First Multi-Dimensional Adventure Sports Expedition: NIMAS | 10 Jan 2022

Why in News

Recently, the Defence Minister flagged-in India’s first multi-dimensional adventure sports expedition conducted by National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (NIMAS) in France.

Key Points

  • About:
    • The expedition was conducted in November 2021 and the team was led by Director NIMAS comprising 12 people - eight Army personnel and four youths of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • The expedition team carried out over 250 kilometres of winter trekking in the Alps Mountain Ranges, which included Tour De Mont Blanc trek covering the French, Swiss and Italian Alps.
  • National Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports:
    • It is an advanced sports training institute located in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh.
    • It operates under the control and superintendence of the Ministry of Defence.
    • The institute offers training across land, air and water, a first of its kind that allows civilians to experience challenges across a variety of outdoor surfaces as well as pursue a career in adventure sports. It provides structured training to defence personnel as well.

Alps 

  • Alps is a small segment of a discontinuous mountain chain that stretches from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa across southern Europe and Asia to beyond the Himalayas.
  • The Alpine region encompasses eight European countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia and Switzerland.
    • The Alps are an interzonal mountain system (Orobiome), or a “transition area” between Central and Mediterranean Europe.
  • Mont Blanc is the highest peak.
  • Though they are not as high and extensive as other mountain systems uplifted during the Paleogene and Neogene periods (i.e., about 65 million to 2.6 million years ago)—such as the Himalayas (great mountain system of Asia) and the Andes and Rocky mountains (in South America and North America respectively) —they are responsible for major geographic phenomena.
  • The Alpine crests isolate one European region from another and are the source of many of Europe’s major rivers.
  • Waters from the Alps ultimately reach the North, Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black seas.

Source: PIB