West Bengal youth welfare minister Ujjal Biswas's assurance to the bereaved family of legendary mountaineer late Nawang Gombu, to build a memorial in his honour at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) campus in Darjeeling, ran into red-tapism with the HMI principal reminding the minister
that the memorial could only be built after a go ahead from the Executive Committee.
The minister along with West Bengal Mountaineering and Adventure Sports Foundation (WBMASF) advisor Basanta Singha Roy had arrived at the Gombu residence in Darjeeling to pay condolence to the bereaved family. Gombu after a brief illness passed away at his residence on April 24, 2011.
Gombu's family members, including wife Sita Gombu and daughter Rita Gombu Marwa, had made an appeal to chief minister Mamata Banerjee to build a memorial in honour of the legendary mountaineer in the HMI campus.
Biswas on hearing the proposal had given an immediate consent, instructing the district officials present to conduct the initial survey. He even accompanied Gombu's family members to the spot earmarked by the family for the memorial (in the form of a Stupa.) A similar monument has been erected at the spot where late Tenzing Norgay had been cremated in the HMI premises.
Enroute to the spot, the minister was invited by the HMI principal to his Office. When Biswas conveyed the desire to erect a memorial, Col Neeraj Rana, principal HMI, stated "The memorial can be built only after a go ahead from the Executive Committee (EC)"
Countering this, Biswas stated, "The chief minister will talk to the minister of defence and I am sure that this matter can be resolved."
The HMI is an autonomous body patronised both by the Indian government and government of West Bengal. It is run by an Executive Council (EC) headed by the defence minister as its president and chief minister of West Bengal as the vice president; 2 secretaries (the secretary of the ministry of defence and secretary of the youth welfare ministry, West Bengal) and 22 members.
Interestingly, the EC had last met in May 2005 in Kolkata. "Prior to this also principals have been building things without the consent of the EC. On 17 August 2010, the present principal Col. Neeraj Rana built a temple in the campus whereas the last EC had taken place in May 2005 which I had attended." alleged Rita Gombu, daughter of late Nawang Gombu, who is also the first lady vice president of Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF), the apex body for mountaineering institutes of India.
"There should be regular monitoring of the HMI by the West Bengal government as the honourable chief minister of West Bengal is the vice president of the Institute," the youth affair's minister wrote in the inspection register of the HMI.
Biswas also announced that the government of West Bengal will constitute an adventure sports award in the name of Nawang Gombu. "We will announce this award formally on the Youth Affairs Day. We will also exhibit Gombu's artifacts in Kolkata," stated Dey.
"Nawang Gombu was a legendary mountaineer. The void that has been created with his demise can never be fulfilled. Gombu has been a father figure to thousands of mountaineers of India," said Singha Roy.
The highest decorated mountaineer ever, Gombu was the first man to summit Mount Everest twice. He had received the Tiger of the Snows Medal (1953), Queen Elizabeth 11 Coronation Medal (1953), Howard Medal of National Geographic Society -USA (1963), Padmashree(1964), Padmabhushan (1965) IMF Gold Medal (1966), Arjuna Award (1967), Olympic Gold Medal- Rome (1967), Tenzing Norgay Award (1986), 49thIndependence Day Award (1996) and recently the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award on the 29th August 2006.
Gombu had served the HMI for more than 40 years before retiring in the capacity of field director in 1999. Gombu was part of the first group of Sherpa mountaineers who along with Tenzing Norgay completed a guide course in Switzerland in 1954. He became the backbone of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, an idea pushed by the late Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the then West Bengal chief minister BC Roy. After Tenzing Norgay retired from the post of field director in 1976, Gombu had succeeded him.
Hindustan Times
Showing posts with label jamling tenzing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jamling tenzing. Show all posts
Late mountaineer Nawang Gombu's proposed memorial runs into red-tapism
at 9:58 PM Labels: darjeeling news, himalayan mountaineering institute, hmi, hmi darjeeling, jamling tenzing, nawang gombu, tenzing norgay sherpaDarjeeling's son Jamling Tenzing in IMAX film
at 9:28 PM Labels: darjeeling, darjeeling news, jamling norgay sherpa, jamling tenzingDarjeeling: The highest mountain on earth is set to make a comeback in an IMAX film featuring one of Darjeeling’s favourite sons, Jamling Norgay Sherpa.
Return to Everest, the world premiere of which is scheduled for March 4, 2009, will focus on the rescue mission that followed the 1996 Everest disaster in which 12 climbers died. Eight of them were buried alive within a span of 24 hours after being caught in a storm above 26,000 feet.
The film will be produced and directed by IMAX film-maker Greg Macgillivray. IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format that has the capacity to display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film display systems.
Macgillivray’s first film on Everest was shot in 1996, when his team had to rescue some of the victims of the May 10 tragedy.
The 1996 IMAX team included Jamling, whose father Tenzing Norgay took part in the first successful ascent of Everest. Jamling’s team-mates included Araceli Segarra, the first Spanish woman to climb Everest, and the American Ed Viesturs, who has summitted all the 14 highest peaks of the world without supplementary oxygen. All three will feature in the new film.
Recently, an eight-member team, which included Jamling and Segarra, went a little above the base camp of Everest where the two climbers recounted their experience of the disaster and the subsequent events. Viesturs will join the group during the next few shoots.
“We were in Camp II (at 21,300 ft) on May 10, 1996,” recalled Jamling, back in Darjeeling after the shooting. “Since around 30 climbers were trying to reach the summit on that particular day, our team decided to wait for the traffic to ease.”
A thumb rule for all Everest expeditions is to start climbing down by 1 pm. “The weather in the afternoon becomes unpredictable. However, on that fateful day we saw climbers going up till 3 pm,” Jamling told The Telegraph.
The storm broke soon after, catching the climbers by surprise. When the storm ended the next day, the IMAX team decided to abort its own mission and rescue the stranded mountaineers.
“We finally went up to Camp IV (at 26,000 feet) and rescued about a dozen people,” said Jamling.
After the rescue mission, the team did finally make it to the summit on May 23. It remains Jamling’s only ascent to the top of the world.
Apart from the 1996 IMAX team’s experience, the film will also focus on the changes that have taken place on Everest in the past decade. There will also be an aerial shot of the summit taken from a helicopter.
“The lives of the Sherpas have improved a lot. They are getting paid well and are more educated and well versed in climbing techniques. Even the mountain is much cleaner now,” Jamling said.
Source: The Telegraph
Return to Everest, the world premiere of which is scheduled for March 4, 2009, will focus on the rescue mission that followed the 1996 Everest disaster in which 12 climbers died. Eight of them were buried alive within a span of 24 hours after being caught in a storm above 26,000 feet.The film will be produced and directed by IMAX film-maker Greg Macgillivray. IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format that has the capacity to display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film display systems.
Macgillivray’s first film on Everest was shot in 1996, when his team had to rescue some of the victims of the May 10 tragedy.
The 1996 IMAX team included Jamling, whose father Tenzing Norgay took part in the first successful ascent of Everest. Jamling’s team-mates included Araceli Segarra, the first Spanish woman to climb Everest, and the American Ed Viesturs, who has summitted all the 14 highest peaks of the world without supplementary oxygen. All three will feature in the new film.
Recently, an eight-member team, which included Jamling and Segarra, went a little above the base camp of Everest where the two climbers recounted their experience of the disaster and the subsequent events. Viesturs will join the group during the next few shoots.
“We were in Camp II (at 21,300 ft) on May 10, 1996,” recalled Jamling, back in Darjeeling after the shooting. “Since around 30 climbers were trying to reach the summit on that particular day, our team decided to wait for the traffic to ease.”
A thumb rule for all Everest expeditions is to start climbing down by 1 pm. “The weather in the afternoon becomes unpredictable. However, on that fateful day we saw climbers going up till 3 pm,” Jamling told The Telegraph.
The storm broke soon after, catching the climbers by surprise. When the storm ended the next day, the IMAX team decided to abort its own mission and rescue the stranded mountaineers.
“We finally went up to Camp IV (at 26,000 feet) and rescued about a dozen people,” said Jamling.
After the rescue mission, the team did finally make it to the summit on May 23. It remains Jamling’s only ascent to the top of the world.
Apart from the 1996 IMAX team’s experience, the film will also focus on the changes that have taken place on Everest in the past decade. There will also be an aerial shot of the summit taken from a helicopter.
“The lives of the Sherpas have improved a lot. They are getting paid well and are more educated and well versed in climbing techniques. Even the mountain is much cleaner now,” Jamling said.
Source: The Telegraph
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