Nepali surveyor Khimlal Gautam’s memoir Nepal’s historical mission to measure Mount Everest titled ‘Pandrau Chuli’, was unveiled in Kathmandu on Saturday.
The book was jointly unveiled by Chief Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi, renowned climbers Kami Rita Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa and Lakpa Sherpa amid a program organized at Nepal Tourism Board.
In 2020, Nepal and China— after carrying out an independent survey of the peak from their side of the border —- had jointly announced 8848.86 as the new official height of Mount Everest. Gautam had led a four-member team to the peak’s summit from Nepal side.
Pandrau Chuli– which translates to ‘Peak XV’ in Nepali as code given by scientists in early survey days, recounts Guatam’s first hand experience leading a national team of surveyors to the summit of Mount Everest to measure the highest peak of the world.
In 2019, a four-member survey team led by Gautam reached the top of Mount Everest in order to measure Mount Everest. His team had spent about two hours at the summit collecting data for GPS measurement.
A geospatial engineer, Gautam has recounted his early days struggle to come into survey profession, survey attempts made so far and Nepal’s first successful measurement Everest.
At the book release event, commenters said the book will fill the gap of Nepali literature written on Everest.
Buddhi Narayan Shrestha, a former director general of the Survey Department, said, “You may call this book a memoir or travelog, or technical exploration. But one thing I can say without any doubt is that it’s the first book extensively written in Nepali language about Everest,” said Shrestha.
Commenting on the newly released book, novelist Amar Neupane said that ‘Pandrau Chuli’ was almost a complete book on Everest.
Renowned climber Mingma Sherpa said that the book should be included into school curriculum to broaden children’s knowledge on Everest and Himalayas.
Author Gautam described his book as a fusion of facts and urged readers for constructive feedback.
At the function, Taranath Adhikari, director general at the Department of Tourism and former chief secretary Lilamani Poudel among others said the book will be useful for researchers, academia and all those interested about mountaineering, Everest and survey science.
