Odisha mountaineer sets sight on Everest

A youth from Bhubaneswar, who is going to climb the highest point of the seven continents, the Seven Summits, from the month of October, has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to flag off his journey to realise his dream.

A driver by profession, Nilachal Parida, whose father passed away while he was in Class-IV, has completed his basic mountaineering course at the Jawhar Institute of Mountaineering (Jammu and Kashmir) with grade-A.

Besides, he has also climbed the 15,700-feet Highest Summit in Himachal Pradesh (Avimas); 12,500-feet three-Treks Summit In Jammu and Kashmir; 3,336-meter Sandakphu Peak Summit in Darjeeling on the India-Nepal border for the Odisha Government Expedition, the National Adventure Camp in winter-two in Himachal, Narkanda Hatu Temple Summit, Himrikufri Summit Trek and State Adventure Camp along with the BSF Marathon of 21 km. 

Parida said, “I have been selected for four of the seven tops and will start climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa on October 27; Aconcagua in Argentina on January 1, 2019; Mount Everest in Nepal on March 28, 2019; and Elbrus in Europe on August 8, 2019.”

This would be followed by scaling of three other highest peaks in Denali in North America, Vinson Massif in Antarctica and Puncak Jaya or Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia by another next year, he said. He said he has been inspired by the first male climber from Odisha to reach the peak of Mount Everest, Ganesh Jena.  

Asked whom he would dedicate the achievement, he said that after accomplishing the feat, he would dedicate it to his parents, the State and the country.