Vintage Monday

~ Pieces of History from 1980 ~

"It's a Pleasure to Climb Himalayas

NAGPUR, 21: We have the Himalayas, but others have a longer tradition of mountaineering as a sport. Trekking, rock-climbing, mountaineering expeditions as as rare in India as winning a gold in the Olympics. This is what Mr. Mandip Singh Soin, a rare provisional mountaineer, also saw for himself during his recent stint of mountain climbing in the beautiful, but tricky and dangerous Alps in the continent.

Mr. Mandip Singh, a former Nagpurian, is a M.A. in History with interest and experience in mountaineering since his school days. After his post-graduation he responded to the call of the mountains and took to mountaineering as a profession by starting the Ibex Expeditions, a school for training and trekking, rock climbing and mountaineering in Delhi.

He was surprised at the number of Europeans, who were attracted for adventure, thrill and sheer fun to the charming, tricky, snow-clad Alps hiding secrets in their silent valleys and pure wisdom in their snow-capped peaks. And they teem around the mountains in groups of not only youth and men, but also women and children. He came across a number of women, most of them above 50, and children in their teens.

And hence it is small wonder that they have better, more sophisticated techniques and equipment for climbing. Like we use only one axe for rock climbing but they use two axes in both their hands and thus are able to climb at near 90 degrees angle, while we climb only at 60 and 70 degrees. Also, the Alps may not be as tall as the Himalaya but the sheer rock faces and difficult routes makes mountaineering in the Alps risky and hence more adventurous.

But scenic beauty, charm and terrain of the Himalaya are far lovelier and offer great satisfaction to the climber.

Mr. Soin who started on a shoe-string budget on this tour and supplemented his budget by restoring to meditation and palmistry, etc. to earn money, climbed the Italian side or Mont Blanc but could not reach its top because of bad weather. He then entered Switzerland through a pass. Then he experienced the hard rock climbing in the Dolomites of Italy where one could climb rock towers of more than 1000 feet height.

Back in India and with new and better knowledge of mountaineering, Mr. Soin hopes to teach with renewed vigour, the art and science of mountaineering which he said was catching up in India also."

"Mandip Singh's Successful Stint,

Express News Service, NEW DELHI, March 13.

Twenty-three-year-old Mandip Singh Soin, a former Delhi University shooting team captain, returned home recently after an adventurous stint on the mountains of Italy, West Germany, Switzerland and Great Britain. He became the first Indian to negotiate the rock-face peaks of the Dolomite region in Italy. He also worked as an instructor in the mountaineering Institutes of England.

It is in appreciation of his talent that Mandip is appointed as the liaison office to foreign expedition teams in the country by the prestigious Indian Mountaineering Foundation. His highest climb, a solo effort, has been in the Nanda Devi sanctuary.