Bhubaneswar: Dr Aditya Khadanga, an intern at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital, faculty of medicine of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA) here, was on Friday felicitated by the university for successfully climbing Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe.
Khadanga, faced with challenging weather conditions, made the ascent to the 18,510 feet summit on August 16. Mount Elbrus, located in Kabardino-Balkaria region of south west Russia, has two dormant volcanoes.
A graduate from IMS and SUM Hospital, he made an attempt to climb the 19,341 feet Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa earlier but had to abandon the climb about 50 feet from the summit due to adverse weather conditions. Khadanga said he would attempt to scale Mount Aconcagua (22,837 feet) in Argentina in January next.
SOA Founder President Manojranjan Nayak congratulated the young mountaineer for his achievements and wished him greater success in future. Vice-Chancellor of SOA Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Chairman of Advisory Board Damodar Acharya, Dean, IMS and SUM Hospital, Sanghamitra Mishra, Medical Superintendent of the hospital Pusparaj Samantasinhar, Deputy Medical Superintendent Rajesh Lenka and Dean (Students’ Welfare) Jyoti Ranjan Das were present.
Khadanga, who hails from Bargarh, said he had been attracted towards mountaineering from a very young age and underwent training for the same. Recounting his experience, he said after commencing ascent late on August 15 in freezing cold with temperature plummeting to minus 25 degrees C, the team of climbers took around nine hours to reach the summit.
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