DEHRADUN/PITHORAGARH: What compelled the eight missing mountaineers, attempting to scale the Nanda Devi East peak, to go off course and end up at an unnamed peak where the “bodies” of five of them were recently spotted during an aerial survey?In a letter to Pithoragarh district officials on Wednesday, deputy team leader Mark Thomas — rescued from the base camp a few days ago along with three others – said the group of eight went to the next peak to “train and acclimatise” before attempting Nanda Devi East.“I, along with three others, was tasked to open the route of Nanda Devi East with two Sherpas, which we did, and establish Camp 2. Team leader Martin Moran and six other members decided to attempt a small peak for acclimatisation and final training before summit attempts of Nanda Devi East,” the letter says.In the letter, addressed to the Munsiyari sub-divisional magistrate, Thomas claims that the group had been told by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) that if they wished to try any other peak in the vicinity of the base camp, they could do so by informing the liaison officer. And that if any such peak is summited, they can pay the additional “peak fees” to IMF.There had been some controversy in the past few days on whether the group had flouted rules by going towards an unscaled peak when they had permission only for the Nanda Devi East.Clearing the air on the issue, Thomas said the plan to scale the unnamed peak was informed to IMF liaison officer Chetan Pandey. “He was also asked if he would like to join the Martin Moran group for the small unnamed peak as he himself was a qualified mountaineer. He agreed. A written undertaking was also given to him by Martin Moran for IMF’s use later,” wrote Thomas.Amit Chaudhary, member, governing council of IMF had told TOI a day earlier that an expedition group can change plans under “emergency circumstances” but is expected to give a report through the liaison officer on the “pressing factors” that led to the diversion. “They had permission from IMF for Nanda Devi East. I don’t know under what circumstances the group changed the original plan. All of them are now feared dead and we may never be able to know,” Chaudhary had said.Thomas further said it was decided that the team led by Moran will return to base camp on May 29. “However, when they did not arrive, I came back from Camp 2 and went to look for them on May 30 and did not find anything except a huge avalanche in the area. I suspected a tragedy so I immediately instructed one of the support staff to go down to Minsing Top and inform IMF to arrange heli-search and rescue.”Soon after the climbers had gone missing, Moran’s mountaineering company, Moran Mountain, on its website, put up an official statement from the Moran Family: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic events unfolding in the Nanda Devi region of the Indian Himalaya (sic). As a family, we share the same emotions that all next of kin are experiencing ... The climbing group had set out to attempt an unclimbed and unnamed summit, Peak 6477m, and the last contact intimated that all was well and a summit bid would be made from a camp at around 5,400m.”On a Moran Mountain Facebook post of May 22, at 5.39 pm, the message reads: “The Nanda Devi team has reached their second base camp at 4,870m, their home for the next week. After a recce of the route, they will be making a summit attempt on an unclimbed peak at 6,477m. In the words of Royal Robbins, ‘A first ascent is a creation in the same sense that a painting or a song (sic)’”.The local mountaineering fraternity in Pithoragarh said the group led by Moran committed a “gross violation” by changing their original plan. “As a thumb rule, an expedition team cannot attempt to scale a peak for which it doesn’t have a valid permission from IMF,” said Basu Pandey of ICE mountaineering club in Pithoragarh.Experts also asked how the liaison officer with the climbing group, Chetan Pandey, went on a hike with the mountaineers when he was supposed to be at the base camp. Chaudhary clarified: “Usually, the liaison officer remains at the base camp. But in some cases, with the team leader's permission, he can also go with the climbing team.”