17 year old Aryavardhan and 22 year old Arshad, both above knee amputees of Telangana have just returned after scaling Mt. Bhageerathi (21365 ft) on 24th August 2019 , Uttarakhand, where the base camp was at Nandanvan 14655 ft (altitude, and the training took place all the way up to camp 1 at 17552 ft altitude. The team has completed their training by climbing Mt.Bhagirathi II upto 18000ft as there was heavy snowfall beyond, in association with Aditya Mehta foundation and BSF Institute of Adventure And Advance training -BIAAT for PARA-MOUTAINEERING. By 2020 we plan to scout 12 Para-Athletes with different levels of disability to summit Mt. Everest.
Weather conditions were very tough for the para-mountaineers. They experienced heavy rain, hail and later snowfall at heights of 18,000ft and above. They saw morraines, boulders, rivers, steep uphills and negotiating difficult landscapes and crevasses for trekking. They had only a two-day window to summit due weather conditions. They trained in ice craft, snow craft and moraine walk, glacier walk. They carried their own rucksacks with basic ammenties and got acquainted with climbing gear and shoes. The more they walked more their lung capacity increased and concentrated on building balancing muscles.
“I have never walked more than 3km in my life…with this mountaineering expedition I could conquer 16 km non- stop of stiff uphill terrain with my prosthetic limb. I feel great!,” says Arshad, an above knee amputee from Telangana,
“The BSF team was amazing the helped us at every point in arriving at the divine place on Mt. Bhagirathi 2 at 18000ft. I never expected to see such places in my life. I thank AMF for giving me this opportunity. I’m now mentally prepared to scale Mt. Everest.” Says 17, year old above knee amputee, Aryavardhan from Telangana who also scaled the peak.
