Thammineni's nine-peak milestone

Bharath Thammineni's summited his ninth 8,000m mountain and set a new Indian record

- Shail Desai

There was a sense of despondency as Bharath Thammineni sat in his tent at the base camp of Cho Oyu (8,201m), the sixth highest mountain in the world. The inclement weather in early October had dumped piles of snow around him. It was evident that there would be more of it up on the mountain, the unstable slopes making conditions tricky for climbing.

There was a lot at stake for Thammineni. Securing a climbing permit from the China Tibet Mountaineering Association had taken eight long months. Getting to the summit of Cho Oyu would make him the only Indian to have climbed nine 8,000-metre mountains of the world. Only now, he was looking at returning empty-handed.

"It's definitely one of the easier climbs, but we had missed out on a good weather window. There was at least a metre of snow that would have certainly buried all the ropes. We didn't have enough manpower to fix new lines either. At that point, I had packed my bags to return home," Thammineni, 36, recalls.

Thammineni knew he had to make the most of the opportunity. Once the weather stabilised on 7 October, those remaining at base camp got together for a discussion. With the few resources on hand, they decided to make one last push for the summit.

Thammineni was aware that he would have to make rapid progress, considering he had chosen to climb without any guided support. On 12 October, he got his summit bid underway.

"We had to break trail all over again and dig out the rope on challenging sections. We were just eight climbers, so we had to distribute the work among us," he says.