By IANS,
New Delhi : An Indian Army team has become the country’s first to scale the 8,167-metre high Dhaulagiri peak in Nepal, the seventh highest in the world, an army official Monday said.
Dhaulagiri is considered one of the world’s toughest peaks to climb. The six member Indian team reached on the summit May 8 and is on their way back.
“There has not been any Indian expedition to Mt. Dhaulagiri before this. The summit was a great challenge, as continuous inclement weather during the ascent had further increased the degree of difficulty,” the senior official said.
The 17-member expedition team, led by Lt Col M.S. Chauhan was flagged off by army chief General Deepak Kapoor from New Delhi March 19.
The scaling of the peak is in keeping with the Army’s target of summitting all 14 peaks 8,000 metre high.
Since 2001, Indian Army teams have already summitted six out of these 14 peaks – Mt Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Annapurna and now Dhaulagiri.