Indian Mountaineers Led by Sheetal Raj Scale Mount Elbrus to Celebrate 75th Independence Day

The expedition was led by mountaineer Sheetal and sponsored by an NGO named ‘Climbing Beyond The Summit’ (CBTS).

New Delhi: A four-member team of mountaineers from India scaled Mount Elbrus (5,642M) Sunday to celebrate the country’s 75th Independence Day, an NGO involved in the expedition said Monday. The expedition was led by mountaineer Sheetal Raj and sponsored by an NGO named ‘Climbing Beyond The Summit’ (CBTS). Sheetal had scaled Mount Everest in 2019.

“The four-member team led by Sheetal reached the summit at 1 pm IST Sunday and unfurled the tricolour there,” said Yogesh Garbiyal, an ace mountaineer and the president of CBTS. The other three members included twin brothers from Rajasthan -Tapan and Tarun — and Jignit Tharchin from Ladakh, said Garbiyal.

“Mount Elbrus is a peak situated on the a dormant volcano and has two edges, eastern and western. While the western edge is 5,642 meters high, the eastern peak is slightly less at 5,621 meters,” said Garbiyal. The team scaled the summit within 43 hours from the base camp made at 3,600 metre height, he said.