The event was organised by the ITBP in partnership with the Ladakh Mountaineering Guide Association.
The North-West Frontier ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) organised an ice wall climbing competition in Ladakh on Saturday (February 26). More than 100 climbers took part in the event, which was held for the first time. Radha Krishna Mathur, the lieutenant governor of Ladakh, attended the opening ceremony. On Sunday (February 26), the ITBP shared “glimpses of the ice wall climbing competition in Ladakh” through a video on its official Twitter handle.
It was a 2-minute, 20-second video, which starts with an address by the lieutenant governor, who lauded the initiative and congratulated the organisers for hosting such an event. He then went on to talk about ITBP, saying that it was established in 1962, and since then force has constantly guarded the country's borders.
In the rest of the video, we can see the climbers scaling walls of ice, digging away with their ice axes and reaching the top.
Watch the video here:
In another tweet, the ITBP shared a few photos too from the competition.
The event was organised by the North-West Frontier Headquarters, ITBP, Leh, in partnership with the Ladakh Mountaineering Guide Association.
The ITBP is a specialised mountain force. At present, the soldiers mainly cover 3,488 kilometres from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh. They also man high-altitude outposts (9,000 feet to 18,700 feet) on the Western, Middle, and Eastern sectors along the Indo-China border, where temperatures even drop to -45 degrees Celsius at times
A few days ago, an ITBP Commandant, Ratan Singh Sonal, did 65 push-ups at a height of 17,500 feet in Ladakh. When he performed the feat, the temperature was -30 degrees Celsius. Watch the video here.
ITBP has an illustrious history dating back over six decades. The force is also used for anti-Maoist operations and other domestic security duties, in addition to guarding the border.