Kannur :

Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said ‘you cannot step twice into the same river’. Likewise, every time one climbs a mountain peak it is a different world out there, feels K V Manish Kumar, a casual labourer from Kannapuram here, who had conquered 12 Himalayan peaks over the last nine years.

An urge to do something different had landed Manish at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports, Manali, 10 years ago. During his maiden attempt in July 2006, he climbed the Friendship Peak in Pir Panjal range, followed by other peaks Frey Peak, Draupadi ka Danda, Gangothri, Nanda Devi and finally Khaktet in Ladakh, in February. The temperature was -34 degrees then, he remembers.

“Mountains taught me many things. I could meet new different people and learn about different types of plants and animals,” says the 35-year-old, who also feels that it’s high time we created awareness against global warming.

Manish makes it a point to sensitize public about the dangers of global warming through his expeditions. He also collects plastic wastes on the way to the peaks, making his expeditions a cleanliness drive.

Though he came face to face with death many a times, it has not deterred his spirit to climb the peaks. “While climbing down I leave behind such harrowing experiences and make up my mind to begin the next expedition After all, an expedition is all about successfully coming back,” he says. Manish has not received any recognition, not even a job offer so far, as he is not a professionally qualified mountaineer. His expeditions were not sponsored and his expenses are met by doing odd jobs like wood cutting.

“Though the state government is said to be promoting sports, I didn’t get any recognition and I too do not wish for any,” says the mountaineer. He is all set to go on a solo expedition in July. Also, he is planning to do a short-term course from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, to become a qualified rock climbing judge and route setter.

“There are many peaks that are tougher to conquer than Everest, but still it’s my dream to be on the top of the world one day,” says Manish who cherishes the dream of scaling the Mt Everest.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Thiruvananthapuram / by P. Sudhakaran, TNN / March 30th, 2015