ITBP mountaineers become first Indians to scale Mount Balbala in Uttarakhand

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 6

A team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) mountaineers has become the first Indian expedition to summit Mount Balbala in Uttarakhand.

The 21,050-ft-high peak had been last scaled by a Swiss expedition in 1947, an ITBP spokesman said.

Codenamed Parakram, the ITBP expedition, undertaken by Sector Headquarters, Dehradun, was launched on August 7, 2021 from the 1st Battalion based at Joshimath.

Six summiteers, Assistant Commandant Bhim Singh, Sub Inspector Praveen, Sub Inspector Ashish Ranjan, Sub Inspector Nikhil, Constable Sunil Kumar and Constable Pradeep Panwar, along with their guide, Raju Martolia, made it to the top of Mt Balbala on September 4.

The mountain-trained force – ITBP – is accredited to have successfully scaled more than 220 peaks since 1962, which is a record.