Click to play videoSonamarg (Kashmir): A closer look at the steep cliffs of Zojila reveals soldiers being trained for mountain combat.
The aim is to prepare the soldiers for wars at high altitudes. So, if a situation like Kargil arises again, they are well-equipped.
"It's a difficult job, we take risks, but it feels great to be doing this for the country. One needs this training for climbing hard rocks," says a soldier, Kunal.
The instructors are called white devils and they are from High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS).
The training was started just after the Kargil war in 1999. Over four hundred soldiers from various army units were being trained every year, but this year, the number has gone up to over a thousand.
"We were able to capture Tololing only after we did the cliff job assault. This is the training where you climb steep cliffs, it's the only way to success," says an instructor from HAWS, Major S Sengupta.
"The enemy is concentrating on the most likely route from where we are going to come, but instead we take a route which is steep and difficult and catch them by surprise," he adds.
These soldiers are getting trained not only to operate in snow-covered areas and glaciers, but also being taught avalanche rescue operations.
The training which lasts about seven weeks prepares a jawan for fighting it out at an altitude of 14,000 to 21,000 feet.
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