Kamet and Abi Gamin. In 1982 the Indian Military Academy completed fifty years of its existence. As a part of the Golden Jubilee, a commemorative expedition, led by me and consisting of its alumni past and present, was organized to scale Kamet and Abi Gamin. After establishing Base Camp at 15,500 feet on June 3, we made steady progress and were poised for the final assault on June 18, when exceptionally bad weather thwarted our attempts. When the weather improved four days later, Abi Gamin (7355 meters, 24,130 feet) was scaled from Camp IV at 22,000 feet by Major Pushkar Chand, Captain Bhupinder Singh, Gentlemen Cadets Gautam Shaunik and R.S. Mann, along with support members Sonam, Tashi and Shiv Singh. The next day, June 23, Tsering Norbu made an exciting solo ascent from Camp V in Meade’s Col at 23,030 feet. The Kamet team consisted of Captain D.B. Thapa, Second Lieutenants Pankaj Awasthy and Prem Prakash, Gentlemen Cadets H.S. Rawat and R.S. Bakshi and support members Gill, Liqdon, Nima and Tsering Tashi. Leaving Camp V at 4:30 on June 23, they reached the summit (7756 meters, 25,447 feet) in deteriorating weather after a gruelling twelve-hour climb.

Jagjit Singh, Brigadier, Indian Army