Shimla: Months of training and climbing at high altitude elevations culminated in eight (8) students from the senior classes at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla scaling Mount Yunam (6111 m 20049 feet) on 4th August, 2022.
The boys, aged between 16 to 18 years, spent three days shuttling between climbing to higher altitudes during the day and returning to base camp for the night so as to acclimatize to the altitudes before making the final ascent to scale the peak. Of the 9 boys in the expedition, 8 did get to the mountain top.
Starting out before day break at 4 a.m on 4th August, the young climbers made steady progress to climb through a challenging rocky terrain in the rarified air. After a strenuous four hours of climbing, the summit was reached at 8.10 a.m.
Part of the training was ensuring that everybody did everything in slow motion – walking slowly, chewing food slowly, sipping and swallowing water slowly and helping each other, as a team, combat the effects of fatigue induced at that elevation.
Speaking about the experience expedition leader Mr Amod Talwalkar said, “It was a big responsibility, but we all remained cheerful and calm throughout the climb and we came down without a scratch or a blister between us.”
Sridhan Tulsyan, one of the student climbers noted in his climbing diary, “Our alarm woke us up at 3:45 am and it was time to face the final challenge for the day. Water bottles filled, body covered, a small bag packed, everything checked, and we started marching towards the summit. The altitude spared with us every now and then, we kept going higher and higher, step by step, till there was further to go. Being at the summit was one moment which felt like everything.”
Mount Yunam (6111 m 20049 feet) is a few kilometres off on Manali Leh highway just ahead of Barlacha La. It lies in Zaskar range within Trans Himalayas and to the north of Great Himalaya and south of the Ladakh range.
Bishop Cotton School is an institution rooted in history and tradition. Over decades, its alumni have included some of the most distinguished men in India and elsewhere. From the uniformed services to administrators, from businessmen and industrialists, to authors and actors, Bishop Cotton School has nurtured nascent talents and helped them come to fruition. This is a school that provides a child with a firm foundation to look capably and confidently to a global role in the years to come.
