HMI, Darjeeling 66th Foundation Day Celebrations and Tenzing Norgay MTB Challenge – 2nd Edition

Introduction

The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute; Darjeeling was established on 4th November 1954 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India. Tenzing Norgay’s historic first successful climb of Mount Everest on 29th May 1953 paved the way for propagation of mountaineering as an organized form of sports in the country and as a result the first mountaineering institute in South-east Asia came into existence. It is known to everyone that HMI imparts training in mountain climbing and other adventure activities; and, it fills our hearts with pride to announce that since inception the Institute has trained more than 45000 trainees in various disciplines of adventure activities including mountain climbing. The figure also includes more than 1500 trainees from overseas countries.

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Back Ground

To meet the growing popular demand, beside our core activities the Institute has diversified its field and has added other adventure activities viz. short duration mountaineering expeditions and Tenzing Norgay MTB Challenge.
Introduced in May 2019 on the occasion of 105th Birth Anniversary of late Tenzing Norgay Sherpa the event has gained immense popularity and the public response has been overwhelming. Due to popularity of the event, 109 athletes registered for the event. However, keeping safety in mind and Covid-19 protocol only 75 participants were allowed by HMI for the live race in Darjeeling on 02 Nov 2020. An approximate 200 riders did virtual MTB race at their own location and completed a distance of 35 kms. The data verification is under progress (these includes NCC cadet, personnel from armed forces also.)

It was encouraging to see that there was good number of participation from Darjeeling and adjoining areas and they have also managed to secure respectable position. For us every participant whether coming from Kolkata or Kerala, Jharkhand or Uttarakhand, Nepal or India, all are equally important. In fact, we encourage wide range participation. However, one of the motive of this event is to encourage and promote local talents and give opportunity to local youths and we are happy to note that our efforts are paying off.

The event has also been glorified by the participation of veterans like Honorary Flight Lieutenant Nizamuddin, an Indian Air Force veteran who is also a hardcore Skier & Cyclist. Team HMI proudly salutes him and wishes him long adventurous life.

MTB Challenge 2nd Edition, which was organized on 2nd Nov 2020 is the only International Event conducted in this region during pandemic period (since 24 Mar no race took place in India for International Athletes). Until 01 October 20, we were unsure whether we’d be able to organize it or not. A quick decision was taken on 02 Oct to launch the Event. In depth route reccee, grass route planning i.r.o operations, administration, support service,

Covid-19 protocol were made and successfully executed by team HMI (including signing of Covid Pledge and strictly followed by one and all).
We are thankful to all the participants whose enthusiasm and confidence on us emboldened our commitment and we were able to organize the event successfully. We plan to organize it in a much bigger scale in coming years when the situation becomes normal.

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Prize Distribution Ceremony was conducted on the Foundation Day of HMI i.e on the 04th of Nov 2020. Chief Guest of the Ceremony was His Excellency Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar, Governor of West Bengal accompanied by first lady Smt. Sudesh Dhankhar.  Addl Chief Secretary Shri Satish Chandra Tewary also grace the occasion as a Guest. The Hon’able Governor praised all out efforts put in by team HMI for taking various new initiatives. He also, announced an amount of Rs. 1lakh 1Thousand to support any welfare cause of HMI.

Total prize amount of Rs 1.5 lakhs was presented to winner and Special prize for women participants and top ten riders were distributed. The race had an elevation gain of 3000 feet with Off-road steep upslope , formidable forest terrain.

Names of winner Open Men Category are as follows: 

1st  Hikmat BK (Nepal)
2nd Shri Rajukmar Rai (Darjeeling)
3rd Shri Isaac Rai (Kalimpong) 

Winners of Women Category:

1st Ms Priyanka Metha (Uttarkhand)
2nd Ms Anju Tamang (Kalimpong)
3rd Ms Pragya Chettri (Darjeeling)

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Series of event and new activities were inaugurated and launch by Hon’able Governor of W. Bengal like HMI Blood donation Camp, HMI Quick Response Team (Emergency Response Group) and Digital Training Manual.

Blood Donation Camp

For the very first time the Institute conducted Blood Donation Camp. Blood Donation – Life Donation it’s been said. At HMI we value human life and that’s the reason we focus so much on disaster management & rescue. If 250 ml of my blood, which is recovered within 24 hours, can save a life, we urge everyone to be part of this simple yet very effective process.

Quick Response Team (QRT) launch Emergency Response Number

HMI is determined to fulfill its social obligation and, in the process, we always look for avenues and opportunities. Darjeeling is prone to natural disaster like landslides. Since last year the Institute has been training youths in disaster management and disaster rescue. In fact, the Institute has formed two dedicated Quick Response Team (QRT) ( comprises of HMI staff ) which is ready to move to a disaster affected area within half-an-hour of notice.

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Going a step further, on the occasion of its 66th Foundation Day, the Institute launched HMI Emergency Response Team with volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra and other locals

from Darjeeling. We hope many more will join us in the days to come. Our aim is to train every youth in the region in basic disaster response techniques and search & rescue operations. All this is being done free of cost. We are only utilizing the expertise of our training faculty for social cause during the free time provided by Covid-19. At larger scale HMI intend to make a SOS app comprises of volunteers from PAN India to support human life during any crisis and local administration.

Release of Mountaineering Handbook:

Covid-19 troubled us a lot but at the same time it has also taught us many new things. Need for a comprehensive Training Manual was felt for long by the Institute and the trainees as well but never before the need had been so strong than the present pandemic situation when the whole world has come to a grounding halt. Every schools, colleges and training institutes resorted to online coaching to keep their students in touch with the course curriculum. HMI too, in an effort to keep the enrolled trainees abreast with the courses that they have been longing to do for long, decided to cover the theoretical aspect of training through online classes. However, as the materials were not readily available at hand we had to start from the scratch and we indeed did. All the training faculty put their heads together and contributed various materials. Those with a niche of graphic designing spent hours in computers designing the layout. And, the final product is before us – A MOUNTAINEERING HANDBOOK, the first of its kind in the annals of the Institute.

We’ve been regularly advocating that Darjeeling has many possibilities for adventure tourism and our youths have all the potentials to make it to the international level in various adventure sports like rock climbing, mountaineering or mountain terrain biking. With a gentle push and little help from the concerned department we are sure that they can rise to their optimum level. Sports climbing have now become an Olympic event and we intend to give free training to young adults in this sport with a hope that sometime in in future youths from this region will be able to fetch an Olympic medal for the country.

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