By TwoCircles.net news desk
Jammu : Mr. Mohammad Ashraf, the former Director General Tourism, J & K, has once again been nominated as the Vice-President of the apex body of adventure, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. He had recently contested the election for the Governing Council, the supreme Executive Body of the Foundation and had polled the largest number of votes.
According to press release, the President of the Foundation, Major HPS Ahluwalia, the famous Everester, nominated him as a Vice-President in terms of the constitution. Ashraf had earlier been the Vice-President in 1996-97 during the tenure of M.S.Gill as the President.
The Indian Mountaineering Foundation was established in 1958 as the Sponsoring Committee for the Everest Expedition. Subsequently it was given the task of promoting all adventure activities in the country. The organisation oversees most of the land based adventure activities such as mountaineering, trekking, rock-climbing, sport climbing etc. It grants clearance and monitors all foreign climbing expeditions in the Himalaya.
Mr. Ashraf has been associated with the Foundation since 1970-71 when he was sponsored for basic and advance mountaineering training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. He was elected as a life member of the Foundation in 1982 by Mr.H.C.Sarin, the then President of the Foundation and is one of its senior members. He has played a pioneering role in developing adventure sports in the State of J & K.
For his efforts in streamlining rescue activities in the Himalaya, he was conferred the title of “Merite Alpin” by the Swiss in the famous city of Diablerts in 1992. He has himself taken part in a number of rescue missions in Suru/Zanskar Mountains in the Nun-Kun massif and saved many lives. He also introduced Sylvain Saudan, the famous heli-skier from France to Kashmir in 1976-77 when he successfully skied down the 7135 metre high Nun peak. Heli-Skiing was started as a commercial tourist activity by the Himalaya Heli Ski Club of Sylvain Saudan from 1987 and a large number of foreign tourists have visited Kashmir for undertaking the sport. The sport is being still continued by Sylvain Saudan in spite of some set backs involving his helicopter. He plans to come again during the current winter.
The year 2008 is being celebrated as the Golden Jubilee Year of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation. Among the various activities planned, is an International Mountaineers Meet in Kashmir and Ladakh in which over 40 world famous mountaineers are expected to take part. This meet is being organised to project the extensive possibilities of adventure tourism in different regions of the State. The Foundation had recently brought out a special Kashmir number of its Journal, the Indian Mountaineer to highlight the adventure possibilities in Kashmir. Similar issues are being planned for Ladakh and Jammu.
In eighties, Kashmir used to get over 40 foreign mountaineering expeditions and thousands of trekkers. This number had drastically fallen due to the turmoil. However, for the past couple of years, the activities have restarted. Nomination of Ashraf as the Vice-President of the Foundation is expected to give a further boost to promotion and development of adventure tourism in the State. The adventure lovers and the travel trade specialising in adventure tourism hopefully look forward to the State Government to support the initiatives taken by Ashraf in promoting this activity in the State.