Eminent Odisha and Indian Air force (IAF) mountaineer Devidutta Panda is all set to undertake an expedition to Mt Dhaulagiri from New Delhi on April 15. Located in Nepal, Mt Dhaulagiri is the seventh highest peak in the world with a height of (8,167 metre.

Organised by Indian Air Force, the expedition would involve a total of 12 mountaineers, including Wing Commander Devidutta Panda. The IAF team would depart for Kathmandu on April 15. Panda has so far scaled 14 peaks around the globe, including Mt Everest.

This would be Panda’s fourth expedition to an 8000m-high peak, the other ones are Mt Everest in 2005 and 2011, and Mt Lhotse in 2007. He has also led many successful mountaineering expeditions to challenging peaks in the Indian Himalayas apart from summitting the highest peaks in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa.

The trek for the base camp of this expedition starts from the  beautiful sherpa village of Beni near Pokhara (200 km West of  Kathmandu). After basecamp, four more high camps are needed for a possible summit attempt.

Mt Dhaulagiri is a very difficult peak to climb, posing challenges in the form of steep slopes, strong winds and deep snow conditions. Therefore very few mountaineers attempt a climb on this peak.  Wing Commander Panda belongs to Bhubaneswar and at present is posted to Air Force Station Bareilly.
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PHOTO: File photo of eminent Odisha and Indian Air Force mountaineer Devidutta Panda.