It was thirteen years ago, in 2004, that the first team from the Indian Navy had scaled the God of all Mountains, Mt Everest.  Now, the team is all set once again scale Mt Everest, which stands at 8,848meter above sea level.

The expedition, flagged off by Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral Sunil Lanba on 23rd March, consists of 24 members handpicked from INS Chakra (nuclear submarine), INS Chennai (destroyer), flying arm and Maricos (Marine Commandos).

Team Leader, Commander Sanjay Kurkarni said that the last expedition was flagged off from a submarine and this time also, to keep the sea element intact, the ice axe was taken to the sea bed.  The  Ice -Axe, which the team intends to plant atop Mt Everest, was taken to 40 meters below  sea level for the expedition to be flagged off.  This expedition has been named “Sagartal se Sagarmatha” which translates – “From Seabed to Mt Everest|.  Sagarmatha is the Nepalese name for Mt Everest.  the team has been under training for the last two years now, including acclimatization training in Ladakh in December 2016.

Divers Commander Kulkarni, Commander Chaitanya and Lt. Commander Vinit are all part of the expedition.  Master Chief Petty Officer Vikas Kumar, who had scaled the summit in 2004 is again part of the expedition and hopes to scale the summit once again this time.  Vikas has been part of the Navy teams to traverse the North Pole and South Pole said that conquering the “Third Pole”, Mt everest, is the toughest.  Speaking to IANS, an excited Vikas said, “lack of oxygen is the biggest challenge and the North Pole and South Pole have been challenging, but scaling Mt Everest is again, something else”.  “I am sure we will scale the summit”, he added.

Original route used by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay will be used by the team, who will attempt the summit in either of the two windows – May 11-18 or May 20-29.  The team is leaving for Nepal on March 29.  They should be back by end May or early June.

Wishing them a successful expedition.