Army chief flags in Signals team which scaled three difficult Ladakh peaks

New Delhi/Leh, Sep 11
Army chief, General Dhiraj Seth, has flagged in and interacted with the Corps of Signals mountaineering team, which successfully scaled three difficult peaks in the Ladakh region, the army announced on Thursday.

"Dream of Valour – Three Peaks, One Mission, Infinite Resolve. #GeneralDhirajSeth, #COAS flagged in and interacted with the Corps of Signals Mountaineering Team following their successful summit of three challenging peaks in Ladakh," the army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information (ADG-PI) said on its X handle.

The team successfully summited Mt Kiagar Ri (6,100 m) on August 13, Mt Mentok Kangri (6,250 m) on August 24, and Mt Chamser Kangri (6,622 m) on August 29, completing the remarkable feat in just sixteen days, it said, adding that the "expedition reflects an unwavering pursuit of excellence and the spirit of adventure in the Indian Army”.

The team recently scaled three high-altitude peaks in a single expedition across Ladakh's Nun-Kun mountain range. This included Mount Nun (August 31), standing at a majestic 7,135 metres; Mount Kun (August 15), standing at 7,077 metres; and Mount Delta-41 (August 26), standing at 5,908 metres, even as they faced severe high-altitude hardships, including hostile weather, glaciers, and steep snow-covered slopes during the climb.

What makes the feat remarkable is the inherent difficulties associated with scaling each peak, like Mount Nun's steep ice walls, heavily crevassed glaciers, and sustained 45 to 55 degrees of snow and ice slopes on the upper sections. The standard approach is via the West Ridge route. Mountaineers start from the Shafat Glacier base camp (~4,400m) and typically set up three high camps (at roughly 5,500m, 6,100m, and 6,400m) before initiating the final midnight summit push to manage extreme altitude effects.

While slightly less steep overall than Mount Nun, Mount Kun features a highly demanding, technical crux between Camp 1 and Camp 2. This section forces climbers to scale vertical mixed rock, snow, and ice walls at angles up to 50 degrees using fixed ropes and 'jumars' (ascenders).

The route ascends the Northeast Ridge. After navigating the steep pitch to Camp 2, climbers must cross a massive, 3-kilometre-wide snow plateau that divides Nun and Kun before establishing a final high camp at the base of the summit pyramid.