Pune mountaineers pen 'Shikhararatna Kanchenjunga' on their enthralling expedition to the peak

In 2019, Pune's Giripremi, a mountaineering club, scripted history when 10 members of the group unfurled the Indian tricolour after climbing the third highest peak of Mount Kanchenjunga within a day of reacing Camp 4, the base camp.

The journey of this eco expedition was enthralling, courageous and emotional. To encapsulate the same, Umesh Zirpe, the leader of the expedition and Bhushan Harshe, a sumitter, collaboratively stitched a story from their experiences titled 'Shikharratna Kanchenjunga'.

The story of the book is about the 10 mountaineers' emotions, courage, perseverance, patience, planning and management. The author duo elaborately talk about planning, fundraising, building the team of climbers and their journey from recconaiscence to the 55-day-long expedition in the book.

The book, which will be published in Marathi, explores the challenges the team faced as they scaled to Mt Kanchenjunga continuously for over 20 hours and came out successfully.

It also explores the rescue operation the 10-member group was engaged in the most inhabitable conditions at 7,500 m and how they saved lives of two Bengali mountaineers.

Along with the climbing, the authors reflect upon the social and cultural aspects of the expedition where sixty members from various corners of the world, lived together in harmony at 18000 ft with a single common goal of reaching to the top.

The authors discuss how the expedition was beyond just climbing as the team along with the notable environmentalists, scientists and researchers explored the valleys from eco project point of view.