IIT Kharagpur alumnus Romil Barthwal has achieved the highest frontier of mountaineering – Mount Everest. He scaled the Himalayan heights along with his 14-member team this Summer.
Trekker and impact maker he is an endurance runner by passion and has done many half, full and ultra-marathons and several other adventure sports including podium finisher in an ironman event, randonneuring, white water rafting, bungee jumping, duathlons, kayaking, paramotor, parasailing, paragliding and paratrooping. Leaving no stone unturned, he has done the advanced, rescue and special mountain courses. He has done 9 mountaineering expeditions as team leader culminating with summiting the mighty Mt Everest.
Romil completed his M.Tech. from IIT Kharagpur in 2012 from the School of Information Technology which is now a part of the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering. An exhilarated Romil shared his experiences ranging from his days at IIT KGP days to Boston Marathon to Ultramarathon and now Mt Everest. He aims to inspire the current generation of youth to pursue a lifestyle which will help build endurance and resilience towards real-life situations.
“Even though I am an IITian from Kharagpur, I feel the balance is important to stay happy in life. Academics and books alone are not enough,” he said.
“It feels very gratifying. While getting an opportunity to scale Everest is itself great, it gives a different perspective on life,” he added.
As an ultra-endurance sports enthusiast Romil emphasized the significance of planning and practice which he considers critical not just to avoid incidents and casualties but also to transact with situations conveniently. This is reflected in training his daughter who aspires to follow her father’s suit.
List of expeditions done by him:-
- Mt Kedardome (6800m)
- Mt Golep Kangri (5900m), summiteer & team Leader
- Hanging Peak, Siachen (5300m), summiteer & team Leader
- Mt Stok Kangri (6153m), summiteer & team Leader
- Mt Saruchi Lungpa (5400m), summiteer & team Leader
- Mt Lobuje, Nepal (6100m), summiteer & team Leader
- Mt Kun (7077m), summiteer & team Leader
- Mt Everest (8848m), summiteer & team Leader
- Unknown Peak in Mamostang Area (5900m), summiteer & team Leader
- Unkown Peak in Siachen (5400m), summiteer & team Leader
Romil is also a popular motivational speaker and has held talks and workshops at various academic and research institutions and corporate houses.
“I take a keen interest in reaching out to people and learning from their life experiences which further helps me to inspire people towards a life of planned adventure and health and fitness,” he concluded.
Great inspiration from this article on mount Everest