A Photographer\'s Dispatch from Mt. Everest

KHUMBU GLACIER -It was nearly 60 years ago this month that Tenzing Norgay, the Sherpa guide, and Sir Edmund Hillary from New Zealand scaled the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest.

But even decades later, for thousands of mountaineers, the lure of the gleaming white summit seems to outweigh the perils involved in trekking to base camp, crossing the infamous Khumbu icefall and setting up four camps before attempting to climb to the 8,848-meter (29,028-feet) summit.

As part of the National Cadet Corps Everest Expedition, which the Indian government describes as “promoting the spirit of adventure among the youth,” I was chosen as the expedition photographer to accompany nine other cadets.

Training for the climb involved a rigorous mountaineering program for two months at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand state. In addition, we participated in expeditions to Deo Tibba, a 6,001-meter peak in Himachal Pradesh, and Kamet in Uttarakhand, which stands 7,756 meters above sea level.

The team of nine cadets also underwent winter training for acclimatization in the frigid temperatures of minus-32 degrees Celsius (minus-25.6 F) at the Siachen Glacier, before embarking on the expedition on April 9.

The 14-member climbing team, led by Colonel Satish Sharma of the Indian Army, included four other experienced officers from the Indian Armed Forces and the Air Force who had been to the Everest before and have climbed some of the most challenging Indian mountain peaks as well.

We started walking from Bhandar in Nepal following the route used by Mr. Hillary and Mr. Norgay, gradually reaching the base camp of Everest, giving us enough time to acclimatize.

After setting up at base camp, the team went up the Khumbu icefall (between 5,400 and 5,800 meters) twice, slept at Camp II (6,350 meters) for a couple of days, reached Camp III (7,000 meters) before returning to base camp for the summit push. Individual expeditions set up camps at these heights, allowing them proper acclimatization.

One of the teams comprising seven members reached the summit at 7:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. The second team arrived at the summit the following day at 6:30 a.m. local time.

This series of photos have been sent from the Khumbu Glacier at base camp.