A 10-member team of young tribal boys and girls from Chandrapur in eastern Maharashtra plan to conquer the world's tallest peak Mt. Everest this summer, officials said.
The team members -- all aged between 18 and 21 -- include three girls hailing from three Ashram Schools in Borda, Devada and Jeevti areas of Chandrapur and have undergone a rigorous pre-climb training for the venture.
They are: Manisha Dhuvre, Indu Kannake, Chhaya Atram (all girls) and Pramesh Ale, Umakant Madavi, Akshay Atram, Shubham Pendor, Kavidas Katmode, Vikas Soyam and Akash Madavi.
The team will embark on a flight from Mumbai to Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday for the 60-day mission to scale the world's highest peak.
They were given a warm send-off after an interaction with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Tribal Development Minister Vishnu Savara and Principal Secretary of the Tribal Development Department Manisha Verma.
The youngsters were selected as part of the Tribal Development Departments's 'Mission Shaurya 2018' for instilling a love for adventure sports, boost confidence self-esteem to help the progress of the tribal youths, said Verma.
She said the entire process began in July 2017 with an Ashram School-level screening of 60 children of which 45 made it for the foundation course in Wardha.
Later, another 20 were eliminated on basis of ability, endurance and other parameters during the training state and the final 25 joined a basic course in mountaineering in Hyderabad in September.
From there, 18 were found fit for a basic mountaineering course in Darjeeling in November where 13 were selected for the advanced winter mountaineering training course in Ladakh lasting 12 days.
There they climbed up to heights of 17,000 feet, but for every phase in their training, their academics were not compromised, they are all insured and the expedition is sponsored by the state government, added Verma.
For the Mt. Everest attempt, the 10 youths shall be accompanied by 15 Sherpas, a high altitude expert doctor, support staff and a team manager-cum-trainer Vimla Negi-Devaskar.
--IANS
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