Call of the mountains

OUTDOORS

Someone once asked British climber George Mallory in 1924 why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. "Because it's there," Mallory had deadpanned. The comment has been part of mountaineering folklore ever since and quite personifies the allure of the Big Rocks.

Mountaineering is a serious sporting activity and unlike hiking and trekking, requires a high degree of physical fitness and experience, especially if you are going above the permanent snowline (above 5,200 metres).

The basic aim is reaching the peak or summit, but the journey tests the endurance and mental strength like few other pursuits. But the thrill of coming out on top "" and the pristine vision that one beholds from there "" is more than worth the effort. Mountaineering requires training and the government runs three institutes for this, namely, the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) in Darjeeling, West Bengal, the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarkashi, Uttaranchal, and the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering & Winter Sports (JIM), Aru, with temporary headquarters at Batote in Jammu & Kashmir.

But it's not necessary to pass through any of these institutes to become a mountaineer.

The HMI, Darjeeling was founded in November 1954 by the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to commemorate the first ascent of Mount Everest by late Tenzing Norgay along with Sir Edmund Hillary on May 29, 1953. This provided an impetus to mountaineering as a sport in India. The NIM, Uttarkashi was set up in October 1965 and the JIM at Aru in J&K in October 1983.

The institutes conduct basic and advanced mountaineering courses, method of instruction courses, search & rescue courses and adventure courses. The syllabi, duration, age limit of participants and grading system for various types of courses are uniform at all the institutes.

Courses usually take 28 days with a fairly rigorous routine. Anyone who is physically fit and willing to bear some physical hardship can join. Most of these courses are conducted separately for men and women. Course instructors are professionals and Indian defence personnel.

The basic and advanced courses are usually conducted over 28 days (total duration). There are separate courses for boys, girls, adults and visually challenged persons. Besides physical fitness, the age eligibility for the basic mountaineering course and the advance mountaineering course is 17-40 years.

Other courses are also offered; such as the adventure course for those in the 14-18 years bracket, another adventure course for adults in the 18-30 years bracket, and a similar course for the visually challenged (full or partial) in the 18-35 years bracket. Fees are usually the same for all the institutes. these are highly subsidised by the government.

CONTACT: Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi 249 193, Uttaranchal, Tel: 01374 - 222123, email: nimindia@rediffmail.com, website: nimindia.com

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Jawahar Parbat, Darjeeling 734 101, West Bengal, Tel: 0354 - 254083

Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering, PO tringla, Batote 182143, J&K Tel: 01998 - 24120

IMF: 6, Benito Juarez road, Anand Niketan, New Delhi - 110 021, Tel: 011 - 24671211, email: indmount@del2.vsnl.net.in; website: indmount.org