Jatin Shah, a certified mountaineer from Visakhapatnam city, reached another milestone in his mountaineering career by scaling the 6,001-m Mt. Deo Tibba, the second highest peak along the Pir Panjal range of Kullu Manali in Himachal Pradesh, on Friday.
Jatin started trekking at 12, but began serious mountaineering only five years ago. He did his schooling in the city and took his BBA from a private business school in Mumbai. Though he has experience climbing a few other peaks of around the same height, scaling Mt. Deo Tibba proved to be challenging for him and friends because of the heavy snowfall and the steep ascent.
“There was heavy snowfall and as the snowline was around 3,300 metres, the mules refused to go any further. The load had to be distributed among the team, and we ourselves had to ferry our luggage to higher camps every day. The route had to be opened up by us, and there were certain patches in the climb, where we had to climb a 500-metre col (lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks) and a gully. We had to fix ropes, which made it all the more challenging,” Mr. Jatin recalls about the adventure in a chat with The Hindu on Sunday.
Father’s support
Seeing his interest in adventure, his father, Vikram Shah, enrolled him in training programmes and trekking expeditions. “I did the basic mountaineer course from JIM&WS in Kashmir in 2018 and advance mountaineering course from HMI in Darjeeling in 2019. I participated in various trekking expeditions, organised by the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI),” he says.
He has climbed the Himalayan peaks of Kang Yatse 2 (6,200 m), Dzo Jongo East (6,220 m), Mentok Kangri (6156 m), Mentok Kangri 2 (6228 m) and BC Roy Peak (5485 m).
Future plans
“I want to scale higher peaks of 7,000 m, 8,000 m and more. I also plan to climb the Mt. Everest, provided I get financial support from the government.”
To a query on the basic requirements to be a mountaineer, he says, “There are courses recognised by the Government of India, which have to be completed before a person can be certified as a mountaineer.”
