The team, which was flagged off by the Haryana Governor Mahabir Prasad on May 22, took two months to accomplish its mission.

The team of Rajiv Midha (leader), Rakesh Kumar (deputy leader), Sukhwinder Kaur, K Krishnamurthy and Sabita Panda scaled the peak on the evening of July 14. ``It was a tremendous experience. The weather had been a deterrent all along and forced us to be behind the time. We ran out of ration and kerosene but were saved by food cans left over by the earlier expeditions. Moreover, the Army personnel were very helpful and bailed us out on a number of occasions,'' said Rajiv Midha.

He informed that Sukhwinder Kaur and K Krishnamurthy suffered an accident when they fell down nearly 350 metres. Sukhwinder Kaur's collar bone was fractured but the two were rescued by other members of the expedition.

``We collected 12 sacks full of garbage , which we found on our way. In fact, we found trekking equipment, candles, gas items, almonds, cheese and used cans there. These things also proved useful for us,'' said Midha.

Rajiv Midha and Rakesh Kumar are the first Haryana civilians to scale the peak while Sukhwinder Kaur is the first woman from Punjab to do so. Sabita Panda took the honours for being the first woman from the state of Orissa to scale the peak.

The other members of the team were Santosh Kumar, Ashwini, Dr Rajiv Saluja, Lakhwinder R Kaur, Hans Raj, Harminder Singh and Joginder Saini.