarg on 7th March 2016. After two months of basic ice craft, snow craft and rock craft training at Gulmarg and Sonamarg under the aegis of HAWS the team summited Apharwat and Habbaa Khatoon as pre-expedition peaks,” the spokesperson said. The expedition was part of the Corps’ centenary celebrations.

Chinar Corps Harmukh Expedition

Harmukh with a peak elevation of 5148m lies in the north western Himalayan range.  The Karakoram Range borders it on the north and Kashmir Valley on the south.

Harmukh is a combination of two words which means same on all sides rising like a consistently steep pyramid dropping sharply to the east and south, with eastern slope the steepest.

History brings out that the peak was first summited by members of great trigonometric survey led by Thomas Montgomerie in 1856 from where two massive mountains K1 later named Masherbrum and K2 (being the second highest peak in the world) were earmarked and named.

Chinar Corps Harmukh Expedition 2

“The advance to the summit started on 6th May 2016 and negotiating challenging, at times treacherous stretches en-route, the team set up the Base Camp near Gangabal Lake at the base of Harmukh. Route opening on the South-Western face started on 12th May where at one fourth route of the summit, Camp One was established; waist deep snow and crevasses reduced the pace of climb and it took 96 hours to reach the Summit Camp,” the spokesperson added.

The climbers faced possibly all encounters – a 200 ft ice wall with a stiff gradient; imposing Peak 5095; a steep cutting of 300 ft with loose rocks; a 10 mtr deep Nallah and then the final 200m exacting climb to the Harmukh Top.

“The entire team eventually summited Harmukh on 21 May at 1100 hour and descended to base camp the same day,” the spokesperson informed.

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