Four Indians conquer Everest without oxygen cylinders

KATHMANDU: A team of four Indian Army personnel successfully climbed Mt Everest without using oxygen cylinders, becoming the first team to scale the world's highest peak without supplementary oxygen.

The four climbers are Kunchok Tenda, Kelshang Dorjee Bhutia, Kalden Panjur and Sonam Phuntsok.

Out of total 14 members of the team, three Mountaineers -- Urgyen Topgye, Ngwang Gelek and Karma Zopa - successfully climbed Mt Everest with the support of supplementary oxygen.

"We had formed a team of 10 people with the aim to scale the Everest without using oxygen cylinder and succeeded in sending four members to the top of the world without oxygen," Col Vishal Dubey, leader of the Snow Lion Everest Expedition 2017, told PTI.

This was for the first time that any team had made attempt to climb the Everest without supplementary oxygen, he added.

"Our aim is to climb the Everest without carrying oxygen cylinder and create history," he said.

More than 4,000 people have so far climbed the 8848-metre peak, of which only 187 people have done this without oxygen on an individual basis.

Six Sherpa guides of the expedition also reached the top of the world with the supplement oxygen. The team, which scaled the Everest on May 21 returned to Kathmandu yesterday