Assam mountaineer set to scale Mount Everest

Guwahati, March 23 (IANS) A mountaineer from Assam will be trying to scale the highest peak in the world - Mount Everest.

The mountaineer, Pranay Bordoloi, will join a 12-member international team on their mission to climb Mount Everest (29,028 feet or 8848 metres above sea level) in the middle of May this year.

Wang Fu-Chou, an internationally acclaimed mountaineer of South Korea, will lead the 12- member team from Kathmandu, said Bordoloi. He will leave Guwahati for Kathmandu on April 3 to join the rest of the members of the team.

Professionally, Bordoloi is a journalist working for DY365-a Guwahati-based news channel in the capacity of executive editor.

Bordoloi will be the first mountaineer from Assam to take the mission.

He said the expedition is being organized by Arun Trek and Expedition (P) Ltd, Kathmandu, which has wide experience in organizing the trekking and mountaineering trips to the Himalayas.

"It's the dream of every mountaineer to climb Mount Everest and it's a great honour for me to have received the invitation from the organiser," he said. A senior member of North East Adventure Foundation, Bordoloi had earlier climbed Jogin peak-1 (21,400 ft), Jogin peak-3 (20,300 ft), Mount Rubal Kang (20,700 ft) and some others in the Himalayas.

Earlier, mountaineers from Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur in the northeast region have tried their skills in climbing the peak. A mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh Anshu Jamsenpa had successfully climbed the peak last year.

A total of 4,000 mountaineers from across the world have so far attempted to scale Mount Everest. While only 660 have successfully made it to the highest peak in the world, over 140 mountaineers had lost their lives while attempting to scale the peak, which was first scaled by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on May 29, 1953.

"Physical fitness and mental strength is the most essential quality to try to scale any peak. I am a little over-aged, but my stamina and will power should lead me to my destination, where I would like to hoist a "Gamocha" - the traditional towel of Assam," said Bordoloi.