A nine-member team of the Nature & Trekkers’ Club of Jalpaiguri (NTCJ) will head for a mountain expedition in the Himachal Himalayas next month.

This will be the 11th mountain expedition to be conducted by the club which has been working for the promotion of adventure sports and the conservation of nature for years.

“The team, which comprises two women members, will scale Mt. Manirang. The peak is located at a height of 21,625 feet in the Kaza area of the Lahaul-Spiti district in Himachal Pradesh. They will leave Jalpaiguri on August 5,” said Dipankar Purakayastha, the secretary of the club.

“So far, we have conducted 10 mountain expeditions and our members have succeeded in scaling the peak every time. We hope they will succeed again,” he added.

Bhaskar Das, a senior club member and an experienced mountaineer, will lead the team.

“We will have to head towards the summit by using ropes. Along the way, there are thousands of loose boulders which can descend at any time. All of us will have to be very alert as there are crevices on the route. There is also a probability of strong cold wind as we move higher,” said Bhaskar.

From Jalpaiguri, the team will head for Delhi and then leave for Manali.

On August 9, they will reach Maney at Lahaul-Spiti village which is located at a height of 11,700 feet.

“From here, the team will start walking. A group comprising porters and guides will join them. On August 12, they will set up the base camp at a height of 15,000 feet,” said a source.

Ahead of the base camp, the team will set up three more camps and depending on weather conditions, will make attempts to scale the summit on August 20 or 21.

The club will have to spend around ₹6 lakh on the expedition.

“We are getting cooperation from our well-wishers and people from different walks of life to raise the funds. The team also plans to clear garbage which the climbers will find on their way to the summit,” said Debasish Lala, a senior member of the club.