Two Indian mountaineers scale an unexplored peak, name it 'Mt. Kalam'

Arjun Vajpai atop ‘Mt. Kalam’

Arjun Vajpai and Bhupesh Kumar, two mountaineers from Noida and Bulandshahr respectively, created history by becoming the first persons to climb a 6180m high unnamed peak in Himachal’s Spiti Valley. As reported by Times Of India, the duo have named the peak ‘Mt. Kalam’, in honour of India’s former president, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

‘Mt. Kalam’ is situated near the Bara Shigri glacier, and their objective for making the climb was to inspire more and more Indian youngsters to pursue mountaineering.

Vajpai and Kumar talked about the mountain and what challenges they faced during the climb. "It is a technically challenging mountain with lots of deep snow, hidden crevasses and abundant rock. Climbing the mountain in an extremely cold environment was difficult. But we scaled it successfully," Vajpai told TOI. They completed the climb on 14^th October and returned by 20 October.

Vajpai also climbed Mt. Everest in 2010 when he was only 16. He mentions that there are nearly 300 peaks in the country which are taller than 6000m. But they chose this mountain because no one has ever climbed the ‘Virgin peak’, as they like to call it. "There is a lot of opportunity to explore these mountains. We decided to scale the virgin peak to motivate the young generation," he told TOI.

According to DNA, the Uttar Pradesh residents made the climb without any support staff. “It was a true alpine style expedition, without any porters, cooks or any other climbers. Just me, Bhupesh and the ‎mountain,” said Arjun.

They also talked to DNA about why they chose to name the peak after Dr. Kalam.

“Former President Mr.Kalam had proved to us that it doesn’t matter where you are born as long as you have what it takes to do it. The journey of a fisherman's son to the President of the largest democracy in the world is no easy feat. But it did show us that that nothing is impossible and while chasing our dreams we might come across hurdles that we didn’t know of. During our Summit we faced them when we were climbing. We didn’t know what hurdles might come next. But we were determined enough to do it,” he said.

They started the expedition from Noida on October 8 and reached Batal camp in Himachal Pradesh on October 9. From there they climbed to Snout Camp 4100m, from Snout to Intermediate Camp at 4400m, then to Base camp at 4700m and then the Summit at 5500m. On the morning of October 14^th, they reached the top of the peak (6,180m) and hoisted the tricolour.

Vajpai said to DNA, “Records may make and break, but it is about what you leave behind. Mt Kalam is going to be our legacy. I feel the youth should start putting their mark on unexplored mountains and name it after great Indian personalities.”