During these hard times caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the message of hope and fighting spirit of mankind got displayed when a Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI) team unfurled a humongous national flag atop Mt. Renok in Sikkim recently.

The national flag measured 7,500 sq ft and weighs more than 70 kg. HMI principal Jai Kishan stated that, ‘As India is fighting against Covid-19, the unfurling of the national flag is to display solidarity and hope beside paying tribute to Indian Freedom fighters and Corona warriors’.

During the climbathon, the HMI team summited four peaks in Sikkim within a record time of 125 hours between April 20 and 25. The other peaks where summit was made included Mt. Frey, Mt. B.C. Roy and Mt. Palung.

The expedition had multiple aims like commemoration of 75 years of Independence ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Utsav’. It had about 125 mountaineers which symbolised the 125th birth anniversary celebration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

According to HMI, this is the first time that so many amateur mountaineers under the supervision of qualified instructors attempted to scale four peaks in 125 hours from a common base camp. The trainees included candidates from Indian Armed Forces, NCC, Youth Services department and few from Bangladesh.

This expedition also paid tribute to the first Indian Independence activist from Sikkim, Late Trilochan Pokhrel who was born in East Sikkim. He was highly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and was popularly known as ‘Gandhi Pokhrel’ or ‘Vande Pokhrel’.