World mountain's news - Page 3

Mountaineering Federation of Russia this year formally approved a new collection of peaks - Snow Leopard of Russia. 7 Summits Club welcomes this initiative, although we consider the list of summits is not optimal. To become a holder, a climber must climb on 10 Russian famous peaks.

Alex Slotyuk, president of the Federation mountaineering of Moscow was the initiator of the establishment of the title. After several months of discussion, the Board of Mountaineering Federation of Russia approved regulations. Everyone who confirm ascents will be awarded plaques and diplomas.

In order to become a "Snow Leopard Russia" you must climb the following Russian summits:

• Elbrus (5642 meters)

• Dyhtau (5204 meters)

• Koshtan-Tau (5151 m)

• Mizhirgi (5025 meters)

• Pushkin peak (5100 meters)

• Dzhangitau (5085 meters)

• Shkhara (5068 meters)

• Kazbek (5034 m)

• Klyuchevskaya Sopka (4688 m)

• Belukha (4506 meters)

Junita Sambahangphe successfully scaled Mt Elbrus (5,642 metres), Russia, on May 25, at 1:30 pm. Junita who earlier scaled the Mount Everest wants to scale seven summits — the highest mountains in all the continents. Among which Sambahangphe has already scaled Mt Everest, Nepal, and Mt Elbrus, Russia. Now, she is planning to climb Mt Denali, USA, later this year.
Sambahangphe has on her expedition list Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres), Denali (6,194 metres), Aconcagua (6,962 metres), Carstensz Pyramid (4,797 metres) and Vinson (4,897 metres) to scale.
Sambahangphe who arrived in Nepal on June 1 said that the total expenditure incurred on scaling Mt Elbrus has been about Rs 7 lakh, including the costs of equipment. The expenditure was borne by Non-Resident Nepalese (NRN) based in Morocco. Sambahangphe was somewhat not happy at government not helping her financially in her expedition.
Currently, she is looking for funds for her future expeditions. Once the financing problem is over, she will start her expedition to Mt Denali in September – October, this year.
“I have started my expedition with a message of, ‘Peace and Tourism Promotion — Nepal Tourism Year 2011’, from Elbrus, Russia, and will continue it till I have scaled all the seven summits,” she said. Her next expedition will cost Rs 15 million and other expeditions, especially to Antarctica, will be the more expensive, she said.
Sambahangphe plans to complete her expedition of scaling all the seven summits by 2013. Her motto through these expeditions is to ‘Save the Himalayas and Promote Nepal as Mountain Tourism Destination’. Sambahangphe, a student of gender studies at Padma Kanya Campus said that a good educational background is a must for people wanting to opt for a career in mountaineering.
Born in Aambung-9, Terhathum, before climbing Everest, she underwent a 35-day mountaineering course at Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA). She made her first climb of 6,000-metre height, and later scaled the Mt Everest.
The growing mass of people scaling the Mt Everest should be quality mountaineers rather than people having vested interest. Many uneducated people take to mountaineering as a viable career option since it has all the trappings of fame and glory. However, this one is a different story.

Alex Abramov and Mingma Gelu with a group of Nepel women climbing Everest last year

Pune, April 25 (IANS) Braving strong gales and temperatures below minus-20 degrees Celsius, Pune mountaineer Krushnaa Patil Sunday scaled Europe’s highest peak, Mt. Elbrus (5,642 metres).

Accompanied by a sole guide, Vladimir from Russia, Krushnaa started the treacherous climb in a blanket of 20 cms snow at 6 a.m. Sunday.

“Owing to heavy snowfall, low temperatures and strong winds, she had to wait for three days at the base camp for the weather to clear. Luckily, she got a window today to finally attempt the climb and succeeded in reaching the summit by 1 p.m.,” her mother Ranjana Patil told IANS here Sunday night.

By late afternoon, Krushnaa started her descent and is expected to reach base camp - at around 3,694 metres - by early Monday morning, Ranjana, herself an avid mountaineer, said.

With this, Krushnaa has scaled six of the world’s seven tallest peaks in all the continents and her eyes are now set on Mt.McKinley in Alaska (6,194 metres).

Incidentally, last month (March 13), Krushnaa and Ranjana both scaled the 2,228-metre Mt. Koscinszko, the highest Australian peak.

A couple of months before that, Krushnaa summitted South America’s highest peak Mt. Aconcagua - 6,961-metres high - in January this year.

Earlier, in May last year, Krushnaa reached the summit of the world’s highest peak, Mt. Everest (8,848 metres), followed by Africa’s tallest mountain, Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895 metres) in October and the highest peak in Antarctica, the 4,897-metre tall Mt. Vinson massif, in December.

Ranjana Patil said her daughter plans to conquer even Alaska’s Mt. Mckinley within the next few months. She added preparations are already underway for the effort which will make her the first Indian to scale all the seven peaks in the seven continents of the world.

Krushnaa, who is pursuing Bachelor of Arts (BA) at Pune University, is a professional Indian classical dancer and choreographer. She also designs dance costumes, jewellery and home interiors.