All-women expedition: Purva Shinde Singh and Sneha Talwatkar climbed Gangotri-I

Dream Wanderlust | Oct 6 , 2021

Purva Shinde Singh (41) and Sneha Talwatkar (27) from Maharashtra, India successfully summited one of the challenging peaks in Garhwal Himalayas– Gangotri-I (6672m) at 9:30 am on 29th September 2021 along with two Sherpas, Yashwant Singh Panwar and Digambar.

Gangotri Massif is located in the Garhwal Himalayas. It includes Gangotri-I, Gangotri-II, and Gangotri-III peaks. Gangotri-I is the highest peak and is considered to be one of the most difficult peaks to climb. During an exclusive conversation with Dream Wanderlust, Purva, the leader of the expedition team shared her ecstatic feeling saying, "I feel great; at the end of the day, when your efforts become fruitful, bring good results, you feel relieved. I feel great that I didn't give up.”

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Gangotri Group

The four-women team consisted of Sneha Talvatkar, Ritu Chawla and Dr. Sunita Kolke led by Purva Shinde Singh set out for the expedition on 4th September. The expedition was organized by the Guardian Giripremi Institute of Mountaineering.

The team had to set up 3 camps above the Base Camp(4000m) to summit(6672m) i.e Advance Base Camp(4600m), Camp-1(5200m), and Summit Camp(5800m). The weather was not at all favorable, continuous snowfall and strong winds hampered their climbing schedule and they had to start again from Base Camp with double strength on 25th September. The team made three attempts to reach the final peak from the last summit camp, and in the third attempt, these two women managed to reach the summit with great perseverance and determination.

On the summit: Sneha Talwatkar (Left) and Purva Shinde Sinh (Right)

A brief expedition note as reported by the Leader

(Purva Shinde Singh)

It was an all-women expedition team and we approached through the Gangotri side. We had to hike on the first day to Nala Camp(3765m) and acclimatized there.
We were at Base Camp on 10th September and we expected the expedition to be over in 8-10 days with acclimatization and all. But we could manage to the summit on 29th September morning only. It took 19 days to summit due to bad weather. Out of four members, Sneha and Me could make it to the summit; the rest of the team members returned home.

Base Camp
View from the Base Camp

We waited for five days at Camp 1(5200m) and returned to Base Camp due to bad weather.
On 25th September, the weather was good, we didn’t take a halt at Advance Base Camp and directly headed towards Camp 1(5200m). We were supposed to reach Summit Camp(5800m) the next day but due to heavy snowfall Sherpas could not fix the ropes and we had to stay there for another day.

Summit Camp and the Summit
On 27th September, the weather was fine and we reached summit camp and took a rest for some hours. When we got ready for the summit push, suddenly heavy snowfall started and we had to call off our summit bid. We took chance and waited for better weather there.
Finally, on 28th September night, we started for the summit push and succeeded. When we started from the Summit Camp, the weather was chilly cold; at around 5-5:30 am, the sun started coming out and we saw the mountain. A thick layer of clouds was below us and we knew we were near our destination. I wouldn’t forget that feeling ever, the feeling of being at the top of the world.