Guest guest Report post Posted May 16, 2001 <h2>Why Nanda Devi stays out of bounds</h2> (Stephen Goodwin) Climbers are urging India to reopen the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, one of the mountain wonders of the world and a sacred place to Hindus. Unfortunately, it may also harbour a nuclear time bomb. Though an impregnable shrine until two English adventurers penetrated its rim in 1934, the sanctuary was the scene of a CIA fiasco 30 years later when climbers recruited by the US agency tried to plant a nuclear-powered listening device on the 25,600 ft summit. Nanda Devi's fearsome storms thwarted the "spies who went into the cold". The device was caught in an avalanche and never found. One day its radioactive remains may spew from a glacier into the headwaters of the sacred Ganges. The extraordinary events are catalogued in detail in an appendix to Nanda Devi - Exploration and Ascent, a new compilation of the classic 1930s accounts by Eric Shipton and Bill Tilman, the two mountaineers who first trod the hallowed ground. Though the official Indian line is that the sanctuary is closed to protect it from the kind of filth left by expeditions in the 1970s, the embargo may have more to do with what is ticking away beneath the snows, argues the publisher and climber Ken Wilson. It can hardly be by chance that the only groups allowed into the sanctuary in recent years have been of India scientists, medics and army engineers, he says. And for all the litter along trekkers' trails and at base camps elsewhere in the Indian Himalayas, the sanctuary is the only area closed, officially, to recover from pollution. Few mountain areas offer such a feast of potential new routes, including Nanda Devi's Eiger-like west face. Nor is the attraction just Nanda Devi - the bliss-giving Goddess. The 70-mile sanctuary wall has 12 peaks of more than 21,000ft. In 1964, nine experienced US mountaineers took part, with Indians, in the CIA's "Operation Blue Mountain". The CIA and the Indian IB wanted to spy on China, but for the climbers it was a $1,000-a-month junket. The mission and subsequent attempts to find the radioactive device stayed secret until 1978 when Morarji Desai, PM at the time, owned up after a devastating account in an American magazine. The 13in cylindrical power pack contained nearly 3lb of radioactive plutonium 238. The theory is that its heat - porters had actually enjoyed the warmth of their strange load melted the surrounding ice and the cylinder burrowed its way to the underlying rock. (By arrangement with The Independent) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jahnava Nitai Das 2 Report post Posted May 18, 2001 Very interesting story! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted May 18, 2001 Originally posted by jndas: Very interesting story! When I first started climbing in the 1960's I heard stories about this expedition from my mentors. At first I thought they were just embellished campfire stories. These were the days of Man from UNCLE, I Spy, Get Smart, and James Bond after all. Then John Roskelley returned from Nanda Devi with the same story, and I started to investigate. I have been interviewing members of the expedition for a book I am writing. The climbers are now quite old, and I want to learn as much as possible before Alzheimer's sets in on them.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest guest Report post Posted May 18, 2001 MC: The sanctuary is still closed off for foreigners and locals. Closest I could get would be Gangotri or Badrinath. Last time I was in the Holy Land I got PNGed (persona-non-grata) for being in Ayodhya on Victory Day ('92). Don't know if they'll give me another visa after that. Altho with the new BJP government, my chances are better. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maitreya 0 Report post Posted May 19, 2001 randOM, Sounds like a trip for you may be in order.The locals may have something for you as well. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
