An Open letter to all the claustrophobic adventure enthusiasts and mountain lovers

17th Feb

An Open letter to all the claustrophobic adventure enthusiasts and mountain lovers,

Let’s celebrate the indomitable human spirit of courage, conviction, precision and passion for adventure and exploration by celebrating 34th Anniversary of 1st Winter Climb of Mt. Everest. It’s the passion for exploration that has kept us humans on the top of value chain of living species.

Inhospitable terrain and wilderness has been an attraction for a select group of enthusiasts who have just dreamt of finding new places and new routes and Mt. Everest has been on top of that list. Not just because it is the highest place on earth but because it is also beautiful and sexy. And the urge to reach the top, to conquer the peak was an obsession for long from the time, Mt. Everest’s height was measured. George Mallory, so famously, tried to conquer it in summer of 1924 but died after reaching within 800m of summit. The dream of conquering an 8000er was fulfilled when Maurice Herzog summited Annapurna in 1950. 3 years later, in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay fulfilled that ultimate dream by summiting Everest.

But one thing that we humans are proud of is that we are never satisfied. There was a new dream – to climb Mt. Everest or for that sake any 8000er out of the 14 in Winter. Till 1970s, the world of high altitude climbing was dominated by Italians, British, Spanish, French, Russians, Japanese and South Koreans and they started that golden period of adventure. 1970s saw the rise and rise of Poles as they mastered one summit after other. They brought true alpinism into vogue. And the dream that was of climbing Mt. Everest in winter, the program was drew by Jurek Wertersiewicz and implemented by Andrzej Zawada. Then on this very day in 1980, Leszek Cichy and Krzysztof Wielicki (5th man to complete Crown of the Himalayas, conquering all 14 8000ers), they climbed Mt. Everest in one of the most difficult conditions. This was conquering nature in its most elemental form. Then on, the tiny nation of Poland took Winter climbing to new heights and conquered peak by peak in winter. Jerezy Kukuczka (2nd and the fastest man to complete Crown of Himalayas), Wanda Rutkiewicz(probably the greatest female climber) , Adam Bielecki, Wojtek Kurtyka, Maciej Berbeka, Maciej Pawlikowski, Andrez Czok, Ryszard Gajewski, Piotr Pustelnik have achieved incomparable feats and put the flag of Poland on the top of 8000ers in winter conditions.

For adventure junkies and height seekers, the pull of the mountains is irresistible. Their sex appeal is greater than that of Angelina Jolie. And the legends know it off very well. Sir William Conway, Albert Mummery, George Mallory, Fritz Weissner, Herman Buhl, Maurice Herzog were the pioneers of mountaineering in Himalayas. Reinhold Messner, Jerzy Kukuczka, Erhard Loretan, Krzysztof Wielicki, Juanito Oirzabal and 26 others made Himalayas their 1st home and achieved “Crown of Himalayas” by climbing all the 14 8000er peaks. Young Seok Park went one step further and achieved the “True Adventure Grand Slam” by climbing the world's 14 Eight-thousanders, the Seven Summits, and conquering both the poles.

But somewhere that spirit of explorations has died down in recent past and present. 1970s and 1980s were the golden period of mountain climbing. 1990s carried on the good work that was done but now it has been commercialized so much that that urge of establishing new routes, climbing new summits has taken a back seat. Still we have people like Simone Moro and Denis Urubko who still come from the same old school. While all the 14 8000ers have been climbed, 3 of them, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II, very recently, 2 of them, K2 and Nanga Parbat both in Pakistan are yet to be climbed in winter conditions.

We Indians have never epitomized the spirit of adventure. While we say Himalayas as our own mountain, we never had any love affair with it. But I hope that changes some day. I hope that spirit of human adventure that has burnt bright in Europeans for so long ignites the fire within us. But most of all, I hope that spirit of adventure and exploration in Humanity, as a whole, never flickers. Hope that fire never dies in all of us.