Thirty four years old mountaineer from Jalandhar Gursimran Singh Janjua has created a history by becoming the firts Punjabi to summit Mount Annapurna I in Gandaki Province of north central Nepal. it’s the world’s 10th highest mountain with the height of 8091 meters.
He was part of 11 members international team, they reached the summit on April 7 at 11:05 am, scaling one of the world’s most dangerous climbs. In 11 members of team climbers were from, India, Vietnam, US, Japan ,UK and South Africa. Apart from Gursimrann, two were from Haryana also.
A man of many talents, Gursimrann is not only a trained mountaineer and first-aid responder but also a certified paraglider and paramotor pilot, having completed advanced training at National Institute of Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (NIMAS) (Dirang, Arunachal Pradesh) and Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarkashi. He currently works as an IT Project Manager with Ernst & Young (EY) and is a vocal advocate for sustainable travel and environmentally responsible climbing practices.
Before this he has scaled peaks such as KY1 and KY2 in Ladakh as well as DKD 2 in the Gangotri region.
He has saved his funds from last 3 years as there was no sponsorship or government support. On other hand Haryana Government has announced prize of 5 lakh each for its 2 climbers.
He expressed a hope to meet Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and urge him to formulate supportive policies for mountaineers. Gursimrann also appealed to corporate sponsors to invest in India’s adventure sports and mountaineering potential.