Fifty years ago, an Indian team, conquered the Mount Everest (Sagarmatha) for the first time. Major A S Cheema, became the first Indian to scale the peak.On the occasion of the Golden Jubilee year of the first ascent of the Mount Everest by India, the ‘Indian Army Everest Massif Expedition 2015’ is embarking on a challenging journey to scale the highest and the fourth highest mountain in the world, i.e. the Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse. General Dalbir Singh, the Chief of Army Staff, handed over the Expedition Flag to the team on 01 Apr 2015 at the Flag Off Ceremony conducted at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.The team is led by Major RS Jamwal, an experienced mountaineer and comprises of 30 members. It will split into two groups and attempt to scale the two peaks. The team will also contribute towards resorting the ecological balance of the route by bringing down some of the non biodegradable waste left behind by generation of climbers. The army mountaineers thus aim to give back to ‘Sagarmatha’ a measure of reverence that she merits, thus conveying a message of our Honourable Prime Minister’s vision of a clean environment.
