Siachen expedition over, bad weather cuts it short

It took members of the second civilian expedition on the glacier, which took off from base camp on October 12, eight days to trek up to camp III – one camp short of Kumar – and return to base.

While the expedition started on a good note from base camp, the weather turned bad after the third day. With heavy snowfall and a low cloud cover reducing visibility to nil on the glacier, the expedition got stuck at Camp II for two days.

The extreme cold also took its toll on expedition members. While most members suffered from the side effects of cold, a student from the Chail Military School – Amit Kumar – had to be evacuated by helicopter after he collapsed due to the extreme temperature at Camp I. For the remaining members, the five day training and acclimatization at the Siachen base camp paid off with no one suffering any major injuries.

The trek, organized by the Army Mountaineering Institute, involved a 70 km climb to the glacier and back. Expedition members, which for the first time included five female participants, reached heights of over 15,000 feet and walked up the traditional route used by the Army to induct soldiers on the Saltoro ridge.

The trek is aimed at `reaffirming India’s claim’ on the region and is set to be made an annual feature despite protests by Pakistan. Islamabad has expressed its displeasure at opening the glacier to civilian expeditions as it still considers it `disputed territory’.

However, the Army has stepped up civilian activities on the glacier and adjoining regions in the past year. In the last six months, three foreign expeditions and several joint military expeditions have taken place in the Karakoram region.