The Himalayas, over the centuries, have attracted trekkers, mountaineers. Since time immemorial its rugged heights crowned with snow and draped in vast glaciers has lured man to pit his courage and ingenuity against its dangerous challenge. 

Chakram Hikers has believed in spreading its wings across the length and breadth of the country. Away from the hustle and bustle of the noisy city life, the ‘land of snow’- the Himalayas welcomed Chakram Hikers with opened arms few years back. Ascending the formidable heights, battling the odd weather, surviving nature’s fury is an experience beyond comparison. Above all, an expedition in the Himalayas is often a mix of adventure, pleasure and self realisation. This gave birth to the Himalayan expeditions in the year 2001. Scrupulous planning, thorough groundwork and rigorous hard work saw the summit of many successful expeditions. 

The detailed reports of all the Himalayan expeditions are available with Club as reference for mountain lovers.

Expedition Details :

Mt. Jogin-III (5819 m)/ Unnamed peak (5791 m)

Duration: Oct 2012 

Members: Sudeep Barve (Leader), Gautami Barve (Dy. Leader), Manasi Rahalkar.

Brief Information: Mt. Jogin-III is part of Jogin group of peaks near famous Kedar Tal near Gangotri in Garhwal Himalayas. Team started approach march trek from Gangotri. After having intermediate camps at Bhujkharak (11,800 ft) and Kedarkharak (13,540 ft), team established Base Camp at Kedar Tal (14,560 ft). After establishing Advance Base Camp, team learnt that a big non-negotiable crevice was opened between Summit camp and Summit of Jogin-III. Hence team decided to attempt Unnamed peak on East ridge of Jogin-II. Summit camp was established at 17,320 ft. Sudeep Barve did summit of Un-named peak (19,000 ft) on 13th Oct.  Co-ordinates of summited peak are Longitude: 78°57' E & Latitude: 30°53’ N. 

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Mt. Rudugaira (5819 m)

Duration: Sept-Oct 2011 

Members: Sudeep Barve (Leader), Nitin Shenoy (Dy. Leader), Gautami Barve, Parag Oak.

Brief Information:  Mt. Rudugaira is located near Gangotri in Garhwal Himalayas. Team started approach march trek from Gangotri. After having intermediate camp at Nala Camp (12,000 ft), team established Base Camp at (14,230 ft). Summit camp was established at 16,090 ft. The summit attempt was made on 10th Oct. However due to very loose moraine with mix snow, team abandoned summit efforts after reaching altitude of 18,050 ft. 

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Mt. Tingchen Khang (6010 m)- A mission to search and retrieve bodies of two climbers who lost their lives during Oct 2009 expedition.

Duration: Oct- 2010 

Members: Rajesh Gadgil (Leader), Shantanu Pandit (Dy. Leader), Mahesh Kendurkar, Rahul Yelange, Tekraj Adhikari and Anand Pathre.

Brief Information:  Chakram Hikers organized this mission expedition to search and retrieve bodies of two climbers who lost their lives during Oct 2009 expedition. Mountaineering club Giripremi from Pune supported this expedition by deputing three climbers. In this expedition of 25 days, a total of 2,000 ft. of rope had to be fixed across steep sections and crevasse-ridden ground before the search teams could reach the accident spot below the summit, at around 19,500 ft. Here the changes were of huge magnitude. The bergschrund – a big crevasse typically found close to many snow clad summits – where last year’s accident had happened had enlarged to dimensions of about 600 m long, 30 m wide and more than 100 m deep. This huge chasm, or the surrounding comparatively smaller but innumerable crevasses, had apparently swallowed up the bodies of the two mountaineers, for there was no trace of them to be found anywhere. Avoiding the danger of hanging glaciers and seracs that towered over the bergschrund, search teams surveyed the area surrounding the spot and below the ‘line of fall’, at times entering the bergschrund to probe its snowy surfaces. Considering the near improbability of finding any trace of the lost mountaineers under existing circumstances and the increasing danger to the search teams it was decided to abandon the attempt after the extensive search.

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Mt. Tingchen Khang (6010 m)

Duration: Oct- 2009 

Members: Mangesh Deshpande (Leader), Anju Paniculam (Dy. Leader), Shantanu Pandit, Sekar Sadasivan and Parag Pendharkar.

Brief Information:  Mt. Tingchen Khang is located inside Kanchanjunga National Park territory in Sikkim Himalayas.  The approach march trek started from Yoksum (5,800 ft). With two intermediate camps one at Tsoka (10,000 ft) and one at Dzongri (13,800 ft), team established Base Camp at Lamune (13,660 ft). Advance Base Camp (15,500 ft) and Summit camp (17,700 ft) was established after negotiating crevice prone snow field between Advance Base Camp and Summit camp. On 19th Oct, Mangesh Deshpande & Sekar Sadasivan did summit, but while descending from summit tragic accident occurred resulting the death of both the mountaineers. The two Sherpas were rescued and other team members returned safely. The accident caused irreversible loss to Club and mountaineering fraternity.

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Mt. Shitidhar (5294 m)

Duration: Sept-Oct 2009 

Members: Mahesh Kendurkar (Leader), Sharang Thorat (Dy. Leader), Nitin Shenoy, Kiran Deshmukh.

Brief Information:  Mt. Shitidhar is one of the most popular peaks in Solang valley near Manali in Himachal Pradesh. The famous Beas kund- the origin of river Beas is the Base camp of this expedition. For this small expedition, trek started from Dhundi (9,500 ft) had en-route camp at Bakharthaj (11,200 ft). Base camp was established on Beas Kund platue at 12,100 ft. Summit camp was pitched below the snow slope of Shitidhar at 15,400 ft. All the team members reached summit of Mt. Shitidhar on 1st Oct.

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Mt. Nun (7175 m)

Duration: Aug- Sept 2008

Members: Mangesh Deshpande (Leader), Mahesh Kendurkar (Dy. Leader), Anju Paniculam, Sudeep Barve, Sharang Thorat, Nitin Shenoy, Gautami Deshpande & Ameya Gokhale

Brief Information:  Chakram Hikers decided to attempt famous but technically tough 7000er in Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir. This was a challenging expedition due to altitude, technical difficulties and weather. The team travelled long way from Leh to Kargil and then to the last road head village Tangol. The team established Base camp at 12,800 ft, Advance Base Camp at 14,100 ft. The team negotiated Ice wall with many crevices between Advance Base Camp and higher Camp C1. Around 1200 ft rope was fixed on the ice wall for safety. Camp C1 was established on small rocky portion of huge snow platue at the edge of the cliff at attitude of 16,750 ft. The route up TO Camp C2 was opened, however weather turned out too bad thereafter. Finally due to continued bad weather, large deposition of powdered snow, etc, the expedition was called off after reaching altitude of 18,000 ft. The technical difficulties and ruthless nature made the expedition memorable for the team members. 

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Mt. Menthosa (6643 m)

Duration: September-October 2007 

Members: Sudeep Barve (Leader), Abhijit Burman (Dy. Leader), Anand Mali, Sandeep Chougaonkar

Brief Information:  Mt. Menthosa is situated near Urgus in Himachal Pradesh. The team travelled from Manali to Udaipur in HP and then to the last road head Urgus (11,000 ft). The team established Base camp at 14,300 ft, Advance Base Camp at 15,600 ft. Higher camp C1 (17,600 ft) was stocked by the team, but due to continuous bad weather and snow fall, the expedition was called off. 

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Mt. Lungser Kangri (6666 m) & Mt. Chhamser Kangri (6622 m)

Duration: September-October 2006 

Members: Mangesh Deshpande (Leader), Mahesh Kendurkar (Dy. Leader), Anju Paniculam, Nitin Shenoy, Mahesh Bhalerao & Sharang Thorat

Brief Information:  Both the peaks are located near famous Tso-Moriri lake in Ladakh, Jammu & Kashimr. The team travelled from Leh to the last road head Karzok (14,750 ft) which is located on the bank of Tso-Moriri lake. The team established Base camp at 16,000 ft, Advance Base Camp at 18,150 ft. Summit camp for Mt. Chhamser Kangri was established at 20,000 ft. Mangesh Deshpande and Anju Paniculam did Summit of Mt. Chhamser Kangri (21,725 ft) on 27th Sept 2006 and attempted Mt. Lungser Karngri to reach altitude of 20,850 ft. 

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Mt. Saifee Expedition (6167 m)

Duration: Sept 2005

Members: Sudeep Barve (Leader), Mangesh Deshpande (Dy. Leader), Mahesh Kendurkar, Sanjay Joshi, Rupali Bhagwat, Sharang Thorat, Mahesh Bhalerao & Aniket Chaudhari. 

Brief Information:  Mt. Saifee is situated near Gangotri in Garhwal Himalayas. Team travelled from Uttarkshi to Gangotri (9,800 ft). After having intermediate camp at Bhojbasa, Base camp was established in Thelu Nala (13,800 ft), Advance Base camp was established at entrance of gorge to Shwetwarna glacier (15,000 ft) and then Summit camp at altitude of 17,250 ft. However after that terrible bad weather and excessive snow fall for several days forced all the expedition in the region to be abandoned. The team managed to return safely in Gangotri. 

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Mt. Yogeshwar (6617 m) & Mt. Chaturbhuj (6655 m) Expedition

Duration: May 2004

Members: Nilesh Pitale (Leader), Mangesh Deshpande (Dy. Leader), Rajan Mahajan, Sudeep Barve & Sanjay Joshi

Brief Information:  Mt. Yogeshwar & Chaturbhuj are located near Gangotri in Garhwal Himalayas. Team travelled from Uttarkshi to Gangotri (9,800 ft). After having intermediate camp at Bhojbasa (12,000 ft) and camp at Thelu Nala (13,800 ft),  Base camp was established at entrance of gorge to Shwetwarna glacier (15,000 ft) and then Advance Base Camp at the start of Shwetawarna Glacier (16, 500 ft). The expedition was called off after reaching altitude of 18, 100 ft. 

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Mt. Shri Parbat (6175 m)

Duration: September - October 2001 

Members: Rajesh Gadgil (Leader), Mangesh Deshpande, Mahesh Kendurkar, Mahesh Kadam, Nilesh Pitale, Anil Joshi, Makrand Pendse, Rajesh Sansare, Parag Oak

Brief Information:  Expedition to Mt. Shri Parbat was club’s first Himalayan expedition. Mt Shri Parbat was virgin peak (unconquered) near Bardrinath in Garhwal Himalayas. The team travelled from Hrishikesh to Joshimath then to Badrinath (10,000 ft). Trek to Base camp was two days trek with intermediate camps at Alkapuri (11,650 ft) and Bhagirath Kharak (13,600 ft). The Base camp was established at Khadu Kharak (14,450 ft). The team established Advance Base Camp on Upper Dev Dekhni plateau (16,240 ft) and summit camp at altitude of (17,550 ft). After establishing summit camp, considering weather & terrain condition, the team decided to attempt Mt. Bhagat peak instead of Mt. Shri Parbat. Rajesh Gadgil, Nilesh Pitale, Mahesh Kadam and Rajesh Sansare did summit of Mt. Bhagat Peak (18,500 ft). 

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