Mountaineers paraglide from 5,921 m peak to Ladakh roadhead

Two Indian mountaineers have made history by paragliding directly from the 5,921-metre summit of Mt Delta-41 (also known as Mt Barmal) in Kargil to the roadhead camp at Tangol village, the Army said on Monday. Colonel Hem Chandra Singh, principal of Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering & Winter Sports, and mountaineer Manish Makholia landed safely at around 3,600 metres, marking what officials called the first-ever direct summit-to-base paragliding descent in Indian adventure sports.

A 13-member JIM & WS expedition, led by Col Singh, split into two groups after setting up base camp. One team reached the peak on Independence Day amid sub-zero temperatures. The second team summited at 6:10 am on August 16 after starting at 3 am. The group included Capt Anupam Singh, Mahfooz Ilahi Hajam, Hony Capt/Sub Maj Rafiq Ahmad Malik (Retd), Makholia, and nine others from across India.

The Army spokesperson described the feat as unprecedented. The expedition faced adverse weather and a limited climbing window. No further expeditions are currently planned from the site.