NEW DELHI: The 10-member girl’s team from the National Cadet Corps participating in the Mt Everest expedition reached the base camp on 21st April after a hard trek of 156 kilometres from Jiri and are expected to summit the peak between 15th and 25th May, the Defence Ministry announced on Monday. The team is led by Col Gaurav Karki.
Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh had flagged off the expedition on 9th March this year. The team reached Kathmandu on 31st March.
Prior to their departure, the girls attended month-long winter training in the Siachen Glacier.
“The aim of mountaineering expeditions in NCC is to strengthen the character and instill qualities of courage, comradeship, discipline and leadership in the cadets” Defence Ministry said.
The first mountaineering course for NCC was conducted at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling in 1961.
Mountaineering expedition as an adventure activity was introduced in NCC in 1970. Since then, NCC conducts two mountaineering expeditions every year, one each for boy and girl cadets.