‘Giripremi’s Mount Kangchenjunga Eco Expedition 2019’ Launched Veteran Mountaineer and Everesteer Jamling Norgay unveiled the logo of the expedition

Pune, 4 February : City’s premier mountaineering club’s Mount Kangchenjunga Eco Expedition 2019 was launched in Pune. Jamling Norgay, veteran mountaineer, Everesteer and son of one of the first mountaineers to climb Mount Everest Tenzing Norgay, launched Mount Kangchenjunga Eco Expedition 2019 by unveiling the logo of the expedition. The ceremonial announcement of the expedition was organized in a grand ceremony on Sunday, 4 February 2018 at Kannad Sangh Auditorium, Dr. Kalmadi Shamrao High School, Ganesh Nagar, Erandwane, Pune. Along with Jamling, Praveen Pardeshi (IAS), Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Dr. Suresh Haware, MD, Haware Engineers and Builders, Vijay Pusalkar, CMD, Indo Schottle Auto Parts Pvt. Ltd. Pune, Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale (Retd.) and Brig. M.P. Yadav, Chairman Sporting Committee West Zone, Indian Mountaineering Foundation, New Delhi, were also present for the ceremony.

Climbing Mount Kanchenjunga is a dream for every mountaineer. It is one of the beautiful yet toughest to climb peaks in Himalayas. Giripremi, after a giant successful of Everest 2012 expedition, had organized another five expeditions on several 8thounsader peaks. Kanchenjunga will be the seventh gem in the series. This expedition will be the biggest civilian expedition from Maharashtra on country’s highest peak.

The climbing expedition on Mount Kanchenjunga will take place in April- May 2019, however several programs including treks will be organized over the year to increase common people’s participation. During Everest 2012 Expedition, Giripremi organised several programs, including treks, seminars, cycle rallies etc. to make the expedition more people oriented. It was continued for the next six years in all other expeditions. This time, being Maharashtra’s first and largest expedition on India’s tallest mountain, Giripremi has planned innovative activities to involve common people in the expedition. Thus, it is named as #MohimMaharashtrachi.

Jamling Norgay in his speech said, “I am deeply honored to be a part of such an exciting expedition on Mount Kanchenjunga. On such great occasion I would like to share the mantra of mountaineering which my father is to believe. The mantra is safety first and one step at a time. Mountains are always there for you. As a mountaineer you should be taking safety into consideration first.” Talking about his father, Jamling said, “My father was a passionate mountaineer. He tried to climb Everest 6 times in 20 years. In 1952, a year before first summit, along with Swiss team he returned from just 250 meters from Everest. He always preferred safety over everything.”
Dr. Suresh Haware said, “Organizing Eco Expedition on India’s highest mountain is an absolutely a great step. Caring for nature while climbing is an exiting aspect and I wish my luck to the team Giripremi to conduct a successful expedition on Mount Kanchenjunga.” He also added that Giripremi has right mixture of expertise and experience. Having a leader like Umesh made the difficult things easy, their previous success is testimony of it.

Air Marshal Bhushan Gokhale said, “Mount Kanchenjunga is a special peak for Indians. I am glad that Giripremi is aiming to summit it. I wish them luck for their endeavor.” He also said that mountaineers are great asset of any country. Because of mountaineers, India could manage to hold on important Siachen region, as mountaineers helped defense forces initially to hold the high- altitude region.

Brigadier M.P Yadav said, “On behalf on IMF I congratulate Giripremi for selecting Mount Kanchenjunga for expedition. Kanchenjunga is a pride of India, it is one of the toughest peaks to climb, I wish Giripremi to have safe expedition.”

Vijay Pusalkar said, “Mount Kanchenjunga is an exciting expedition and important expedition. I wish them luck and will pray for the success of the expedition.”
Umesh Zirpe, Expedition Leader, explained the expedition. He said, “Mount Kanchenjunga Eco Expedition 2019 will be environment friendly expedition. As a part of expedition, the cleaning movement of the route of the peak and glaciers will be undertaken. Kanchenjunga is surrounded by more than 120 glaciers which are resources of over million people. Cleaning and conserving such glaciers is need of an hour. Giripremi with aim of ‘Clean Mountains, Clean Glaciers’ will conduct cleaning movement during the expedition. In addition, Giripremi’s mountaineers have planned to study bio diversity of Kanchenjunga region. Treks at both the base camps; Indian and Nepalese side are also planned for cleanliness awareness.

He also announced the team of Mount Kanchenjunga Eco Expedition 2019, that includes Everesteer Ganesh More, Bhushan Harshe, Rupesh Khopade, Anand Mali, Ashish Mane, Prasad Joshi, Krishna Dhokale along with Dr. Sumeet Mandale, Kiran Salastekar, Yugank Kadam, Dr. Avinash Kandekar, Avinash Foujdar, Abhijit Deshmukh, Amit Talwalkar, Anjali Katre, Sainyamee Takale, Pawan Hadole, Vivek Shivade, Jitendra Gaware, Chandan Chavan, Shripad Gokhale, Dinesh Kotkar, Vishal Kaduskar, Sanket Dhotre and Omkar Hinge.

Along with the ceremonial announcement of the expedition, the details of Giripremi’s 2018 Himalayan Expedition on Mount Manda (6568 meters) and Bara Shigri (6553 meters) also shared during the program. Giripremi’s founder Anand Palande, founder- director Ushaprabha Page attended the event along with several Giripremis and adventure lovers. Giripremi’s secretary Ganesh More proposed the vote of thanks while Sudarshan Mahajan compared the session.