Two adventurers and mountaineers who are associated with the Pune-based mountaineering club, Giripremi, and the adventure and mountaineering training institute, Guardian Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering, have scaled Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse in two separate expeditions.
While Jay Kolhatkar submitted the world's tallest mountain, Mt Everest, on Thursday, Jitendra Gaware scaled the fourth-tallest mountain Mt. Lhoste.
Both Jay and Jitendra have been mentored by Umesh Zirpe, the veteran mountaineer and Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Awardee.
Jay, a rock climber and mountaineer, who had been dreaming of this very goal for quite some time, has finally materialised.
Jay’s journey in GGIM began with GGIM’s first-ever Basic Rock Climbing Course, wherein he secured the ‘Best Trainee’ Award. Further, he honed his rock craft and mountain climbing skills and climbed Mt. Elbrus and Mt. Mera with GGIM.
He trained for nearly two years and was guided by GGIM’s senior instructors like Bhushan Harshe and Vivek Shivade.
Jitendra has now climbed five 8000-meters mountains in succession. In 2019, he climbed Mt. Kanchenjunga, the world’s third tallest mountain and in 2021, Jitendra unfurled the Indian tricolour on three 8000 meters mountains in just six months, as he climbed Mt. Annapurna-1, in April, Mt. Everest, in May and Mt. Manaslu in September.
Jitendra is now the second Maharashtrian, after Giripremi’s Ashish Mane, to climb five 8000 meters mountains.
Jitendra, aged 44, started his mountaineering journey with GGIM in his late 30s. He has grown from being a participant in Basic Rock Climbing Course to a mountaineer who has climbed five 8000 meters peaks in mere 8-9 years.
“GGIM trains mountaineers with systematic and methodical training courses. It is indeed a proud moment for GGIM to see the fourth student after Venkatesh Maheshwari, Rahul Inamdar, Jitendra Gaware to scale Mt. Everest!,” Zirpe, the President of Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh (AMGM), the apex mountaineering body of the state, told DH from theUnited States.
Zirpe, an Everest and expedition leader, is on a tour to the USA where he will be sharing his anecdotes of adventure with Indian communities across the states.