A team of ten women led by Ms. Bachendri Pal, Director Adventure Programme, Tata Steel successfully completed an expedition to the 20,300 ft Mount Island Peak (IMJATSE) in Nepal. The expedition was conducted to commemorate the 100th Birth Anniversary of Bharat Ratna J. R. D. Tata and the 20th anniversary of first Indian women scaling the Mount Everest by an all Indian Woman team. The team was flagged off by the Honorable President of India His Excellency Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.

The team commenced their arduous Expedition from Lukla on April 3, with a brief stopover for final preparations in Kathmandu. Lukla is at 7000 ft, which is another place for commencing the approach march for Everest Expeditions. On April 5, the team reached Namche Bazar after gruelling climb on the up and down mountain trails. The Bazar is one of the highest trading points at 10000 ft with barter systems still existing.

The expedition was divided into two phases, in the first phase that was for acclimatization phase the team stood up to the vagaries of terrain and environment and climbed up to Kala Pathar at 18200 ft and reached Everest Base Camp 18000 ft. In the second phase on April 13 the team reached the Base Camp of IMJASTSE (17000 ft). The Base Camp is quite an inhospitable place, with narrow valley full of boulders. There is always a danger of rock fall from either side from mountain faces. The very next day in the early hours at 2.30 am the leader keeping fitness in mind, allowed only Seema Tolia, Anita Sarkar, Chaula Jagirdar, Prem Lata Agarwal and Chetna Sahoo to set out directly from Base Camp.

As it had snowed the previous day, the team had to move up slowly. The strong wind blowing powdered snow on that day made them feel cold and wet. This took a toll on the climbers and the overall tempo of the climb slowed considerably. Considering the bad weather and the risk of being trapped on the mountain it was decided to come back just short of 80 m from the Summit.

On April 15, a new strategy was made with a new group comprising Seema Tolia, G. Anita Devi, Chaula Jagirdar and Prem Lata Agarwal, where the distance was reduced by establishing one more camp at 18000 ft. This four-member team set out early morning at 2.30 am on April 17, 2004 for the Island Submit. Keeping up a steady climbing pace and fighting against the elements they finally reached the Summit at 7.30 am. But Bachendri was not very satisfied. With only four women managing to reach the goal, she wanted some more women to go up. Hence, on the next day Chetna Sahoo and Sushma Bissa tried again and reached IMJATSE at 10 am. The breathtaking view from the top of the peak was reward enough for all the risks & challenges they had taken. On reaching the Summit, the Indian National Flag, Tata Steel flag and the Indian Airlines flag was unfurled.

After returning to the Capital city of Delhi on April 29, 2004, the team met the honourable Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Bajpai and Ms Sheila Dikshit, the honourable Chief Minister of Delhi. Both the dignitaries were very glad to see the all women Indian team with enormous amount of guts and courage. Ms Pal had carried the route map of the expedition, which she explained to the Prime Minister and introduced her team members. The Prime Minister appreciated the whole purpose of the event of celebrating the 100th Birth Anniversary of Bharat Ratna JRD Tata. He congratulated the team for the success and wished them all the best.

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