Sidharth Routray of Odisha scales Europe’s highest mountain peak

Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s Sidharth Routray scaled Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe, around 9 am today.

It was an extremely challenging task for Routray to climb Mount Elbrus (18,510 ft/5,642 metre), located in Russia, amid extremely low temperature (-35 degree Celsius), sources said.

Routray along with two other climbers, one from Kazakhstan and another from Russia and a guide named Sasha began his journey for the mountain peak on April 25.

“Continuous snowfall and extremely low temperature made our task three times more difficult. The climber from Kazakhstan developed health complications and quit the journey in the midway on April 29,” said Routray.

Routray along with the Russian climber and their guide were just 1km away from the summit point on May 1 but difficult weather condition forced the trio to retreat.

“Heavy snowfall and cold winds hindered us to move ahead. The Russian climber got exhausted and was forced to quit the expedition on May 2,” Routray

However, the weather condition improved and Routray was able to reach the summit point at 9 am today.

“I wore extra layers of clothes to survive in the extreme cold condition,” Routray said.

Routray reportedly wore a shirt stitched from Odisha’s Sambalpuri fabric and a cotton towel from Khurda district at the mountain peak to highlight his Odia identity.

“I thanked Lord Jagannath and Lord Lingaraj for my successful expedition. I paid homage to Odia jawan Debashis Biswal, who was martyred in a terrorist attack in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir recently,” Routray told Sambad English.