Engineer by profession, mountaineer by passion
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, August 5
Jalandhar-based Gursimrann Singh Janjua (33) has achieved a feat by scaling two 6,000-metre peaks Kang Yatse-1 and Kang Yatse-2 in the Markha valley of the Zanskar region in Ladakh.
Part of a six-member team, Janjua along with his team began the expedition on July 10. All six reached the Kang
Manager with E&Y
Son of an Army officer, Janjua is an IT project manager with E&Y
Yatse-2 summit on July 14, while only two members of the team scaled Kang Yatse-1.
“We had some team members falling sick due to bad weather, high winds and altitude sickness at base camp and summit camp, leaving only two members in the team who could attempt to scale the peak. I was among the lucky two to be able to make it to the peak,” he said.
Son of an Army officer, Janjua is an IT project manager with Ernst and Young. He is an athlete and trained mountaineer having completed a basic course in mountaineering from the National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) five years back, an advance course in April 2022, and the search and rescue course in March 2023 from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi.
Taking a leave from his job to pursue his passion, he and his team, including his course mates, trained instructors and nursing assistants, had initially planned to execute the expedition in an Alpine style.
“However, due to some last-minute changes, we decided to include a sherpa in the team as well. Other than that, we managed our own cooking, tent pitching, equipment, climbing, load ferry, etc. Our team did not take the help of porters beyond the base camp located at 5,000 m. We carried our own loads and other equipment till the summit and back”, Janjua, who hails from Makhan Shah Lubana Nagar near here, added.
The entire expedition spanned 10 days with the team reaching Markha on July 10 scaling KY-2 on July 14, then KY-1 on July 18 and then returning to Leh on July 19. “When we started climbing KY-2, the weather turned bad and we had to climb continuously amid snowfall for nine hours and then return”, he said.
In contrast, KY-1 came out to be a more challenging, demanding advanced mountaineering skills. Janjua added, “Our most challenging part of the climb to KY-1 was the last 500 m. It’s a straight wall of around 70 degree gradient and there is no place to rest in the entire stretch. We started our climb past midnight at 12:43 am, reached the summit around 7 am, returned to summit camp by 10 am and then trekked back to base camp by 3 pm.”
He said, “The formidable mountain KY-1 calls for specialist technical climbing skills of rock, ice and snow craft and physical fitness in addition to extreme mental fortitude. But the effort was worth it when we got to see the breathtaking panoramic views of the Zanskar and Stok ranges”.
