Eight unfurl Tricolour on two European peaks in 24 hours

BHOPAL: A group of eight talented mountaineers from various states marked the completion of 75 years of the country’s freedom by successfully scaling two peaks, including Europe’s highest, the Mount Elbrus – both within 24 hours. The group successfully scaled Europe’s tallest peak, the 5642-meter Mount Elbrus West at 5.30 am on August 15 and just 21 meters lower Mount Elbrus East at 4.23 am on Tuesday.

The mountaineers included 30-year-old ace woman mountaineer from Madhya Pradesh Bhawna Dehariya, Chhattisgarh police’s anti-Maoist cell constable Ankita Gupta, besides mountaineers from Haryana, Hyderabad and Uttarakhand. They are Vishwanath Kartikeya Padakanti, Manmohan Rawat, Gulshan Thakur, Pradeep Gehlot, Muriki Pulakita Hasvi and Rina Shetty.

The team has achieved the distinction of being perhaps the first group of mountaineers from India to have successfully scaled the two peaks in Europe within 24 hours. One of the key members of the group, MP’s Bhawna Dehriya, was among the women achievers who was awarded Devi Award by The New Indian Express in Indore in 2020.

Hailing from MP’s Chhindwara district, Bhawna’s successful scaling of Mount Elbrus meant that she is now just two peaks away from her target of summiting the highest mountain peaks of all seven continents.
Bhawna had earlier successfully scaled the highest peak, Mount Everest, in May 2019, Africa’s tallest Mount Kilimanjaro on Diwali in 2019, South America’s highest peak Aconcagua in December 2019 and Australia’s top peak Mount Kosciuszko on Holi in 2020.

The successful scaling of the twin mountain peaks in Europe was extra special, as it was Bhawna’s first mountaineering expedition, 15 months after giving birth to daughter. Sharing the special experience of summiting the two peaks Bhawna said, “The mission was really tiring, particularly as the mercury dipped between minus 25 and 35 degrees on coming close to both peaks amid strong winds.” Rigorous pre-expedition training turned vital in beating the extreme chill and associated problems, she said.