The Trekking Activities of 'Voice of World' reached newer heights when "Team Saksham" (A team of Underprivileged and Differently-abled students of 'Voice of World') scaled the Rudragaira Peak at an altitude of 19090 ft on 21st September, 2019 at about 10 am.
The most interesting part of this effort was that the Team had Ine Completely Visually Challenged Climber (Subhendu Maji - 19 year old), Two Partially Visually Challenged brothers (Basudeb Bhalla - 21 years & Sukdeb Bhalla - 18 years), One Orthopaedically Challenged member (Ujjwal Ghosh - 26 years) and the other two escorts were Debosmita Roy & Tarak Sardar.
The team was flagged by ITBP Officials and a Saint at Gangotri on 17th September, 2019.
Two ITBP officials also accompanied the team which had experienced Mountaineer - Shri Indranath Mukherjee, experienced Trekker & Photographer - Shri Raja Abhimannyu Dutta and Professional Mountain Biker - Shri Mitra Bhanu Nayek in the ranks.
The local guide and porters were provided by Crystal Adventure of Uttarkashi.
The Trekking route/ Climb was quite arduous and steep with loose boulders all along the route.
The first day halting was done at Nala Camp. On the second day the Base Camp was set-up at an approx. Altitude of 15500 ft. The Team climbed to an altitude of approx. 17000 ft to set-up the Advanced Base Camp on the third day. 21st September was the D-Day when the young six members proceeded for the summit early in the morning.
The Weather Gods have been benign and magnanimous on the summit day and the team reached the point at about 10 am.
In the Himalayas, each peak is worshipped as a Goddess and thus it is against the local religious sentiments to stand on top the peak. Thus the Summit Activities are normally carried out a bit below the peak.
The same thing happened in this case also where the Summit Activities like hoisting the National and 'Voice of World' flag and offering of prayers at an already available cairn was carried out a bit below the peak top.
It was a breath-taking experience with the full Gangotri series of snow capped peaks standing tall almost at a handshaking distance from that altitude. It really was a lifetime dream - come - true experience for the summiteers. The view from the summit was worth the pain and hardship of the steep ascent.
With this, 'Voice of World' joins the big league of organizations who can be proud of their Mountaineering/ Trekking exploits and perhaps Subhendu is the first completely Visually Challenged Person from West Bengal to scale an altitude of 19000 ft.
The news about the successful climb has been published in the leading Hindi Daily Newspaper of Northern India - "Amar Ujala" on 25th September, 2019
The "Saksham" Adventure Camp - cum - High Altitude Trekking Programme thus have been extremely successful with scaling of the Rudragaira peak (19090 ft) and fruitful organization of the Adventure Camp at Shikhar Dham (8000 ft approx.).
We express our gratitude to all Organizations like ITBP, Indian Railways, IRCTC, Crystal Adventure, Tapovan Mata ji's Ashram - Gangori, Sant Hari Naam Dham - Haridwar and various individuals for extending their support for this programme and making it successful.
This programme would go a long way in oUr endeavour to develop the underprivileged children for their main-streaming in the Society.....let's make them more "Saksham".
Regards,
Saibal Guha
Voice of World
Mob: 9830006637
Email: voiceofworld@gmail.com
Website: www.voiceofworld.net
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