A veteran mountaineer with sixteen climbs to Mount Everest

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Sky's the limit and to attempt a first may sound crazy and to do it a record breaking sixteen times sounds even more crazier making one wonder if he actually spent most of his life in the freezing cold up on Mount Everest, mountain climbing.

But, it was serious stuff he was talking about when I met him, a man of many accolades; an icon of scouting in Sri Lanka, who brought honour to his alma mater, Dharmaraja College, Kandy and later Ananda College.

A special place in Sri Lanka's annals of scouting Ajith Jayasekera, the Assistant District Commissioner, Sri Lanka Scout Association, Kandy District Branch and Warden, Pedro Scout Centre, Nuwara Eliya has excelled with flying colours from the age of twelve; yet exuberant and prepared to go on even at the age of fifty.

A twenty kilo back sack for each climber is no easy task, the climb apart. Interestingly, it is a whole retinue of organized climbers; officers for first aid, welfare, kitchen, finance, a quarter master, a gear master and even an official photographer/videographer, designated to carry out specific duties on any given expedition into the unknown.

Having created many feats in mountain climbing, the icon has been recently appointed Warden of the Pedro Scout Centre, Nuwara Eliya where he has been entrusted with an exciting agenda; setting up an adventure park at Boralanda, in close proximity to the Bomburella Reservoir.

This is sure to thrill many a visitor with an adrenal rush while the proposed site will also support advanced training for scouts in Sri Lanka.

Indulging in scouting has been a popular pursuit among many school going children and to date 1st Kandy Dharmaraja Scout Group stands supreme as the oldest and the largest scout group which has brought glory to Sri Lanka with Ananda College rating second best, also trained by Ajith later on.

"In 1993, Dharmaraja College also secured the island's Merit Flag Award and I am very proud that I was able to introduce this to many schools since then. 1998 was another significant year where seven combined schools formed a national team and successfully completed the mission once again".

The icon wanting to make his dream a reality made a trip to Calcutta and went to Jesso, the border of Bangladesh to meet his friend Hari Prasad to discuss the matter. "To get there was an ordeal. I went to Thallimannar and went by ferry to Rameshwaran.

At that time a ticket could be purchased from Kandy to Madras at Rs. 400. From Madras to Calcutta it cost 108 Indian rupees and an additional 8 Indian rupees to Jesso, the border of Bangladesh to Hari Prasad's.

It was Hari Prasad's uncle, the then Director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute on seeing my eagerness to pursue my desire put me on the right track and helped me make my dream a reality".

"I joined the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute programme in 1982 and received training in ice climbing, rock climbing and mountaineering, how to use the equipment, the necessary food you should take along with you and about the probable illnesses you could get when climbing and how to overcome it.

I returned to Sri Lanka and trained the first scout troupe of Dharmaraja College. Ajith Jayasekera's first feat was in 1985 when the Dharmaraja College Scout Troupe trained by him together with Scout Headquarters Commissioner, Sarath Kumarasinghe and present District Commissioner, Kandy District Scout Association, Sarath Mataraarachchi embarked on the Mount Everest climb. No one from Sri Lanka had climbed Mount Everest until such time.

This was incredible and a wonderful challenge for the whole troupe. Sir Edmond Hilary who later became an ambassador had climbed the Everest in 1952 and the troupe followed his route.

One could travel by vehicle up to Jeeri and thereafter it takes fourteen days of adversity by foot to the Everest Base Camp, and the first hurdle is cleared. Mind you, if you haven't had proper training the most you could go is up to this point, 9000 ft above sea level; and day one is through.

"The rest of the climb is a zig zag climb to and fro, increasing and decreasing heights of thousands of feet for the rest of the journey.

Climbing the Kuhumbu glacier from the Everest Base Camp is the most difficult of all, a slow process which takes about eight hours and above this point you need everything possible you could equip yourself with; from special training to special shoes, garters, sleeping bags and the twenty kilo back sack or ideally one third your body weight. In developed countries the back sacks are carried by porters but due to non affordability it is not practiced in Sri Lanka.

In this manner they climbed up to Kalapatha, the highest point 5,545 ft above, Ajith Jayasekera explained. Due to the extreme cold you have to necessarily drink a lot of water.

The terrifying thing is that due to the high altitude oxygen and air pressure is also reduced which could in turn result in symptoms of severe headache, vomiting, dizziness, fever and finally a state of unconsciousness and death which would occur within four hours if immediate remedial measures are not taken.

In such an instance the only alternative is to come down three metres-900 ft immediately with use of a pressure bag. This is a frightful experience and many climbers do encounter this situation and I too got the fever once."

Ajith Jayasekera joined as a junior scout on March 21, 1969, a memorable day which led him to grow from strength to strength and then secured the President's Scout Badge, the maximum a scout could achieve and was a Scout Leader till 1989 along with the Rover Scout Award.

After five phases of scouting he was awarded the highest honour a leader could get; the Wood Badge both Junior and Senior and the Baden Powell Award.

For veteran climber Ajith Jayasekera his daring spirit has proved that nothing is impossible. The triumph of making his dream come true has surely made his name a legendary one of scouting in Sri Lanka.

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