In 1993, a combined Indian Army and scientific expedition successfully scaled Nanda Devi, conducting vital ecological research within the newly designated Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The challenging journey involved overcoming logistical hurdles, a tragic loss of a porter, and the dramatic event of a glacial lake outburst that washed away bridges. Notably, the expedition rediscovered parts of a missing American nuclear device, though one component was lost. The successful summit on June 13 marked a significant achievement, celebrated by local villagers and highlighting the expedition's pioneering status as a collaborative environmental mission and a successful mountain cleanup effort.

In 1993, a combined Indian Army and scientific expedition successfully scaled Nanda Devi, conducting vital ecological research within the newly designated Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The challenging journey involved overcoming logistical hurdles, a tragic loss of a porter, and the dramatic event of a glacial lake outburst that washed away bridges. Notably, the expedition rediscovered parts of a missing American nuclear device, though one component was lost. The successful summit on June 13 marked a significant achievement, celebrated by local villagers and highlighting the expedition's pioneering status as a collaborative environmental mission and a successful mountain cleanup effort.

In 1993, a combined Indian Army and scientific expedition successfully scaled Nanda Devi, conducting vital ecological research within the newly designated Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The challenging journey involved overcoming logistical hurdles, a tragic loss of a porter, and the dramatic event of a glacial lake outburst that washed away bridges. Notably, the expedition rediscovered parts of a missing American nuclear device, though one component was lost. The successful summit on June 13 marked a significant achievement, celebrated by local villagers and highlighting the expedition's pioneering status as a collaborative environmental mission and a successful mountain cleanup effort.

The idea of an expedition to Nanda Devi germinated one evening at the Chandimandir Cantonment in 1991. Lieutenant Colonel Hem Lohumi, Major Amin Naik and I got together to discuss a circular seeking proposals for launching a mountaineering expedition on the eve of the golden jubilee of the College of Military Engineering (CME), Pune.

The government had granted sanction to climb on January 13, 1993. The Sappers made the second attempt on Nanda Devi after 13 years; the approach march from the roadhead to the base camp took 13 days and the team constructed 13 log bridges. This was the 13th successful summit of Nanda Devi’s main peak, on June 13, 1993.

Lohumi and I were part of the 1980 Sappers Expedition to Nanda Devi. Memories of that unsuccessful attempt were still fresh, and it was unanimously decided to make a serious attempt to redeem it.

However, planning an expedition to Nanda Devi was a huge challenge as the Nanda Devi Sanctuary had been redesignated by the government under UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere Programme as the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR). After prolonged discussions with the director of NDBR, we submitted a fresh proposal for a scientific and ecological expedition. After nearly a year of effort, a one-time sanction was granted on January 13, 1993, by the ministry of environment and forests.

Our team underwent mountaineering courses and a month-long training-cum-selection camp at Uttarkashi and finally moved to Joshimath by the end of April 1993. The advance party left the roadhead at Reni village on May 2, 1993. After constructing 13 log bridges and fixing ropes, the advance party reached the base camp on May 15.

The main body was flagged off from Joshimath on May 5 by Lieutenant General V.N. Kapur, the Army’s engineer-in-chief. The initial euphoria was dampened by the death of a porter, Rajendra Prasad, that day itself at Kalikona while crossing a log bridge constructed by the advance party.

I arrived with the scientific team and the porters on May 23. The scientific and mountain-climbing teams were briefed on the methodology to be adopted. In addition, I briefed the team about the missing American nuclear device, which had not been found during the 1980 expedition despite 45 days of search operations.

The scientific team and the television crew carried out extensive surveys and qualitative and quantitative studies of the flora, fauna, biodiversity and animal habitats of the inner core of the NDBR over the next one month.

At about 2am on June 11, the huge lake at base camp suddenly disappeared due to glacial activity. Most of the log bridges constructed on the Rishi Ganga River were washed away, making the return journey as challenging as the approach march. Luckily, our base camp was tucked well away from the lake, so there was no loss to our base camp party under Dr Rajesh Bhardwaj (Birdie), one of the two expedition team doctors.

One day, Birdie requested permission to go up to camp 2. He started at 4am, reached the camp at 3pm and returned post-haste. Nearly 1,000 feet above the base camp, he contacted me by radio and informed that he had located three cylinders and two metallic boxes. However, as he and the accompanying porters were unable to carry the extra load, I instructed him to place the items in a safe location.

The next day, I went to pick up the unidentified objects, but one box was missing. In addition, team members found pieces of service telephone cable at the base and other camps. The lead climbers, while opening camp 2, also found a carabiner attached to a rope, presumably belonging to Captain Lakha Singh of the Parachute Regiment, who died in an expedition in 1981.

The first attempt to summit the peak was abandoned. After rest and recuperation at the base camp, the next summit party of Amin Naik, Gopal Sharma, Anand Swaroop, Didar Singh and S.P. Bhatt started from camp 4 at 3:20am on June 13 and summited the main peak at 4:35pm.

Interestingly, 13, which is normally regarded as an unlucky number, proved very lucky for our expedition. The government had granted the one-time sanction to climb on January 13, 1993. The Sappers made the second attempt on Nanda Devi after 13 years; the approach march from the roadhead to the base camp took 13 days and the team constructed 13 log bridges. This was the 13th successful summit of Nanda Devi’s main peak, on June 13, 1993.

On our way back, the people of Reni village received us midway, playing the traditional dhols and nagaras. This came as a surprise, as we had not informed anyone. The village head told us that they had a premonition: there had been thunder and lightning on the Nanda Devi peak on June 13, and they were sure that our team had successfully scaled the peak. They informed us that a similar thing had happened in 1978 when the last team was successful.

This was a trailblazing expedition in several ways. It was the first-ever military- and scientist-led expedition to address the environmental concerns of the NDBR; it was the first successful effort to clean up mountains of garbage left behind by previous expeditions; and it was the first joint-funding project by the Army, ministry of environment and forests, ministry of youth affairs and the corporate sector.

Major General Bhatt, SM, VSM (retd), served in the Army for 39 years and is a mountaineer and national rowing coach.

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