My Mountain dream: (BMC-233, NIM, Uttarkashi)

 My Mountain dream: (BMC-233, NIM, Uttarkashi)

(27^th May to 24^th June 2014)

The best ever decision I took in my life is ‘going in for Mountaineering’. Well, what led me into thinking that a weak- feeble person like me should do this,  was the sense of  urgency arising out of years of thinking and analyzing over the re-current dreams of falling on-n-off a steep mountain cliff, during my childhood, which subconsciously I’d been carrying along all these years of my life. This sense of going into deeper became stronger once I started doing small treks, which one fine day led me into jumping into the conclusion that there is something more in those dreams, and may be once in the Mountains I’ll find the answers. So, without a second thought I just applied for the basic mountaineering course at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, one of the best and renowned institutes of India.

As per the schedule, I traveled to Uttarkashi on 26^th May, and reached there with loads of apprehensions whether I’d be able to do the course, as I was physically very weak, though mentally and emotionally I might be strong.  But leaving all thoughts at a bay, then I was there, praying everyday to end on a good note, and at the same time thanking the mighty Himalayas for being good to me. ;-)

On the very first day of the course, we were divided into different ropes, and I was lucky to be part of one of the best Ropes i.e. Rope-9. We were seven of us; Khushbu (Gujarati), Monica (from Doon), Sonica (from Uttarkashi), Aaarushi (Delhi), Rewa (Mumbaikar), Shilpa, our leader (from Bangalore) and me (Himachali). And we all were full time comedians, who became a family for another 27 days, sticking together 24*7. And also we got the best instructor, Ms. Rekha, who was the only lady instructor over there.

After 3 days of initial training in the NIM campus through running, PT, hill-walk of around 3-4 kms with loaded rucksack, artificial wall climbing and market visit for buying necessary stuffs to carry at the mountains, the training was divided into three different parts and locations.

Part-1 : Rock Craft at Tekhla (30/05/14 to 03/06/14)

Every morning at 5:30 am, we would start our walk to Tekhla, 9 kms from NIM, with loaded rucksacks on our back, with only one rest point after 4 kms. Though the walk was through road only, but it would get tedious and tiring with the loads on our back, which would become worse the day when it’s our turn to carry the rope, which was another 3-4 kg extra. But all the tiredness would vanish away, once we reach the beautiful Tekhla area, surrounded by lush green hills, full of pine trees and rocks and boulders in different shapes and sizes. Here we were taught rock craft; Bouldering, Anchoring, Belaying, Jummaring, Rappelling, Climbing etc. The training for every activity would start with a lecture, during which we could take notes if we wished or we could just sleep behind our goggles (Lol). The lecture would be followed by demonstration during which almost everyone wakes up (:P), and then finally, our turn comes to actually do all the activities. For first timers like me, rock craft wasn’t that easy; while climbing, looking for hand holds and foot holds, unable to find a comfortable point, we had to struggle with pressure holds, pushing and pulling our bodies, tiring every nerve point, which would be very visible through our dramatically trembling legs, hands and breathlessness. (Sigh) I just wonder how I did all these! But within I feel so satisfied to have pushed my own limits everyday and for surprising myself at every point.

Trek to Tela (8200 ft) (04/06/14)

So, finally came the much awaited day of leaving the civilization behind, to walk into the mountains. We were taken by NIM bus to Bhukki gaon, the village from where we were to trek upward. As the name suggests ‘Tela’ (tel), it was really “Tel nikaal dene wala”. It was 9 kms upward trek, which felt like more than that as ridges after ridges appeared which disappointed us at every turn and our whole body ached while spirit cried. Shilpa (nicknamed Anna), our Rope leader, and youngest amongst us, would ask all the instructors in her cute and innocent baby like style,” Sir, how long more?”  And in her typical south India style she would say,” My yeverything is paining!” (Being nostalgic of every moment now) hmm.

Then with our everything paining, we kept our pace slow and managed to reach Tela around 3 pm after taking rests at points more than required. And finally there it was, the beautiful Tela at 8200 ft, layers of mountains with trees like oak, walnut and rhododendron being its beautiful possessions. It was here that I got the chance to witness both the sunrise and sunset, spreading heavenly beauty and bliss around it. It was my first time camping experience which was just awesome. Even the instruction to ‘Take your ice axe, dig a pit for no. 2 and cover it’ was so cool and interesting. ;-)

Tela Camp

Jungle Camp (8300 ft.) (05/06/14)

3 kms further trek, sometimes through hills, sometimes straight and sometimes down along the river bank, and we reached Jungle camp (an extra halt for our batch). The sudden steep ascents at many places were so painful, creating doubts in our minds about our next day trek to Gujjar Hutt, which some of the girls said would be the ‘faadu chadhaai’ (tough trek).  At 4 o’clock we were taken for 1 hour uphill acclimatization trek, which was though steep, but not tiring as we were holding nothing except for our water bottles. Though it was a beautiful and peaceful halt, but the insect bites at night and waking up at 4 am and struggling for no. 2, fearing of wild animals and walking into buddy pairs as per the instructions, were quite challenging and memorable. Hmm.

Jungle and the Junglees. ;)

Gujjar Hutt (11200 ft.) (06/06/14)

The 9 kms trek to Gujjar Hut was quite long, but bearable and less tough as compared to the apprehensions and fear created by some of the girls the previous evening.  Walking through the jungle, struggling to look up and around when a beautiful scene came across, and crossing ridges after ridges, the moment we entered the large patch of Gujjar hut area, all went “WOW”, and the heavenly bliss started penetrating deep into everyone’s heart, for I could see around girls sighing and mumbling ‘wow’, a quiet and peaceful smile surrounding their eyes, and taking their chance of rest for photography to capture it for lifetime.  Truly said,” Heaven is everywhere on earth. But it doesn’t come to us; we have to walk towards it.”

We left at 7:30 and reached at 2:30 pm, after taking rests at 4-5 points. We pitched our tents, and made ourselves at home.  And at 4 o'clock we were taken to ‘Kheda Tal’ a beautiful lake at around 15-20 mnts walk from our camping area. The beauty of the whole area including the tal, was so breathtaking and heavenly, amusing and touching us to the core. Different kinds of wildflowers and greenery around, and the surrounding snow covered mountains became treat to our soul. And the kind of inner feeling each one of us felt, were so indescribable. It was a pure bliss. :-)

"In the Heaven you feel like an angel"

Base Camp (12300 ft.)

Finally, we reached our base camp after 4 days of trekking and halting at above mentioned beautiful places. As the O2 level decreased substantially and vegetation also became thin, some of the girls started having breathing problems. But somehow we had to be mentally prepared as it was our home for next 14 days. And also the base camp, surrounded by beautiful snow covered mountains and peaks like Joanli, Draupadi ka danda, Machcha dhar was another world in itself. I felt quite serene and at peace in the serene environment of base camp, full of beautiful flowers like spring onion, marsh marigold, premula denticulla, animoni, butter cup, iris, wild rhododendron, and the best one to which I could associate was juniper, two varieties of it, one of which we, the Buddhists use for incense. :-)

"The Base Camp; A home away from home"

Part-2: Ice Craft at Dokrani Bamak Glacier (13000 ft.) (08/06/14 to 13/06/14)

So, here we go, every day following 5-6-7 morning schedule, of tea at 5 am, breakfast at 6 am and move to Dokrani bamak glacier at 7 am, which was located around 3 kms away from the base camp. The walk from meadows and long patch of green ground, to thinning vegetation, to no vegetation,  to moraine and to glacier, was though for just 2.5 hrs, but those walks were the most tiring and killing ones, given to the climate and decreasing O2 level. The day would become even worse for those whose turn it’d be to carry the rope, for when it was my turn I felt that at any moment I’ll stop breathing and die.  The morning at base camp would be chilling, as cold wind blew so mischievously, penetrating deep into our skins after we reluctantly washed our faces, and it felt like some sharp edged knife being pricked all over our faces. (sigh)

"The Glacier, where we learnt ice craft"

At Dokrani Bamak glacier, we were taught Ice craft; Ascending & Descending on ice through different positions, Anchoring-Belaying on ice, Fixed rope climbing on ice, Jummaring-Rappeling on ice, Crevasse crossing and Crevasse rescue. The first day, we all were energetic and well performed in ascending-descending session. But from day 2 in ice, almost everyone started getting weak and sick. We could feel the weaknesses in our body and our energy level became so low, that we were not able to pull tight the straps of our crampons even. The no. of sick leaves also increased everyday, which further demotivated our spirit. Most of the young girls started crying and missing their homes badly, counting days on their fingertips.  No matter what, we kept moving and dragging ourselves with mixed feelings of hope, despair and determination and completed our ice craft lessons on 13th june when finally everybody took sighs of relief. On 14^th June, we had load ferry to Advance base camp, where on 15^th we were supposed to move and camp. So, it was a kind of acclimatization walk, plus lessening of our load for the next day.

Part-3: Trek to ABC and Snow craft (13600 ft.) (15/06/14 to 16/06/14)

Wohoo! 4 kms upward trek through moraine, crossing from one ridge to another, resting at 2 rest points, we finally pitched our tents on snow, and it was so exciting. I've never slept on snow, and it was wonderful, I shapath! It had been entirely a different experience and we loved it, though we had to struggle for so many things. (I am not mentioning them here..:P)

"Fun plus trouble went side by side at ABC"

On 16^th June, we had our entire lessons on Snow craft; Ascending- Descending, Self arrest-Team arrest, Anchoring-Belaying etc. Activities on snow were easiest comparatively, as we had no fear of getting hurt if we would fall, because the snow was soooo soft. :-)

Final point : Camp-1- For Height gain (15600 ft. ) (17/06/2014)

The best day ever! The walk entirely on snow covered mountains, which were steep and angled,  was not easy at all. This was the actual test for everyone to check their own endurance level. Few girls stayed back at base camp only, while few of them returned back from halfway. Khushbu and Shilpa , my rope-mates, also fainted on the way, but they were determined to climb and refused to walk back. Hats off to them for that! Aarushi and I were walking behind Shilpa, trying to motivate her to walk at her own pace, mumbling through our own breathlessness. The view around was quite mesmerizing, with layers of snow in different shapes and shades along with the huge crevasses on the way. Though my body like all others was not in my control, as we were dragging and pulling our steps upward, a different kind of feeling started engulfing me, and soon I was in a trance, which I was enjoying and which felt like a pure bliss. I was feeling no pain and wanted nothing, but to keep walking and walking. After rests at 2 points, we reached camp 1 after 4 hours I guess, and everybody in a jubilant mood started congratulating each other for successfully reaching out at that height. The frowns and tired expressions of everyone turned into huge smiles and sighs of satisfaction. :-)

"The feelings we got after reaching at the  top were worth all the pain we had to go through"

We stayed there for quite a little time of 15-20 minutes, and descended down as per instruction. And the descent was so much fun, as we were not walking but sliding in queue in sitting position, skidding, scrambling, and running, at the same time laughing and giggling when we would clash and fall on each other. By the time we reached down, our knees started hurting as the distance was quite long.  But overall, that was my best day!

"The entire course with instructors on the top"

And back at advance base camp, it started raining so heavily, draining and drenching our rucksacks and clothes which we had kept outside for further descent to base camp after lunch. Rain water poured into our tiffins also while we were eating, though we managed to rush into kitchen which was too small to accommodate all. The fun day soon turned into a hard day. We got ready soon for descend and started walking, and thank God the rain stopped midway, and we could dry ourselves a little. Again truly said,”God gives you nothing for free, at least not the Mountain & Nature Gods.” :-)

Back to base camp, everybody, including our senior course, Vice Principal and kitchen staff had queued themselves with one person holding sweets, and welcomed us all back and congratulated us, which felt so warm and touching. It was as if we had accomplished something big, and big it was, as for city-dwellers like us it was obviously an achievement to have climbed up-to 15600 ft. :-)

The last day at base camp; "Let me squeeze the moment..:-)"

On 18^th June we had written test and Navigation test at the base camp only, which was our last day there and after lunch we were free to pack our stuffs and get mentally ready for our journey back to civilization. I didn't feel like coming back, but no choice. Hmm. We left BC on 19^th and stayed at Tela, where we had bone fire in the evening and camp fun practice. And on 20^th we were back to NIM, which was like coming home. When everybody looked fresh after taking bath after 18 days, we teased each other like,” Aap kaun ho?' as everybody looked so different and fresh. Lol. We were taken for market visit in the evening, where Rewa treated us with delicious chaat papdi. On 21^st we had graduation ceremony practice and camp fire practice. Our Rope decided to dance on Garhwali no. and Monica became our choreographer. So, 22^nd was our last day in NIM, when we became Mountaineering graduates (Proud feeling). In the evening we had camp fun programme, in which everybody showed their talents. From my rope Rewa, the singer sang a beautiful English no. on climbing, Monica recited her Poem 'Yeh NIM ke din', and of course we performed our group dance on Garhwali no. and yes we rocked! ;-)

Then the day to leave the dream world and to face the real world came early morning on 23^rd June, when we left NIM for our own respective destinations, carrying along loads of memories to cherish for lifetime.  And for me, it was coming close to my dream, and inside my heart there is still a call; Something is there in the mountains, which touched a part of me and there seems and feels to be something more for which I must go deeper, still deeper, and I hope and pray that I'd be able to do so.

And now back to Mumbai and back to work, I am still thinking and missing my Mountain days, for a part of me I'd left there only.

(A-1 experience; all smiles :-) : Nawi)