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| M. Jaonli & Dokrani bamak (glacier) |
Mountains have always amazed me & have driven me crazy. It's all about getting to the top & the journey we go through. The level of satisfaction after reaching the top, is enormous. To be on top requires a combination of hard work, passion, strength & courage. As defined by Sir Edmund Hillary, "It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves..."
About 6-7 years ago, I started climbing with a very basic 5 days rock climbing course organized by a local club in South Calcutta (Himalayan Mountaineers' Association). That was a very basic introductory as well as motivating initiative. Gradually over time, I became active in getting in touch with people from mountaineering community. I also became a member of the club. I realized that I am getting attracted to technical mountain climbing, & at some point I was determined to go for full length professional mountaineering courses. However, due to some time constraints of my academic career, I had to keep patience for the right time to come...
About 6-7 years ago, I started climbing with a very basic 5 days rock climbing course organized by a local club in South Calcutta (Himalayan Mountaineers' Association). That was a very basic introductory as well as motivating initiative. Gradually over time, I became active in getting in touch with people from mountaineering community. I also became a member of the club. I realized that I am getting attracted to technical mountain climbing, & at some point I was determined to go for full length professional mountaineering courses. However, due to some time constraints of my academic career, I had to keep patience for the right time to come...
Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM) in Uttarkashi, India, is considered to be one of the premier mountaineering institute in Asia. A bunch of top notch mountaineers who have climbed many 8000 meter peaks, had done their training from this institute. The course I had registered for, is called Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). It is a 28 days course where they teach basics of rock, snow & ice craft techniques. If one gets "A" grade in this course, then he will be eligible for advance course.
Finally the right time came. It was October 2017 & I was set to go for NIM. Last 2 years I have been preparing myself physically & mentally for this course. Unless you are 100% physically fit & 100% mentally motivated, you will never be able to successfully complete the "brutal" training of 28 days. I started running regularly for about 40-45 minutes. In addition, I am a regular swimmer. I swim 2000 meters & do push ups, pull ups on a regular basis. These activities helped me to boost the confidence inside me..
I am travelling to Haridwar from Howrah by Doon express. The plan is to take bus from Haridwar to Uttarkashi & then go to NIM campus by local transport. As usual, Doon express is always late & this time it's over 6 hours. I mostly spent my time by lying on upper berth & reading a book on Kanchenjunga climbing ('Footsteps in the clouds'). It took about 35 hours to reach Haridwar (finally!).
17th October 2017:
Coincidentally, one of my batch mate of the same course, Dipa was also in the same train. We decided to go to Rishikesh first, mainly because Rishikesh bus stand is much bigger & has more options to go Uttarkashi. However, if it's after 12 at noon, then it will be hard to find a public transport & you need to book a private cab. By the time we reached there, it was almost past noon time. So we decided to hire a shared cab, which cost about Rs 2500.
It took about 6 hours to reach Uttarkashi including tea & lunch breaks. It was late afternoon when the cab dropped us at the Uttarkashi market. The reporting to the institute was on 18th, so we decided to stay in a hotel nearby (there are plenty in the market). That evening we roamed around the market for an hour or so. It's a pretty big market & you can get all the required stuff you want. We were very tired & had our early dinner with roti & butter chicken (which was just a chicken curry with chunks of butter on top :P ).
18th October:
A bright, sunny & chilly day. I woke up by 6.30 & went to the hotel balcony. The town of Uttarkashi was looking beautiful. After having breakfast with paratha & daal, we went to hang around for a while. We were walking through the market & went to the riverside. The suspension bridge over Ganga was a perfect contrast with the surrounding mountains.
NIM campus is about 7 Km from Uttarkashi market, & there are local transports available. Luckily, NIM had a reception center in a hotel in the market, & they had put a banner named 'NIM reception' outside the hotel. The NIM bus takes the trainees to the institute. For the first time I was in a bus of ministry of defense. I had a kind of mixed feeling of excitement & a bit of tension. I realized that we are entering the campus, when we crossed a gate showing 'Success Lies in Courage', which is the tagline of NIM.
As we reported at the hostel, they checked us in temporary rooms, which are usually shared by 6 people. For the rest of the day we had nothing to do. I was waking around the campus. It is so clean & well maintained!
There is a cafeteria inside the campus, where you can get food like momo, noodles, egg omelet, biscuit, chocolates, etc. (although we hardly got any time to go there during the course).
For rest of the evening we had nothing to do & were chatting with our new friends in the room. NIM is well known for their discipline & strict rules, and you will be monitored from the very first day about your behavior. In general, loitering around is not permitted in the campus. That's why we preferred staying in our rooms, although it was the first day & they didn't tell us anything about the rules. Before the dinner bell rang, we had a short session to get informed about tomorrow's schedule. We have to fall in the line sharp by 6.30 AM & the course will begin. The whole course schedule details was put on the notice board, which showed the detailed activity of the course for next 28 days. It's exactly like a military school & you have to obey the rules strictly. Otherwise you will be expelled from the institute.
The dinner bell rang around 9.30 PM. It was a simple dinner with rice/roti, vegetables, daal, & jelly as dessert. The dining hall was pretty big which can fit about 100 people. Once the dinner was over, we came back to our room, & went to bed immediately. They provided bunk bed with pillow & blanket. It was pretty cold & I fall asleep very shortly.
19th October:
The course officially begins from today. Morning tea bell rang sharp at 5.30, although I didn't go for it. By 6.30 we had to stand in queues at the ground outside the hostel. Some guys came late. The instructors stood at the front & talked for sometimes before starting the morning P.T.
We were instructed that every day we have to fall in by our rope, sharp at 6.30 AM. Even late arrival by 1 minute will not be allowed. We have to maintain all the timings of the course schedule in a strict manner. Next couple of days will be kind of 'warm up' & 'test your ability & see if you can continue the course or not' period. Then the morning P.T. started. It was a rigorous & intense exercise, along with jogging from NIM campus to Uttarkashi market, and come back to the campus again. By the time we returned to the campus, many people who were not physically active, already started gasping for breathe. But most of us were fine.
When we came back to the campus, again another session of stretching exercise were started. Then it was time to divide us into different 'ropes' (or groups of 6-7 people). They mixed us in terms of our geographic home location in India so that we can mingle with different types of people & don't get stick to our own community. Our rooms were also changed according to our ropes.
By that time, the breakfast bell rang. It was a solid breakfast with paratha, daal, milk, oats/corn flakes, boiled egg/cheese, banana & tea. After then we were taken for a visit to the campus. The instructors showed us around the beautiful campus. Then we headed for equipment issue. We were issued rucksack, mattress, water bottle, feather jacket, upper & lower windproof, mess tins, sleeping bag & other equipment like rock climbing shoe (Madrock shoes), harness, carabiner, rope & ceiling, helmet, descender, jummer, etc. Then we had a demo class to demonstrate the overview of the equipments. We were taught how to efficiently pack a rucksack. By then it was time for lunch. We went to our respective rooms to keep the equipment & then went to the dining hall for lunch.
I started having some health trouble. I was vomiting multiple times a day. As a consequence, I started feeling weak & feverish. That put me in trouble & I started worrying. How will I continue this type of tough course in coming days!!! In fact I started thinking of leaving the course. Thanks to Soumen da & Sukanta for motivating me to stick to the course & not think about leaving.
In the evening we had medical testing. The doctor checked our blood pressure, pulse, body weight & declared if we are fit or not. All of us passed the test. My pulse was pretty high, mainly because of my physical condition & internal worry. After then we had a lecture session on first aid in the auditorium.
It was Diwali that day & we celebrated Diwali in the campus. Lot of fireworks were organized & all of us took part in the celebration. I was sick & really wanted to rest in my room, but taking part in the celebration was mandatory & I didn't have any choice. At the end, sweets were distributed among all. Dinner bell rang at 8 & I went to bed by 9.30 PM. We had to switch off the room lights sharp at 9.30. I fall asleep in no time..
20th October:
As of last day, we fall in sharp at 6.30 along with the loaded rucksack. That was the 'warm up' day. We headed toward a 'hill walk' of about 3.5 Km steep hike near the campus. It was indeed a physically demanding hike. After reaching the top, we were introduced about the nearby mountain ranges & the area, followed by free hand exercises & then climbing down to the campus. Although I wasn't physically fit, but I managed to do it without any trouble. After having breakfast, we had a lecture session of rope coiling & knots where they taught us different techniques like clove hitch, fisherman, bowline, etc (there were many sessions later where we practiced these stuff multiple times). We were also introduced the technique of tent pitching afterwards.
After lunch we had another lecture session on mountain manners. Actually till then we stayed mostly inside the campus & were having mostly theory sessions. From next day we were about to start our actual outdoor climbing activities. In the evening, we were briefed about our first outing. We were instructed to carry all of the equipments which were issued. The instructors were saying that we should not cheat (nobody is gonna check inside our bags), mainly because these days are going to prepare our endurance for later days when we will be heading towards the mountain. If we leave some stuff & carry less weight now, then we will be in trouble in the mountain because we haven't adjusted our capacity in proper ways. We were briefed about our first outing.
After lunch we had another lecture session on mountain manners. Actually till then we stayed mostly inside the campus & were having mostly theory sessions. From next day we were about to start our actual outdoor climbing activities. In the evening, we were briefed about our first outing. We were instructed to carry all of the equipments which were issued. The instructors were saying that we should not cheat (nobody is gonna check inside our bags), mainly because these days are going to prepare our endurance for later days when we will be heading towards the mountain. If we leave some stuff & carry less weight now, then we will be in trouble in the mountain because we haven't adjusted our capacity in proper ways. We were briefed about our first outing.
Later that evening, we were taken to the market to buy necessary stuff. We came back to the campus around 7 PM. It was movie time. Well, not bollywood masala movies, we were shown motivational movies on mountain climbing. In fact for rest of the course we had evening movie session almost every day (even in the base camp!). After dinner at 8, I called my family & friends. I had vomited three times & was feeling sort of weak. But still I was trying to keep my motivation up. Went to bed by 9.30, put alarm at 5.30 AM & fall asleep..
21st to 25th October:
These 5 days were dedicated for learning rock climbing skills. Actually the whole course was designed into 3 parts: rock, ice & snow craft techniques, and this was the first phase. During these 5 days, our schedule was pretty much same every day. We had to trek about 9 Km with our loaded rucksack of about 15 Kg. We were also taking our turns to share the rope among the team members. So when it's your turn, the total weight of the rucksack will be about 20 Kg.
Our daily trek to Tehkla was beautiful! We used to walk along a long single line with the instructors in between us. The route was so scenic, it made us almost forget about the pain of carrying the load. We used to have a rest point for about 10 minutes.
After reaching Tehkla, we had to put our rucksack down according to our ropes, then stretching exercises used to begin.
Shortly after then, the breakfast bell used to ring. We headed towards the mess counter with our bowls and cup. The food was awesome & had different menu every day. Typically we had puri/paratha daal/sabji, or pasta, or idli, or egg & bread toast, along with milk, cornflakes, boiled egg/cheese butter, banana, apple. This was some of the best places I ever had breakfast. We used to sit on the flat ground surrounded by mountains, while chatting with each other.
Shortly after then, the breakfast bell used to ring. We headed towards the mess counter with our bowls and cup. The food was awesome & had different menu every day. Typically we had puri/paratha daal/sabji, or pasta, or idli, or egg & bread toast, along with milk, cornflakes, boiled egg/cheese butter, banana, apple. This was some of the best places I ever had breakfast. We used to sit on the flat ground surrounded by mountains, while chatting with each other.
There was a water fountain where we washed our pots, and got ready for the next sessions.
Our rope instructor was Umang sir, from Himalayan Mountaineering Institute (HMI), Darjeeling. Actually there was an exchange program going on where instructors from different institutes were visiting each other's training programs. We were very lucky to have Umang sir as our instructor. He is a very nice & social person, who used to support in every activity of us. His communication skill, especially his english was too good. I had never seen Umang sir to speak loudly in the whole course, even when we were doing wrong. Being a great climber himself, I had learned a lot from him.
The rock climbing training was based on the following procedures: demo and practice. During the demo session, instructors showed the technique in detail, & then we practiced with our rope instructor afterwards.
We were taught how to get fully equipped with harness, carabiner, rope, climbing shoes & other equipments.
We started with very basic bouldering techniques. We learned about different types of holds, how to conserve energy & maintain body balance, etc. Rock climbing is all about your techniques of hand & foot holds, plus the body balance. You don't need a six pack to be a rock climber, rather you need very good body balance and internal strength to climb.
We learned about aid climbing: how to climb with equipment. While climbing a big rock wall, one needs help of equipment (in addition to the rope) to be secure. Personally I like aid climbing much more than bouldering. One of the instructors (Yasovant sir) showed how to use 'chock-nut' and 'friends' while climbing up. We learned how to climb as a lead climber, middle man & end man. We also learned how to give 'belay' (giving rope support to the climber while staying at the bottom) & use ascender/descender as belay device.
I did belaying for some of my rope mates & did aid climbing as middle man.
After sometimes my instructor told me, "Ayan, you will do the lead climbing next & will open the route". I got ready with the equipments & told one of my rope mate to give me belay. It was so satisfying to do the lead climb!
Every day we used to unpack our equipments & packed these back by counting every single item.
We used to have lot of fun during this time. Whenever someone is done with climbing, we continued chatting while resting at the top.
However, the instructors never allowed us to sit idle. They always assigned us something while we were noticed sitting idle ;)
We were taught about different rope knots. Initially I couldn't remember all the knots & started practicing every day. Bhatt sir was so nice in teaching all these whenever I asked him! To me, he is one of my favourites in NIM :)
We learned & practiced 'jummaring' & 'rappelling' on big rock faces. Jummaring takes a lot of strength, while rappelling was fun.
We also learned about 'Chimney climbing' where you climb through a narrow space having vertical rock walls at the side.
After a couple of days, we had an ultimate test of our climbing skills. We were taken in front of a big wall of about 55 feet high. It was scary! But at the same time it was fun too. One needs a lot of mental strength & physical stamina in order to climb this type of wall. At the high end of the wall, there was hardly any good hold, & one needs to trust his legs. But it felt sooo nice after climbing to the top of the wall :)
Usually we had climbing session for few hours, followed by lunch. The lunch was also great, with mutton almost every day, along with salad.
After lunch there was no climbing session. We only had theory classes afterwards till afternoon.
On the last day, we revised all of our techniques once again & practiced once more. I was kind of feeling bad while leaving Tehkla..
We used to have a tea break for half an hour, & soon after that we started preparing for our return journey to the campus. Even while going back we had to fall in according to our ropes & then marched rope by rope. At some point I was so irritated about this 'fall-in', we were joking with each other that next day there will be fall-in for going to bed & brushing our teeth too ;) But NIM is renowned for their discipline. In the whole course, I didn't even see a single case of nuisance. This is very appreciating, although I was very irritated at that time :P
While going back, the NIM bus used to take us to the campus. It was so relieving while getting into the bus! The fun part was loading the rucksacks on top of the bus. One person used to go to the top, while two others stood on the ladder to hand in the rucksacks.
After coming back to the campus, we used to have about half an hour free, when we used to get freshen up & change the dress. Taking shower was a big challenge. The solar geyser heated water was limited in the tank & you need to rush in order to get warm water. Literally each of us had about 2 minutes of window to take shower, because other roommates are waiting to get the next slot ;)
Evenings were mostly about theory lectures in the auditorium. After days hard work we used to get so tired, we almost fall asleep during the lectures. Some people took notes, some took photos of the slides. The classes are important because the theory exam at the end of the course covers all these topics.
Right after the theory session/movie, we used to rush for dinner. I tried to be quick in having dinner & then called my family & friends before going to bed. Every day was so tiring, I used to fall asleep almost immediately after going to bed.
The day started with cleaning the hostel rooms as we had to leave for high altitude on the next day & had to leave the rooms for people coming for adventure course in between.
The day was about sport climbing, or the artificial wall climbing. NIM has international standard climbing wall, where international competition had held few years ago.
Sport climbing can be harder than outdoor climbing if you are not practiced with indoor climbing. It requires lot of upper body strength too. Some of the walls were too hard, & very few people could actually cross the overhang (I couldn't).
The instructors were also saying not to worry about sport climbing, it's all about practice. We also had another session of rope knot practice that day.
Ofter lunch we were taken into the equipment room where crampons (sharp metal spikes fitted beneath the climbing shoe, which helps in walking/climbing on hard ice) were issued. This was the last day to exchange equipment. This is important because if someone has any trouble with any equipment & doesn't change at this point, he will be in trouble after going to the high altitude.
In the evening, we had the final briefing session. The instructors told us about necessary stuff for moving to the mountains. We were all set, next day we will be leaving towards base camp.
Woke up early in the morning. After having heavy breakfast, we deposited our luggage in the store room & evacuated our hostel rooms. We will be back to civilization after 15 days. The institute bus will take us to the last motor vehicle point from where we will start trekking. While our rucksacks were getting loaded on top of the bus, we went to visit the NIM temple where people prayed for good health & luck in coming days in the mountain. We had some photo sessions & got into the bus according to our ropes (ahh once more fall in!).
It took about 40 minutes to reach the remote point. There were couple of little shops where we bought some toffee & snacks. In half an hour we started to move.
This was a big day, the trek to 'Tel Camp' at the altitude of 8000 feet, which is considered to be one of the toughest trek of the whole course. The instructors were telling us, "Tel camp jaane me sabka tel nikal jata hai" ;)
The route started with crossing a suspension bridge & trekking steep upwards.
The scenery was simply amazing. We crossed Bhuki village on our way. Tihar village was visible far away on the other mountain. As we progressed further, the route was gradually becoming much steeper.
Initially we were walking according to our rope members, but gradually many people fall behind because they could not cope up with the pace. Although you should not let any of your group members behind, but sometimes the instructors were telling us to move forward & they will take care of other people.
Each rope was given certain amount of biscuit & toffee, which we were distributing at the rest point. I was trying to walk in a slow but steady fashion, but it was hard!
We were crossing numerous amount of rivers by means of wooden logs. It was risky because if you lose you balance, you will fall on the river. In fact one guy lost his balance & fell down. He had to change into dry clothes, otherwise there is a risk of getting hypothermia.
We filled in our water bottles from a river beside a rest point. It was about 4Km of trek, but one of the steepest I have ever seen. I was so amazed to see that the instructors were moving without any trouble, while we were gasping for breathe after every step!
The last part of the trek was near to unbearable! It was so hard, so hard that we were moving extremely slowly. The load was killing me & the steepness resulted in having gasping for breathe.
Finally we reached 'Tel camp'. Such a beautiful place! The whole area was surrounded with beautiful mountains. However, I was so tired, I couldn't feel the beauty of the place at that time. We had our late lunch, & then our tents were assigned.
After a long time finally we got some time to rest. Everybody was lying on the floor inside the tent & were chatting with each other. I was sharing jokes with Siddharth, Rajkumar & Arvind. We had become a very good group together.
I really wanted to sleep for a while, but the course is not designed to take rest. Afternoon tea was served & we were taken for 'acclimatization walk'. We trekked further to 'Khera taal', which was a calm & beautiful place.
We came back to the camp by evening. After having dinner, went to bed by 8.30 PM.
It was a big day, we had to trek 11 Km to 'Gujjar Hut' at 11000 feet. It took about 7-8 hours in total to complete the whole trek. Some people couldn't do it fully by themselves & their loads were shared by passing porters & instructors. The weather was also becoming very cold. At some point it started snowing.
By the time I reached Gujjar Hut, the daylight was almost coming to an end. I just wanted to get inside the sleeping bag & rest. But it started snowing heavily & we had to remain active to clear the snow from tent top.
The instructors were always telling us not to remain inside the tent, otherwise we will get more inactive. Which is true because once you slide inside the sleeping bag, it's so hard to come out again. However, we were too tired to listen to these suggestions. After a while, we were called in for another fall in. Reluctantly, I had to come out of the tent. By that time, it had started snowing excessively.
Evening soup was served, & we were shown the surrounding area. The water source was the nearby river, although the water was too cold to touch!
That evening was nothing much to do & dinner was served early. Washing hands & cleaning the bowl were real challenges in subzero temperature. As soon as dinner was over, we went inside our respective tents & slid inside the sleeping bag. The intensity of snowfall was increasing, & we had to take our turns to clear the snow from the tent. It was a painstaking process to come out of the sleeping bag every time. Don't remember when did I actually sleep, but for sure it was a very very deep sleep until the morning alarm rang..
A bright, sunny & chilly day. Beautiful scenery in the whole panorama. Mount Jonli (21,759 feet) top was visible clearly from the tent area. The ground was covered with soft snow, & we had to use sunglasses to avoid snow blindness.
We had some photo sessions after breakfast, & then got ready with our rucksacks.
Today we will be reaching basecamp at 12000 feet, which is about 3 Km trek. Basically we were walking facing the Jonli peak. Everything around was covered with snow, having pine & juniper trees everywhere. It was so heavenly!
However, I started feeling oxygen deprivation in the air. Even walking few steps with so much load on the back was a real challenge!
It took about one & half hour to reach basecamp area. I started having a bad headache, which is a typical altitude effect. The basecamp was just a place from out of the world. Mesmerising views all around! We could see Jaonli, DKD2 peak, Machadhar around the area.
Our first job was to set up the tents. It took some time to set up all the tents.
Rest of the day was about theory lectures. Other equipments like ice axe, ice screw, etc. were issued. My headache never improved & I was having hard time to concentrate on anything else. From late afternoon, the weather became too cold. This time we got light inside our tent, which was running by a mini generator.
Our schedule for 15 days at basecamp was pretty tight. We used to wake up around 5.30 in the morning. To me, it was the hardest part of the whole training ;) The worst part was to go out of the tent in the middle of night for the washroom. However, the heavenly beauty of the surroundings with snow capped mountains flooded by moonlight was unimaginably surrealistic! I couldn't capture those moments in my camera, but that will be with me forever.
The mornings were too cold to wake up, but astoundingly calm, quiet & beautiful.
I used to drink 2/3 cups of tea to get warmed up. Breakfasts were ready by 7.30 AM. As usual, we had varieties of menus for different days.
Typically we had to fall in by 8.15 by getting ready & then start trekking towards the glacier with all the equipments. It used to take about 1.5-2 hours & was pretty tough at least for initial days. When there is less oxygen in the air, it's always hard to trek steep route with load on your back.
My headache for first couple of days was almost killing me, as if someone is hammering on my head. But still I kept going ignoring the pain. And when you in a heavenly place, you can forget everything (well, that's just a dialogue, I could hardly realize the surrounding beauty at that time ;) )...
The route to the glacier was initially pretty steep, then we were on top of a hilly area, from where the moraine area started. We used to have a break on the top for 10 minutes or so.
The glacier was named as 'Dokrani Bamak'. We had to put our rucksacks & other stuff at the bottom of the glacier & then had to get ready by wearing our boots, crampons, harness along with carabiners, ice crews & ice axe.
The days usually started with a demo session from the instructors, followed by practice with our instructors (as we did during rock climbing).
We were shown the technique of 'tip toe climbing', where you climb with your crampons & ice axe. This is amazing, literally you stand on the ice wall relying just only two front spikes of your crampon! One needs lot of body balance to do this. Then you have to hit your ice axe on the wall, place it firmly, & then move up. Our instructor Umang sir was so good in teaching this.
We did practice on couple of ice walls. Initially I was losing too much energy, then gradually I learned the proper technique & was enjoying the climb.
We were given tutorials of how to place ice screws on the ice wall. Basically you take a long hollow screw, put it on the wall in 90 degree position, press it & give a few rotations, followed by applying full rotations until it gets firmly attached to the wall. Then your life depends on that, as you pass your rope through a carabiner attached to the screw, which holds your full body weight. It was so exciting!!
I used to chat with my instructor all the time & asked lot of questions. He is such a great teacher!
Sessions having multi-pitch climbing were more interesting. That teaches you how to take turns in climbing a huge ice wall. One takes the lead, fixes anchor on the wall while the other climbs, then their roles are interchanged for the next session, & the process continues until they reach the top.
We also did rappelling & jummaring on ice walls. Two thing I realized: always keep multiple gloves with you, & never use good quality gloves during ice climbing, it will be wasted. The gloves usually get wet during climbing, & also get damaged by holding ice axe. I recommend to use thin woollen gloves which are usually good in gripping & also they are cheap.
One more challenge was to walk on the boulder with your crampons on. Even walking on the boulders was a challenge with your climbing boots, if you don't know the proper technique. Few guys forgot their sunglass & instructors managed to get some for them, because one will get snow blind by being exposed to the sun & ice for several hours.
We learned the technique for crevasse crossing. There were some small crevasses in the glacier & we practiced on those. This session was something that made us feel like we are climbing Everest by crossing crevasse using aluminium ladders ;)
Finally we learned rescue techniques from crevasse: how can you rescue someone from a crevasse & how can you rescue yourself if you fall inside a crevasse. We learned powerful 'C-pulley' & 'Z-pulley' techniques during this session.
Crevasse rescue session was fun. People wanted to have their photograph when they are inside the crevasse playing as a victim & they had smiling face towards the camera, as if it is enjoyable to fall inside ;)
Every day we were monitored by instructors. Our performance, attitude, behaviour, everything was being noticed for our grades. I really like to get dressed as a mountaineer. I posed for some fake photos :P
There is no water supply in the glacier, so we had to carry our water bottle & sip a bit for the whole day. Drinking lot of water is one of the most important things of mountain climbing. If you drink less, you will get dehydrated quickly & will become sick. The instructors were telling this all the time.
On the last day we revised all of our techniques. It was a relief that we won't have to do this tough trek every day to come to the glacier. It was really tiring!
In the afternoon we used to have volleyball session. Yes, you can play volleyball at 12000 feet with your instructors. Although I didn't, but people were so excited to play volleyball. The instructors were so good in playing!
We used to sit beside the court, chatted with each other & enjoyed the beauty of last rays of setting sun on the mountains. Typically our group was Roopak, Reshma, Dipa & me. Those days while sitting there beside the volleyball court, I used to complain so much with the strict schedules, now I look back & actually feel good about those days :)
Evenings were mostly about theory lectures & movies. Sometimes we had some chat with the instructors while having our evening soup. I will remember the motivating words from Bhatt sir, he is such an amazing person!
I tried to call home via satellite phone of NIM (which costs Rs 70 per minute), but unfortunately it was banned in India at that time. So I couldn't communicate with my family. That was one thing bothering me so much. When you are far away from your family & can't talk to them, you will get depressed.
The last phase of the training was the snow craft. However, due to lack of fresh snow at that time, we were trained on the ground. This was the least interesting part of the course, but there was no other option. It was kind of funny to practice snow craft on solid ground. We were shown the techniques of walking, self arresting using an ice axe. Also, the techniques of group arrest were shown. This part of the course was relatively easy, & as I have already said, it was pretty boring without snow.
I have to say that NIM chefs were too good! At that altitude & unfriendly weather, they continued to serve great food & that also in perfect timings! Kudos to them. We even had 'gajar ka halwa' & 'payesam' during that time!
Last part of the course was height gain. We were taken at an altitude of 15000 feet to 'Machadhar'. It was a pretty hard steep route. We were running almost out of breathe. Some people couldn't finish to the top.
The route was beautiful in terms of the snow peaked mountains that were in stone-throw distance. The DKD2 peak was looking so close from the top! Some people even carried Indian flag & posed photos with that, as if it's Mt. Everest summit (I was joking that we have scaled 'Mt. Machadhar' :P )
After reaching the top, instructors congratulated us for achieving the height gain & successfully finishing the course. Everybody was joyful at that moment. We did a lot of photo sessions before climbing down.
However, getting down was even harder, as usually the case for mountain climbing in general. We had to be very careful about our steps. After reaching basecamp, we were welcomed with toffee & warm handshake from the instructor team. It was really a nice moment for all of us :)
We are almost at the end of the course. I couldn't wait (in fact all of us) to go down & call home. We had a day for map reading, where the instructors will give you some point coordinates & you have to find those points using the map. You have to go at those points & get signed from the instructors who are hiding in the location at that point. We could manage finding all the points on time.
Last day we had the theory exam, which was from the lectures we had so far. One needs to get descent marks in theory in order to get good grades. It wasn't tough, but you need to take notes from the lectures & revise these once before the exam. We also had a test on rope knots. The instructors asked us to show some random knots & they marked.
Finally before leaving we had to clean the whole camp area, folded the tents & got lined up for our descend. Finally we are leaving!! I couldn't feel much happier!! We came down to Tel camp on the same day (about 14 Km of trek), rested for a night there & came down rest of the route on the next day. My knees were hurting so much while descending! But the joy of going back was brimming over in my mind. Every step was a new joy & I was literally running downwards. At the point when the suspension bridge (which was the starting point of our route) was visible, my joy left no bound. We congratulated each other & hugged, before getting into the bus. I called home & got relief. My parents started worrying about me, & they were also relieved.
I didn't see my face for 15 days. The moment I was in front of the mirror, I was literally shocked to see my skin. Due to excessive sunburn, I had turned totally black, along with rough strains on my face. I almost couldn't recognize my own face ;)
Rest couple of days were about cleaning & returning back the equipments, preparation for the graduation ceremony. On the last day we had our graduation ceremony when the principal, Colonel Ajay Kothiyal gave us the badge. The badge was actually very nice, it was a mini version of an ice axe :)
We also had group photograph of the entire batch.
Next morning we left the institute at 6.30 in the morning by the institute bus, which dropped us at Uttarkashi market. I took a bus to Rishikesh, & from there took another bus to Haridwar. I stayed in Haridwar for that night, & explored the local area a bit.
Next day I had train at night. Finally came back home with some amazing experience that I will never forget in my life...
PS: Finally I have got "A" grade, & now planning to do advance course... maybe from HMI Darjeeling?!? (any suggestions?)
Our schedule for 15 days at basecamp was pretty tight. We used to wake up around 5.30 in the morning. To me, it was the hardest part of the whole training ;) The worst part was to go out of the tent in the middle of night for the washroom. However, the heavenly beauty of the surroundings with snow capped mountains flooded by moonlight was unimaginably surrealistic! I couldn't capture those moments in my camera, but that will be with me forever.
The mornings were too cold to wake up, but astoundingly calm, quiet & beautiful.
I used to drink 2/3 cups of tea to get warmed up. Breakfasts were ready by 7.30 AM. As usual, we had varieties of menus for different days.
Typically we had to fall in by 8.15 by getting ready & then start trekking towards the glacier with all the equipments. It used to take about 1.5-2 hours & was pretty tough at least for initial days. When there is less oxygen in the air, it's always hard to trek steep route with load on your back.
My headache for first couple of days was almost killing me, as if someone is hammering on my head. But still I kept going ignoring the pain. And when you in a heavenly place, you can forget everything (well, that's just a dialogue, I could hardly realize the surrounding beauty at that time ;) )...
The route to the glacier was initially pretty steep, then we were on top of a hilly area, from where the moraine area started. We used to have a break on the top for 10 minutes or so.
The glacier was named as 'Dokrani Bamak'. We had to put our rucksacks & other stuff at the bottom of the glacier & then had to get ready by wearing our boots, crampons, harness along with carabiners, ice crews & ice axe.
The days usually started with a demo session from the instructors, followed by practice with our instructors (as we did during rock climbing).
We were shown the technique of 'tip toe climbing', where you climb with your crampons & ice axe. This is amazing, literally you stand on the ice wall relying just only two front spikes of your crampon! One needs lot of body balance to do this. Then you have to hit your ice axe on the wall, place it firmly, & then move up. Our instructor Umang sir was so good in teaching this.
We did practice on couple of ice walls. Initially I was losing too much energy, then gradually I learned the proper technique & was enjoying the climb.
We were given tutorials of how to place ice screws on the ice wall. Basically you take a long hollow screw, put it on the wall in 90 degree position, press it & give a few rotations, followed by applying full rotations until it gets firmly attached to the wall. Then your life depends on that, as you pass your rope through a carabiner attached to the screw, which holds your full body weight. It was so exciting!!
I used to chat with my instructor all the time & asked lot of questions. He is such a great teacher!
Sessions having multi-pitch climbing were more interesting. That teaches you how to take turns in climbing a huge ice wall. One takes the lead, fixes anchor on the wall while the other climbs, then their roles are interchanged for the next session, & the process continues until they reach the top.
We also did rappelling & jummaring on ice walls. Two thing I realized: always keep multiple gloves with you, & never use good quality gloves during ice climbing, it will be wasted. The gloves usually get wet during climbing, & also get damaged by holding ice axe. I recommend to use thin woollen gloves which are usually good in gripping & also they are cheap.
One more challenge was to walk on the boulder with your crampons on. Even walking on the boulders was a challenge with your climbing boots, if you don't know the proper technique. Few guys forgot their sunglass & instructors managed to get some for them, because one will get snow blind by being exposed to the sun & ice for several hours.
We learned the technique for crevasse crossing. There were some small crevasses in the glacier & we practiced on those. This session was something that made us feel like we are climbing Everest by crossing crevasse using aluminium ladders ;)
Finally we learned rescue techniques from crevasse: how can you rescue someone from a crevasse & how can you rescue yourself if you fall inside a crevasse. We learned powerful 'C-pulley' & 'Z-pulley' techniques during this session.
Crevasse rescue session was fun. People wanted to have their photograph when they are inside the crevasse playing as a victim & they had smiling face towards the camera, as if it is enjoyable to fall inside ;)
Every day we were monitored by instructors. Our performance, attitude, behaviour, everything was being noticed for our grades. I really like to get dressed as a mountaineer. I posed for some fake photos :P
There is no water supply in the glacier, so we had to carry our water bottle & sip a bit for the whole day. Drinking lot of water is one of the most important things of mountain climbing. If you drink less, you will get dehydrated quickly & will become sick. The instructors were telling this all the time.
On the last day we revised all of our techniques. It was a relief that we won't have to do this tough trek every day to come to the glacier. It was really tiring!
In the afternoon we used to have volleyball session. Yes, you can play volleyball at 12000 feet with your instructors. Although I didn't, but people were so excited to play volleyball. The instructors were so good in playing!
We used to sit beside the court, chatted with each other & enjoyed the beauty of last rays of setting sun on the mountains. Typically our group was Roopak, Reshma, Dipa & me. Those days while sitting there beside the volleyball court, I used to complain so much with the strict schedules, now I look back & actually feel good about those days :)
Evenings were mostly about theory lectures & movies. Sometimes we had some chat with the instructors while having our evening soup. I will remember the motivating words from Bhatt sir, he is such an amazing person!
I tried to call home via satellite phone of NIM (which costs Rs 70 per minute), but unfortunately it was banned in India at that time. So I couldn't communicate with my family. That was one thing bothering me so much. When you are far away from your family & can't talk to them, you will get depressed.
The last phase of the training was the snow craft. However, due to lack of fresh snow at that time, we were trained on the ground. This was the least interesting part of the course, but there was no other option. It was kind of funny to practice snow craft on solid ground. We were shown the techniques of walking, self arresting using an ice axe. Also, the techniques of group arrest were shown. This part of the course was relatively easy, & as I have already said, it was pretty boring without snow.
I have to say that NIM chefs were too good! At that altitude & unfriendly weather, they continued to serve great food & that also in perfect timings! Kudos to them. We even had 'gajar ka halwa' & 'payesam' during that time!
Last part of the course was height gain. We were taken at an altitude of 15000 feet to 'Machadhar'. It was a pretty hard steep route. We were running almost out of breathe. Some people couldn't finish to the top.
The route was beautiful in terms of the snow peaked mountains that were in stone-throw distance. The DKD2 peak was looking so close from the top! Some people even carried Indian flag & posed photos with that, as if it's Mt. Everest summit (I was joking that we have scaled 'Mt. Machadhar' :P )
After reaching the top, instructors congratulated us for achieving the height gain & successfully finishing the course. Everybody was joyful at that moment. We did a lot of photo sessions before climbing down.
However, getting down was even harder, as usually the case for mountain climbing in general. We had to be very careful about our steps. After reaching basecamp, we were welcomed with toffee & warm handshake from the instructor team. It was really a nice moment for all of us :)
We are almost at the end of the course. I couldn't wait (in fact all of us) to go down & call home. We had a day for map reading, where the instructors will give you some point coordinates & you have to find those points using the map. You have to go at those points & get signed from the instructors who are hiding in the location at that point. We could manage finding all the points on time.
Last day we had the theory exam, which was from the lectures we had so far. One needs to get descent marks in theory in order to get good grades. It wasn't tough, but you need to take notes from the lectures & revise these once before the exam. We also had a test on rope knots. The instructors asked us to show some random knots & they marked.
Finally before leaving we had to clean the whole camp area, folded the tents & got lined up for our descend. Finally we are leaving!! I couldn't feel much happier!! We came down to Tel camp on the same day (about 14 Km of trek), rested for a night there & came down rest of the route on the next day. My knees were hurting so much while descending! But the joy of going back was brimming over in my mind. Every step was a new joy & I was literally running downwards. At the point when the suspension bridge (which was the starting point of our route) was visible, my joy left no bound. We congratulated each other & hugged, before getting into the bus. I called home & got relief. My parents started worrying about me, & they were also relieved.
I didn't see my face for 15 days. The moment I was in front of the mirror, I was literally shocked to see my skin. Due to excessive sunburn, I had turned totally black, along with rough strains on my face. I almost couldn't recognize my own face ;)
Rest couple of days were about cleaning & returning back the equipments, preparation for the graduation ceremony. On the last day we had our graduation ceremony when the principal, Colonel Ajay Kothiyal gave us the badge. The badge was actually very nice, it was a mini version of an ice axe :)
We also had group photograph of the entire batch.
Next morning we left the institute at 6.30 in the morning by the institute bus, which dropped us at Uttarkashi market. I took a bus to Rishikesh, & from there took another bus to Haridwar. I stayed in Haridwar for that night, & explored the local area a bit.
Next day I had train at night. Finally came back home with some amazing experience that I will never forget in my life...
PS: Finally I have got "A" grade, & now planning to do advance course... maybe from HMI Darjeeling?!? (any suggestions?)
