Joint India–Nepal Team Summits World’s Third-Highest Peak, Mt Kanchenjunga

 The nine-member mountaineering team reached the 8,586 m summit on Monday.

SNS | New Delhi | May 20, 2025 :  Ajoint team of Indian and Nepalese armies scaled the world’s third-highest peak, Mount Kanchenjunga. The nine-member mountaineering team reached the 8,586 m summit on Monday.

Led by Colonel Sarfraz Singh of the Indian Army and Captain Prashant Kharka of the Nepali Army, the nine-member expedition consisted of two officers and seven soldiers from both the armies.

A statement issued by the Indian Army stated that the climbers negotiated severe high-altitude conditions, including sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds, during their final push from Camp IV (≈7,700 m) in the early hours of 19 May. All team members reached the summit safely, unfurling the national flags of India and Nepal in a symbolic gesture of partnership before commencing a carefully phased descent.

This joint achievement not only underscores the professional excellence, endurance, and interoperability of both armies but also reinforces decades of mutual trust that characterise India–Nepal defence cooperation. The mission’s success follows rigorous joint training at the High-Altitude Warfare School, Gulmarg, and pre-expedition acclimatisation in the Sikkim Himalaya.

Senior leadership of both armies has conveyed their congratulations, noting that the feat will inspire greater collaboration in adventure sports, disaster-response exercises, and people-to-people ties between the two nations, the statement said