It sounds nothing short of a Karate Kid story in the making. Only, give that an Indian context, change the title into plural, and use the backdrop of not Karate, but the all-eclipsing-all-encompassing Himalayas.
I'm talking about the Sanawar School's 2013 Everest Expedition. You read that right, school. And everest.
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2013/04/03/19--Sanawar-boys-attempt-to-set-foot-on-Mount-Everest-.html
Our Mr. Miyagi here is Col Neeraj Rana, an ex-Indian-armyman, who after his days in the army, and later heading the HMI Darjeeling, has now set his own pace to how he thinks climbing in India should go. He is presently busy mentoring 7 school boys, all of them from Sanawar School, in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh), towards summiting the Mt. Everest, world's highest peak (8848m), in Nepal. Right now they've successfully finished a rotation to Camp II, following which they're doing their rest and regular drills between that and the basecamp. What follows is another rotation - to Camp III - following which would come the final push for the Everest summit, which would come around the third week of May.
Mentoring a bulk of schoolkids towards something like Everest, obviously leads the curiosity if any records stand to be broken. Of course, the big one. Of these 7 climbers (yes, I'm not using the term "school kids" anymore), six are 16 years old. The seventh is 15. To put records into perspective, presently, India's youngest Everest summiteer (Male) is Arjun Vajpayee, who did this at the age of 17 years (back in 2011). That means if the expedition manages to put either of these climbers on the summit (here I give the credit to the whole expedition since it is rarely a single-man show once beyond the basecamp) India would have a new record. In case most of them summit, then we'll see a minute-by-minute cascade of records at the Everest summit.
In the meantime, we also have another 16-year-old, Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba, a North-East Indian (and first northeasterner, in case he summits), attempting Mt. Everest. Let's just sit and see in which order the records cascade.
This doesn't come as a surprise. Over 100 Indian climbers are attempting the Everest this year. Not only Arjun's record, but his compatriot, Krushnaa's - the youngest Indian female to summit Everest at the age of 19 - own record will be at stake, as an 18-year-old girl tries for the summit. In the meantime, both these folks themselves are busy writing new ones, eager to see the existing records revised after this season, sans any feelings of jealousy or enmity. No wonder people are calling it the arrival/onset of Golden Era in Indian Mountaineering. Any sort of live commentary would be exciting, but sadly, things are not so well connected during such expeditions, which is why our media hasn't gone crazy over this.
An era to not miss out on.
I'm talking about the Sanawar School's 2013 Everest Expedition. You read that right, school. And everest.
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2013/04/03/19--Sanawar-boys-attempt-to-set-foot-on-Mount-Everest-.html
Our Mr. Miyagi here is Col Neeraj Rana, an ex-Indian-armyman, who after his days in the army, and later heading the HMI Darjeeling, has now set his own pace to how he thinks climbing in India should go. He is presently busy mentoring 7 school boys, all of them from Sanawar School, in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh), towards summiting the Mt. Everest, world's highest peak (8848m), in Nepal. Right now they've successfully finished a rotation to Camp II, following which they're doing their rest and regular drills between that and the basecamp. What follows is another rotation - to Camp III - following which would come the final push for the Everest summit, which would come around the third week of May.
Mentoring a bulk of schoolkids towards something like Everest, obviously leads the curiosity if any records stand to be broken. Of course, the big one. Of these 7 climbers (yes, I'm not using the term "school kids" anymore), six are 16 years old. The seventh is 15. To put records into perspective, presently, India's youngest Everest summiteer (Male) is Arjun Vajpayee, who did this at the age of 17 years (back in 2011). That means if the expedition manages to put either of these climbers on the summit (here I give the credit to the whole expedition since it is rarely a single-man show once beyond the basecamp) India would have a new record. In case most of them summit, then we'll see a minute-by-minute cascade of records at the Everest summit.
In the meantime, we also have another 16-year-old, Nameirakpam Chingkheinganba, a North-East Indian (and first northeasterner, in case he summits), attempting Mt. Everest. Let's just sit and see in which order the records cascade.
This doesn't come as a surprise. Over 100 Indian climbers are attempting the Everest this year. Not only Arjun's record, but his compatriot, Krushnaa's - the youngest Indian female to summit Everest at the age of 19 - own record will be at stake, as an 18-year-old girl tries for the summit. In the meantime, both these folks themselves are busy writing new ones, eager to see the existing records revised after this season, sans any feelings of jealousy or enmity. No wonder people are calling it the arrival/onset of Golden Era in Indian Mountaineering. Any sort of live commentary would be exciting, but sadly, things are not so well connected during such expeditions, which is why our media hasn't gone crazy over this.
ATM, #Kathmandu is a hub of some amzng adventurers, incl young nd ambitious Indian climbers. Luck to all #GoldenEraOfIndianMountaineering
— Krushnaa Patil (@highrealities) April 10, 2013
An era to not miss out on.
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