Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand): The unclimbed peaks of the Garhwal Himalaya will be named after 11 mountaineers of Uttarakhand, who died in the Draupadi Ka Danda-2 avalanche accident in 2022. The mountaineers of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) have planned to climb 11 unclimbed peaks to pay a unique tribute to the deceased mountaineers and they decided to complete the task from May to July this year.
It may be recalled that in 2022 during the advanced mountaineering course of NIM, Draupadi Ka Danda-2 had an avalanche accident while climbing the peak. At least 28 climbers died in the accident, while one is still missing. As many as 11 climbers, including Savita Kanswal, who became the first Indian woman to scale Mt Everest and Mt Makalu in 16 days, were in the team that went to climb the mountain. Kanswal was posthumously awarded the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award.
To pay tribute to these mountaineers, the NIM management has prepared a plan to name the peaks of the Garhwal Himalayas after them. The NIM management had identified 11 unclimbed peaks of the Garhwal Himalaya and sent their list to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), which has been approved by the IMF.
This mountaineering expedition to name the unclimbed peaks of deceased climbers will be led by Colonel Anshuman Bhadauria, Principal of NIM. NIM's trainers will be included in the team. However, the trainers for the team have not been selected yet. On October 4, 2022, at least 58 members climbed Draupadi ka Danda-2 and were hit by an avalanche while climbing the peak. A total of 29 people went missing of which 27 people were reported to be dead and one body was found in 2023 while one is still missing.
The deceased mountaineers have been identified as Savita Kanswal, Naumi Rawat, Ajay Bisht, Satish Rawat, Kapil Panwar, Vinay Panwar, Santosh Kukreti, Rahul Panwar, Shubham Sarangi, Narendra Singh and Siddharth Khanduri.
Principal of NIM Colonel Anshuman Bhadauria said that to pay tribute to the 11 mountaineers of the state, who died in the avalanche accident, 11 unclimbed peaks will be climbed and named after the deceased mountaineers.
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