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Kuntal Joisher

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Kuntal Joisher, and Mingma Tenji Sherpa on summit of Mt. Everest on May 19th, 2016

Kuntal Joisher is a vegan who successfully climbed Everest. According to VegNews he is the first vegan to have done so.[1] Dr. Atanas Skatov also makes this claim[2] for 2015 but since the Himalayan Database does not track diet, neither of these claims can be confirmed. He reached the summit on 19 May 2016.[3][4][5] Joisher was born in a vegetarian family in Mumbai, and became vegan in 2002.[6][7] He is an alumnus of USC Viterbi, where he did his masters in Computer Science. It is there that he transitioned to a vegan diet.[8] Joisher first went to Nepal in 1984 as a child and returned to Nepal several times for photography and climbing and says he regards Nepal as his "second home". Surviving an almost fatal avalanche in 2015 during the 2015 Nepal earthquake, Joisher on his return to Mumbai arranged a photo exhibition and donated income he made from it to relief measures in Nepal.[9] He says regarding his expedition, "it was important for me to send a message across the world that vegans can do it. I wanted to debunk every single myth around veganism."[10]

2014 Everest attempt

In 2014 Joisher survived a failed attempt during which 16 Sherpa died at the Kumbhu Icefall section in 2014.[11][12] This attempt saw Joisher reach for crowd funding, he offered to give ice axes to anyone who donated over Rs. 1,00,000.[13] In October, 2014, Joisher became the first vegan and the second Indian civilian to summit Mount Manaslu at 8163 m, the eight highest mountain in the world.[6][12] A few months before his first Everest atttempt, Joisher was called a "fitness star" in a Times of India article.[14]

2015 Everest attempt

In an interview about his 2015 attempt Joisher declared that his motivation to climb Everest was to disprove that a vegan diet was nutritionally deficient,[6] and by using clothing and equipment not made from animal products, as a memorial to the billions of animals killed by humans for various purposes.[11] His attempt to be the first vegan to summit from the south side failed due to an avalanche that was caused by the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the avalanche resulted in 17 deaths,[15] a video that recorded the incident that featured Joisher went viral on You Tube receiving over 23 million hits.[6] Joisher with his fellow survivors trekked for 3–4 days from EBC to Lukla from where they were transported to Khatmandu by IAF helicopter. They there volunteered to assist relief work for the earthquake hit as they awaited their gear to arrive. Joisher kneaded dough and cut vegetables for a kitchen that served puri bhaji.[16] Though shaken by the death defying experience speaking to NDTV in Khatmandu Joisher defiantly declared, ""I'm certain I'll be back again next year".[17]

2016 Everest successful summit

Joisher's 45-day Everest expedition culminated in his climbing the summit on On 19 May 2016. Everest ascent is a multi-staged climb. First stage is getting to the base camp, then there are camps 1 to 4, from camp 4 is the final ascent to the summit. At the base camp, Joisher ate pohe, puri bhaji, dal rice, pav bhaji and vegan breads, pastas and burgers and vegan cakes were baked to celebrate birthdays and for the summit party. From base camp to Camp 4, climbers retain appetite for solid food, non-vegan climbers eat high protein products made from meat, dairy and eggs, which according to Joisher is wrong as what is needed is carbohydrates and electrolytes. However for four days that Joisher took for climbing from camp 3 to the summit and back to camp 2, including the Death Zone (height above 7925 m), Joisher only ate two Oreo biscuits which are vegan, he subsisted on a vegan gel manufactured by Unived, which according to Joisher, on ingestion releases carbohydrates and electrolytes instantly, unlike other foods that could take up to 10 hours. On successfully reaching the base camp, the first food that Joisher had was paper masala dosa, “It’s twice the size of a normal dosa.” he is quoted saying.[18]

Training

During training Joisher, a Kutchi, has a low to zero oil vegan diet. His wife and mother are vegetarians so he needs cook separate vegan food only when necessary. He makes his milk from nuts and grains like cashew nuts, ground nuts, rice and rajma using a milk maker. He makes curd from ground nuts and rajma, from which he makes lassi and chaas. He breakfasts on a green smoothie made from mint, spinach, corriander, bananas, dates chilled with ice. Once a week he simulated Death Zone conditions by training hard without food and water for 12 hours.[18]

Death of fellow vegan climber Maria Styrdom

Like Joisher himself Styrdom's 2016 Everest attempt was motivated by the desire to dispel the myth that vegans were "malnourished and weak", and that "vegans can do anything and more."[7] She died two days after Joisher's successful summit. Joisher criticised associating veganism with Styrdom's death, saying that she died because her body succumbed to the altitude.[18]

Gallery - Everest summit photographs

References

  1. ^ "First Vegan Summits Mount Everest". VegNews.com. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  2. ^ "Meet The First Vegan Ever To Climb Mount Everest (And Conquer The 6 Highest Continental Summits In Record Time) -". inourishgently.com. 2016-03-01. Retrieved 2016-06-21.
  3. ^ "You Won't Hear About it in the News, but a Vegan Successfully Climbed Mount Everest". One Green Planet. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  4. ^ "Hvorfor døde unge Maria på verdens højeste bjerg? Medier spekulerer i overraskende teori". www.bt.dk. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  5. ^ "Woman Attempting to Prove Vegans Can Do Anything Dies Summiting Mt. Everest - OutdoorHub". OutdoorHub. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  6. ^ a b c d "He dreamt of being the first vegan to climb Mount Everest from Nepal. Then the earthquake happened". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  7. ^ a b "Is it more difficult for vegans to push themselves to physical extremes? - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  8. ^ "USC - Viterbi School of Engineering - A Summit of Courage". viterbi.usc.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  9. ^ "'Nepal still new to the culture of safety among adventure companies'". Rediff. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  10. ^ "I scaled Everest to debunk every single myth around veganism". Lokaantar : in pursuit of facts. 2016-05-30. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  11. ^ a b "Everest climber captured in viral video was on a vegan mission". MNN - Mother Nature Network. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  12. ^ a b "Why the only thing tougher than climbing Mt Everest is raising the fund for it - The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  13. ^ "Crowds fund underdog's ticket to the big stage - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  14. ^ "Superb ways to be fat-free - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  15. ^ "17 reported dead in Mount Everest avalanche, but toll expected to rise". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  16. ^ "Inside Nepal: Escaping the avalanche to feed puri-bhaji to survivors". Rediff. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  17. ^ "'What We Experienced Has Only Made Us Stronger. We Will be Back,' Say Everest Base Camp Survivors". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2016-05-27.
  18. ^ a b c "This Mumbaikar just climbed Everest, and he's vegan". in.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
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