RAIPUR: A group of tribal youths hailing from Jashpur—most of whom had never seen snow or experienced high-altitude terrain—returned with a historic achievement that filled all of Chhattisgarh with pride.

At 5340 metres, they have become the first team to summit the Jagatsuk-1 Peak in Himachal Pradesh’s Pir Panjal range, completing the ascent in just 12 hours. The range is a part of the lesser Himalayan region.

For five of these young men, the journey was unimaginable only months ago. With no previous exposure, they relied on rigorous training at the advanced Desdekha Climbing Area, a tourist spot, in Jashpur, about 350 km from Raipur. Under the mentorship of mountaineering coaches Dave Gates and Sagar Dubey, they trained to take over the Himalayas.

The team not only pioneered a completely new route to the summit, naming it the ‘Vishnu Deo Route,’ but also completed it in an alpine style, without any pre-established path.