General Dhiraj Seth, Chief of the Army Staff, on Tuesday flagged in members of the Joint Indo-Argentine Army Mountaineering Expedition in New Delhi after the team successfully summited Mt Abi Gamin (7,355 metres) on September 17 and Mt Kamet (7,756 metres) on September 21, 2026.
Located in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand, Mt Kamet is the third-highest peak in India, after Mt Kanchenjunga and Mt Nanda Devi.
The 35-member expedition, led by Lieutenant Colonel Chirag Chatterjee, comprised 25 personnel from the Indian Army and 10 from the Argentine Army. The team was flagged off from the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi on August 21, 2026.
Operating in demanding Himalayan conditions, the mountaineers overcame extreme cold, high winds, snowfields, steep rock sections, crevasses and other challenges associated with high-altitude terrain to summit both peaks.
The achievement demonstrated the expedition members’ physical endurance, technical proficiency, mental resilience and close coordination, according to a Ministry of Defence press release.
The expedition marked the third joint mountaineering venture between the Indian and Argentine Armies. The two forces had earlier undertaken a joint expedition to Mt Aconcagua (6,962 metres) in Mendoza, Argentina, in January 2025, followed by an expedition to Mt Kun (7,077 metres) in the Suru Valley of Ladakh in August 2025.
The successive joint expeditions have further strengthened professional cooperation, interoperability, camaraderie and mutual trust between the two armies, while providing both sides with valuable experience of operating together in challenging high-altitude environments.
-PIB Inputs
