Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Kuntal Joisher |
Born | 26 February 1980 Kharagpur, West Bengal, India |
Nationality | Indian |
Career | |
Notable ascents | Mt. Everest, Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Manaslu, Mt. Denali |
Family | |
Spouse | Dipti Joisher |
Kuntal Joisher (born 26 February 1980) is an Indian mountaineer based in Mumbai. On 15 May 2018, he stood on top of Mt. Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8516 meters. [1] [2] [3] During the course of the expedition, Joisher only consumed strictly vegan food, and used only vegan gear including a one-piece synthetic suit made completely from animal-free material, as well as mittens and gloves constructed devoid of down or leather.
He climbed Mount Everest from the south side on a completely plant-based diet. [4] [5] He reached the summit on 19 May 2016. [6] [7] [8] He is also the first mountaineer to have climbed Mt. Manaslu, the eighth highest mountain in the world, on a completely plant-based diet. He reached the summit on 1 October 2014. [9]
Joisher first went to Nepal in 1984 as a child and returned to Nepal several times for photography and climbing and says he regards Nepal as his "second home". Surviving an almost fatal avalanche during the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, Joisher arranged a photo exhibition after his return and donated income he made from it to relief measures in Nepal. [10] He says regarding his expedition, "it was important for me to send a message across the world that vegans can do it. I wanted to debunk every single myth around veganism." [11] He reached the summit of Denali in June 2022.
Kuntal was born in India to a Gujarati (Bhanushali) family. He was raised as a vegetarian, and later turned vegan in 2002. [12] [13] [14] [15] He is an alumnus of USC Viterbi, where he did his masters in Computer Science. [16]
In 2014, Joisher survived a failed attempt during which 16 Sherpa climbing guides died in the Khumbu Icefall section. [17] [18] The accident was the largest accident in the Everest climbing history. In October, 2014, Joisher became the first vegan and the second Indian civilian to summit Manaslu at 8163 m, the eighth highest mountain in the world. [14] [18] A few months before his first Everest attempt, Joisher was called a "fitness star" in a Times of India article. [19]
In an interview about his 2015 attempt, Joisher declared that his motivation to climb Everest was to disprove the notion that a vegan diet is nutritionally deficient, [14] and wanted to use clothing and equipment not made from animal products. [17] This attempt also saw Joisher reach for crowd funding; he offered to give away his Everest summit ice-axe to anyone who donated over Rs. 100,000. [20] His attempt to be the first vegan to summit from the south side failed due to an avalanche that was caused by the 2015 Nepal earthquake, which resulted in 21 deaths. [21] A video of the incident that featured Joisher went viral on YouTube receiving over 23 million hits. [14] Joisher trekked with his fellow survivors for 3–4 days from EBC to Lukla from where they were transported to Kathmandu by IAF helicopter. They then volunteered to assist relief work for the earthquake hit as they awaited the arrival of their gear. Joisher kneaded dough and cut vegetables for a kitchen that served puri bhaji. [22] Joisher told NDTV "I'm certain I'll be back again next year". [23]
Joisher's 45-day Everest expedition culminated in his climbing the summit on 19 May 2016. [24]
Mount Everest is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation of 8,848.86 m was most recently established in 2020 by the Chinese and Nepali authorities.
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the world at 8,516 metres (27,940 ft), after Mount Everest, K2, and Kangchenjunga. The main summit is on the border between Tibet Autonomous Region of China and the Khumbu region of Nepal.
Pumori is a mountain on the Nepal-China border in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. Pumori lies just eight kilometres west of Mount Everest. Pumori, meaning "the Mountain Daughter" in Sherpa language, was named by George Mallory. "Pumo" means young girl or daughter and "Ri" means mountain in Sherpa language. Climbers sometimes refer to Pumori as "Everest's Daughter". Mallory also called it Clare Peak, after his daughter.
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at 8,849 metres (29,031.7 ft) above sea level. It is situated in the Himalayan range of Solukhumbu district, Nepal.
Phurba Tashi Sherpa Mendewa is a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer known for his numerous ascents of major Himalayan peaks. These include 21 ascents of Mount Everest, five on Cho Oyu, two on Manaslu, and one each on Shishapangma and Lhotse.
Arjun Vajpai is an Indian mountaineer, who became the world's youngest mountaineer to summit six peaks over 8,000 meters in the year 2018.
Garrett Madison is an American mountaineer, guide and expedition leader. Madison began guiding professionally in 1999 on Mount Rainier and has reached the top of Mount Everest 13 times. His company, Madison Mountaineering, specializes in climbs on Mount Everest and other high altitude peaks, operates on the highest peaks on all seven continents, and also provides training programs and summit climbs in Washington State.
Matt Moniz is an American mountaineer and speaker noted for his ascents of 8,000 meter peaks and several of the Seven Summits.
Chhanda Gayen was an Indian climber, martial artist, explorer, and teacher of self-defense. She is best known for being the first, and fastest, Indian to climb two eight-thousanders, Mount Everest and Lhotse, in one go, which she did on 18 May 2013. She completed the traverse from the summit of Mount Everest to the summit of Lhotse in 22 hours.
During the afternoon of 25 April 2015, a MW 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal and surrounding countries. Shaking from the quake triggered an avalanche from Pumori into Base Camp on Mount Everest. At least twenty-two people were killed, surpassing an avalanche that occurred in 2014 as the deadliest disaster on the mountain.
Asian Trekking is a commercial adventure company based out of Kathmandu, Nepal started by Sherpa Ang Tshering. In 2001, it was recorded that Asian Trekking ran 25 large mountain expeditions per year. Asian Trekking made international news in 2006 when four of its clients and two of its Sherpas died in a single season. One of their clients, David Sharp, died near the summit, and this event became the center of an international climbing ethics controversy. Founder of the company Ang said that climbers can die if they use all their energy getting to the summit of Mount Everest, only to be too fatigued of the descent.
Edita Horrell, previously known as Edita Nichols, is a Lithuanian-born mountaineer and humanitarian aid worker. She became the first Lithuanian woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on 22 May 2013.
Atanas Georgiev Skatov was a Bulgarian mountaineer, vegan and agronomist in plant protection.
The Mount Everest climbing season of 2017 began in spring with the first climbers reaching the top on May 11, from the north side. The first team on the south side reached the top on May 15. By early June, reports from Nepal indicated that 445 people had made it to the summit from the Nepali side. Reports indicate 160–200 summits on the north side, with 600–660 summiters overall for early 2017. This year had a roughly 50% success rate on that side for visiting climbers, which was down from other years. By 2018, the figure for the number of summiters of Everest was refined to 648. This includes 449 which summited via Nepal and 120 from Chinese Tibet.
Ashish Mane is one of the prominent professional mountaineer from India. He has scaled Mt. Everest (2012)., Mt. Lhotse (2013), Mt. Makalu (2014), Mt Manaslu (2017) and Kanchenjunga (2019). Ashish is the only climber from Maharashtra as of now, to ascend five of the fourteen Eight-thousander|peaks over 8,000 metres means about 26,000 ft above sea level. In the year 2016, he attempted to scale Daulagiri, but due to technical reasons he had to quit the expedition
Mount Everest in 2016 covers events about Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth located in Nepal and Chinese Tibet in Asia. It is a popular climbing destination for extreme high altitude climbers, with several hundred climbing each year despite various dangers.
SheikhaAsma Al Thani is a Qatari mountaineer who is the first Qatari woman to summit Mount Everest, Mount Lhotse, and Manaslu, K2 as well as the first Qatari female to climb Ama Dablam. She is also the first Qatari person to ski to the North Pole. On her ascent of Manaslu, she became the first Arab person to summit an eight-thousander without oxygen. She is Director of Marketing and Communications for the Qatar Olympic Committee. She is also a member of the ruling family of Qatar.