Bhubaneswar/ Punjab : Commemorating 76 years of Indian Independence, Gurjot Singh Kaler, a senior police officer from the state of Punjab, succesfully scaled the Mount Elbrus and unfurled the tricolor on the top of the Mount Elbrus- The highest mountain of European Continent and Russia. Gurjot Kaler is a professionally trained mountaineer and was adjudged as the best mountaineer during his course of Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand.
His recent feat is remarkable keeping in mind that the Caucasus’ tallest mountain, Mount Elbrus, is 5,642 meters (18,510 feet) above sea level. Mount Elbrus is the highest and most prominent peak in Russia and Europe.
Their were 4 more persons in Gurjot Kaler’s team expedition to the roof of Europe. They reached on the top of Mount Elbrus on 11th August, 2023 at 7:00 am in the early morning after battling heavy snowstorms, thunderstorms and atmospheric lightning.
Mount Elbrus is covered in snow all the year around and is home to 22 glaciers that feed 3 rivers, Baksan, Malka and Kuban. Elbrus is part of the Caucasus mountain range, near the Georgian border in the south of Russia. The Caucasus technically sits in Asia and Europe, although most geographers place it in Europe. So it’s a mountain range that spans two continents.
Committed to the spirit of combating climate change and global warming, the mission of Mount Elbrus was dedicated by Gurjot Singh Kaler to exhort the world community to preserve the environment and create awareness about depleting forest reserves across our planet and melting of glaciers. It took him 5 days to succesfully do the summit after acclimatization hikes to Mount Cheget and Pastukhov Rocks. The weather was very turbulent on the day of the summit and there was a lot of lightening and thunderstorms which made the climb very difficult. At one point, it looked impossible but the sheer willpower, perseverance and determination served him in good stead throughout the adventurous expedition. In Kaler’s words, “Only in tough circumstances we can test the real toughness of mind”.
Gurjot Singh Kaler has become the first Punjab Police Officer to scale Mount Elbrus with his feat. Earlier, he had successfully done the summit of highest mountain of African Continent- Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. The daredevil Officer had also performed a Skydive jump from 15000 feet in the air during the corona pandemic to serve as a heartfelt tribute of bravery and courage to the corona warriors who had sacrificed their lives during the pandemic.
He is currently handling the charge of AIG- Excise and Taxation, Punjab and was recently awarded with the Chief Minister’s Medal for outstanding devotion to duty in January 2023 and conferred with Shaheed-e- Azam Bhagat Singh Raj Yuva Puraskar by the Government of Punjab in March 2023 for his fight against drug abuse in Punjab and promoting the culture of sports.
Gurjot Kaler feels that his efforts in terms of climbing Mount Ebrus would go a long way in awakening the world community to join hands for combating climate change.
He admits that global warming and climate change is a grim reality of our times and every region on Earth is impacted by our actions. Even the recent ghastly floods in Punjab and Himachal can be attributed to lack of ecological balance and disregard to the Mother Earth. Therefore, it’s highly important to understand the precarious situation through which the entire humanity is passing through right now and take concerted actions before its too late. Rather, the truth is that we are already quite late in combating global climate change and if we continue to ignore the warnings of Mother Nature, one day will come when everything will be simply lost forever.
Indeed, the alarm bells are ringing and it’s time to pay heed to Kaler’s advice and protect our Mother Earth .
