After very late lunch (around 4:00 pm) on our arrival at base camp, we were advised by our instructors to wear mountaineering boots and keep moving. This was to keep our O2 levels from dropping since we were at 14,500 ft now. Resting immediately after a height gain is usually a recipe for disaster. The snow was falling heavily now and most folks had donned the heavier, warmer gear. Around 6 pm they served amazing hot soup and after that I decided to call it a day...I was convinced I didn't want dinner after such a late lunch and soup.
The quarters for the basic course were 2 wooden huts (smaller one for women as we were fewer in
number), the advanced course was staying tents. It was a confined and hence cozy arrangement - 27 of us (28 with instructor) split across two levels of this wooden dorm. As I had mentioned earlier, so many women in together in limited space is not a great idea and I wasn't wrong...the space wars that had started in the congested tents at Yuksom, continued here as well so much so that one lady announced that if she couldn't sleep due to lack of space, she wouldn't let anyone else sleep though I am not sure how her threat was supposed to create any additional space. There were two doors to this hut, we kept one closed and used only one for entry/exit. The problem was that whenever anyone stepped out during the night to relieve themselves, the door wouldn't stay shut due to wind and we couldn't bolt it from inside as someone was still out and they couldn't bolt it from outside in case someone else had to step out. So almost half the time, we would all be shivering because even though the sleeping bags were great at keeping us warm they couldn't do so against a continuous torrent.
There were box loos at the base camp - while they protected us from cold, an
d saved us the hassle of digging holes - they were still nothing more than pit latrines. Plus they were atleast 7-8 minutes walk from our hut through rocks and boulders. I almost got lost the previous night since it was snowing.
The water for washing/ cleaning was stored in couple of large plastic tanks and due to sub zero temperatures at night, there would be a sheet of ice at top in the morning that one would need to break to access the water. Washing face or brushing teeth or washing our mess tins/cups with such cold water, would leave our fingers numb for atleast 15-20 minutes.
First morning at base camp we woke up to ankle deep snow covering everything - it had snowed whole night and had given way to a beautiful morning. Today's agenda included a class in the open and a walk in our mountaineering boots about half way to the glacier. The idea was to get used to walking in snow & ice and since glacier was at slightly higher altitude, today's walk would help us with acclimatization as well. We started at 8 am with sun shining on or backs, the first 20-25 minutes was a steep ascent made difficult by our lack of experience in walking with mountaineering boots. By the time we reached the top, the sun vanished and weather started to turn colder.
We all gathered around our instructor, who took us through a class on various peaks and ranges and valleys in the area. The idea is that as he shares the information, we can actually see the peaks around us. However, nothing was really visible today as weather had turned bad but the class continued in the open for good part of an hour and by the end of it I was shivering due to lack of movement and extreme cold. It had also started to snow lightly.
Post the class, we continued the walk and turned back at half way point to the glacier. We came back around 1 pm, had lunch and rested a bit in our huts before being hauled out again for a short class on how to tie crampons. After another short break, we were asked to gather on a slope for a demonstration class on use of ice axe and crampons. Going down that slope in our boots wasn't an easy task and I got reprimanded by the instructor for not being fast enough - by now I was pissed enough to retort back that he hasn't taught us how to walk in these boots! He apparently didn't care and continued to tell everyone to come down fast and at one point I slipped badly - had 3-4 pairs of arms not held me that time, I would gone down that mountain slope and incurred some very serious injuries - but the instructor was unflappable! I didn't like this part - they don't teach us how to walk in these boots, they yell at us for not knowing and even when they see someone almost flying off the slope, they do not accept the fault with their instruction method!
After everyone had found a spot to crouch on that slope, he took us through various techniques of climbing an ice wall using crampons and ice axe - crampons are used mostly in one mode called front pointing (or German technique)- but ice axe can be used in many ways - glissading, pick & toe etc. Post the class, we all tied our crampons on and walked around in circles for about 20-30 minutes in large flat area - given what our crampons were doing to the surface, we started joking that we are being used in lieu of cattle to plough the field :)
Thus ended day 1 at the base camp, it wasn't a tough day at all in anyway. But having woken up at 5 am, I was pretty beat and I wasn't hungry, so I decided to skip dinner today as well and went to sleep pretty early. I slept fitfully, due to the cold and the lack of space - I just couldn't find any comfortable position.
Day 2 we woke up to a bright and sunny morning, we had our breakfast and started for the glacier sharp at 7 am - I simply couldn't eat anything that early (6 am) and hence decided to pack the eggs & chapati in the mess tin and carried it with me for later. The walk to the glacier was long and took us 3 hours to get there...HMI glacier is accessible only to HMI and army, so its pretty clean and not crowded at all. We all tied our crampons once we got there, then we were tied together by a long rope and started with the glacier walk. I was already tired after this 3 hour walk in un-wielding and heavy mountaineering boots - also because I hadn't had any dinner or breakfast. I found myself gasping for breath and had to ask the rope leader to stop, in between the walk, a couple of times. Almost near the end of the walk, I felt disoriented, resulting in bad fall for me which tore through 3 layers of clothing and hurt my knee. In this extreme cold, the fall brought tears to my eyes - looking at that instructor ordered a break so I could grab some of my breakfast that I had brought with me.
Post this break, we started to use the front pointing technique to climb the ice walls - these were not very high and hence there were no ropes or belaying today. The idea was to practice techniques before trying the higher walls next day with the protection of belay. We spent about 90 minutes climbing ice walls with crampons and ice axe. Everyone, except me, in our rope had some rock and artificial wall climbing experience and hence they were able to grasp the techniques much better. But I continued to struggle for the first 30-40 minutes and it took me almost an hour to get to the top of this short wall without slipping down in between.
Around noon, rest of my rope was still happily going up and down but I was tired and my instructor could sense it - he asked me to join the only lady instructor of our course who was accompanying a female batchmate back to base camp as she had a bum knee. My rope instructor felt that I would be slow on the way back because of my fall and tiredness, so he wanted me to head back with them instead. I didn't mind as the training for the day was over, teams had already started to pack up and head to the place where tea/coffee was waiting for us. The sunny weather had also given way to mild snow fall and I was all too happy to skip the coffee & biscuit break and get to the warm confines of the wooden hut at base camp.
3 of us left the glacier around 12:15 pm and walking slowly and steadily, we reached the base camp around 3 pm. Weather continued to get colder and colder, couple of times I found myself gasping for breath but nothing that a 2-3 minutes break couldn't fix. Once I almost fell into the icy waters as the ice on top wasn't thick enough and I was too tired to notice it.
The lunch was served when we reached and even though I had barely touched my breakfast (it was so cold at glacier, I couldn't eat the frozen eggs or roti), I couldn't eat more than a cup of cooked rice and some curry. Rest of the batch reached around 3:20 pm or so and post lunch we were all expected to gather out in this cold again for another class. I requested to be excused as I wasn't well enough to attend another class out in the open. I felt better as I rested in the warm sleeping bag and ultimately enjoyed a great evening playing an interesting card game in the dining hall.
Come dinner time, while I enjoyed the soup, everything else refused to do down my throat and I sensed trouble. My breathlessness had gone up and I wasn't able to eat inspite of 6 hours of hiking plus wall climbing done today. I visited the course doctor and while my O2 levels were a bit low, they weren't that bad to warrant the breathlessness and appetite loss that I was experiencing. It was suggested that I meet him first thing in morning to decide if I was fit enough to go to glacier the next day.
After another night of fitful sleep I woke up very tired on Day 3. This coupled with my inability to eat any breakfast, made me reach a decision to skip the glacier training today and the doctor also agreed with me. I was not alone at the base camp - there were 5 other women and couple of guys - some were not allowed by doctor and some turned back 20-30 minutes into the hike to the glacier. Plus we had the course doctor and the lady instructor.
The sun was out and weather wasn't too cold, so we decided to dry our damp sleeping bags and air our smelly feet - it felt so great to wiggle our toes :) One of the girls decided to clean our hut, so I joined her and helped her make our quarters a bit more livable.
The course came back from glacier around 3:30 pm - exhausted and cold but happy, as today they had climbed higher walls with the safety of rope and belay. Next day was a respite from glacier training and everyone was glad that they wouldn't have to walk for 6 hours to and fro the glacier. I, however, had reached the conclusion that I must descend because my breathlessness hadn't reduced and I still was unable to eat dinner. I had soup and again couldn't manage even a bite of solid food. Lunch was all I had today as well. Doctor felt that it was because I was unable to handle cold, instructors felt that I should force feed myself and stay at it but I knew that my inability to eat will simply exacerbate the problems if I stayed here much longer and I wanted to descend.
There was a lot of debate that evening - doctor, course director, lady instructor, my rope instructor - but the decision was that I would stay back at base camp even if I can't do any glacier training. The reason was that since I was the lone woman to descend (other two who doctor was sending back were guys), they would need to send the lady instructor with me and that would mean that base camp will have no lady instructor to control the remaining 26 women.
As luck would have it, next day another woman decided to descend along with her husband when they heard that two guys were going back along with a cook, a sherpa and an instructor. She had a cough that was refusing to go away and since her husband was with her, course director didn't feel a need to send the lady instructor and since I had another woman for company now, I could go as well!
I was given 10 minutes to pack everything if I wanted to join them. I managed to pack 95% of my stuff along with the heavier sleeping bag instead of the lighter one that belonged to my friend. Some stuff I gave to a Bangalore friend to bring back and rest I wrote off. I bid teary goodbyes to my batch while being yelled at by course director for causing delay in the departure. Since one of the guys being asked to descend was in bad shape (he was on oxygen last night), course doctor and another instructor were also accompanying us till Dzongri La.
It was a sunny morning and while I was sad at leaving the base camp 5 days too soon, I was also relieved to be headed back. Having missed one of the four days of glacier training, I knew that I would not get the grade required to get admission to advanced course. Since I would need to do the basic course again anyway, I felt it was better to descend now when I could do it on my own.
The descent to Bikbari felt fantastic as we were losing altitude but the climb back to Dzongri La felt like torture. Again, I was hiking on empty stomach and was even more exhausted than before. The sherpa took my heavy backpack as I was slowing the party down and made me carry his lighter one instead.
At Dzongri La, we bid fond farewell to the doctor and one of the instructors and continued our descent to Dzongri. I reached earlier along with sherpa and cook and grabbed some noodles for breakfast at the shop there. The hot soupy noodles warmed me up and hydrated me and I resumed the hike down with lot more energy even though it had started raining. We walked 25 km almost non-stop and reached Bakhim around 4:30 pm. Rain had not let up at all and we were very thankful for the warm and dry rest house there. While going up we had taken 2 days for the same distance.
We all stayed in one room and the cooking staff served us an awesome early dinner around 6 pm. It was the best meal of my HMI days. By 8 pm, all of us had retired as cook and sherpa were headed back to base camp early AM next day and rest of us students would head back to Darjeeling via Yuksom with the instructor.
It was a 13 km hike from Bakhim to Yuksom and we started at 5:45 am after a very early breakfast. There was just one tough ascent today and I had my own heavy backpack but I managed it without any incident. Rest of the hike was all mostly downhill with mild ascents in between. We reached Yuksom around 10:30 am where our instructor made further travelling arrangements and we left for Darjeeling around noon. With a short lunch halt at Jorethang and another one at Melli check post (3 of the 5 descending were foreigners), we managed to reach HMI campus only around 9 pm due to heavy road construction all along the route.
The next day was spent in returning institute issued equipment and getting clearances and making return travel arrangements. I also managed to explore Darjeeling a bit as I had missed the same before we left for base camp. Thus ended my first serious attempt at mountaineering and even though it was short, I got exposed enough to understand what hardships it entails. Next time when I join the course, I will be better prepared to handle it and get the required grade to gain admission into advanced course.
The quarters for the basic course were 2 wooden huts (smaller one for women as we were fewer in
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| Women's hut |
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| Dining Hall |
d saved us the hassle of digging holes - they were still nothing more than pit latrines. Plus they were atleast 7-8 minutes walk from our hut through rocks and boulders. I almost got lost the previous night since it was snowing.
The water for washing/ cleaning was stored in couple of large plastic tanks and due to sub zero temperatures at night, there would be a sheet of ice at top in the morning that one would need to break to access the water. Washing face or brushing teeth or washing our mess tins/cups with such cold water, would leave our fingers numb for atleast 15-20 minutes.
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| Base Camp with fresh snow |
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| Morning class out in the cold |
Post the class, we continued the walk and turned back at half way point to the glacier. We came back around 1 pm, had lunch and rested a bit in our huts before being hauled out again for a short class on how to tie crampons. After another short break, we were asked to gather on a slope for a demonstration class on use of ice axe and crampons. Going down that slope in our boots wasn't an easy task and I got reprimanded by the instructor for not being fast enough - by now I was pissed enough to retort back that he hasn't taught us how to walk in these boots! He apparently didn't care and continued to tell everyone to come down fast and at one point I slipped badly - had 3-4 pairs of arms not held me that time, I would gone down that mountain slope and incurred some very serious injuries - but the instructor was unflappable! I didn't like this part - they don't teach us how to walk in these boots, they yell at us for not knowing and even when they see someone almost flying off the slope, they do not accept the fault with their instruction method!
After everyone had found a spot to crouch on that slope, he took us through various techniques of climbing an ice wall using crampons and ice axe - crampons are used mostly in one mode called front pointing (or German technique)- but ice axe can be used in many ways - glissading, pick & toe etc. Post the class, we all tied our crampons on and walked around in circles for about 20-30 minutes in large flat area - given what our crampons were doing to the surface, we started joking that we are being used in lieu of cattle to plough the field :)
Thus ended day 1 at the base camp, it wasn't a tough day at all in anyway. But having woken up at 5 am, I was pretty beat and I wasn't hungry, so I decided to skip dinner today as well and went to sleep pretty early. I slept fitfully, due to the cold and the lack of space - I just couldn't find any comfortable position.
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| Long hike to the Glacier |
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| Climbing ice walls |
Around noon, rest of my rope was still happily going up and down but I was tired and my instructor could sense it - he asked me to join the only lady instructor of our course who was accompanying a female batchmate back to base camp as she had a bum knee. My rope instructor felt that I would be slow on the way back because of my fall and tiredness, so he wanted me to head back with them instead. I didn't mind as the training for the day was over, teams had already started to pack up and head to the place where tea/coffee was waiting for us. The sunny weather had also given way to mild snow fall and I was all too happy to skip the coffee & biscuit break and get to the warm confines of the wooden hut at base camp.
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| Frozen lake between glacier and base camp |
3 of us left the glacier around 12:15 pm and walking slowly and steadily, we reached the base camp around 3 pm. Weather continued to get colder and colder, couple of times I found myself gasping for breath but nothing that a 2-3 minutes break couldn't fix. Once I almost fell into the icy waters as the ice on top wasn't thick enough and I was too tired to notice it.
The lunch was served when we reached and even though I had barely touched my breakfast (it was so cold at glacier, I couldn't eat the frozen eggs or roti), I couldn't eat more than a cup of cooked rice and some curry. Rest of the batch reached around 3:20 pm or so and post lunch we were all expected to gather out in this cold again for another class. I requested to be excused as I wasn't well enough to attend another class out in the open. I felt better as I rested in the warm sleeping bag and ultimately enjoyed a great evening playing an interesting card game in the dining hall.
Come dinner time, while I enjoyed the soup, everything else refused to do down my throat and I sensed trouble. My breathlessness had gone up and I wasn't able to eat inspite of 6 hours of hiking plus wall climbing done today. I visited the course doctor and while my O2 levels were a bit low, they weren't that bad to warrant the breathlessness and appetite loss that I was experiencing. It was suggested that I meet him first thing in morning to decide if I was fit enough to go to glacier the next day.
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| Drying wet clothes and damp sleeping bags |
The sun was out and weather wasn't too cold, so we decided to dry our damp sleeping bags and air our smelly feet - it felt so great to wiggle our toes :) One of the girls decided to clean our hut, so I joined her and helped her make our quarters a bit more livable.
The course came back from glacier around 3:30 pm - exhausted and cold but happy, as today they had climbed higher walls with the safety of rope and belay. Next day was a respite from glacier training and everyone was glad that they wouldn't have to walk for 6 hours to and fro the glacier. I, however, had reached the conclusion that I must descend because my breathlessness hadn't reduced and I still was unable to eat dinner. I had soup and again couldn't manage even a bite of solid food. Lunch was all I had today as well. Doctor felt that it was because I was unable to handle cold, instructors felt that I should force feed myself and stay at it but I knew that my inability to eat will simply exacerbate the problems if I stayed here much longer and I wanted to descend.
There was a lot of debate that evening - doctor, course director, lady instructor, my rope instructor - but the decision was that I would stay back at base camp even if I can't do any glacier training. The reason was that since I was the lone woman to descend (other two who doctor was sending back were guys), they would need to send the lady instructor with me and that would mean that base camp will have no lady instructor to control the remaining 26 women.
As luck would have it, next day another woman decided to descend along with her husband when they heard that two guys were going back along with a cook, a sherpa and an instructor. She had a cough that was refusing to go away and since her husband was with her, course director didn't feel a need to send the lady instructor and since I had another woman for company now, I could go as well!
I was given 10 minutes to pack everything if I wanted to join them. I managed to pack 95% of my stuff along with the heavier sleeping bag instead of the lighter one that belonged to my friend. Some stuff I gave to a Bangalore friend to bring back and rest I wrote off. I bid teary goodbyes to my batch while being yelled at by course director for causing delay in the departure. Since one of the guys being asked to descend was in bad shape (he was on oxygen last night), course doctor and another instructor were also accompanying us till Dzongri La.
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| At Bikbari |
It was a sunny morning and while I was sad at leaving the base camp 5 days too soon, I was also relieved to be headed back. Having missed one of the four days of glacier training, I knew that I would not get the grade required to get admission to advanced course. Since I would need to do the basic course again anyway, I felt it was better to descend now when I could do it on my own.
The descent to Bikbari felt fantastic as we were losing altitude but the climb back to Dzongri La felt like torture. Again, I was hiking on empty stomach and was even more exhausted than before. The sherpa took my heavy backpack as I was slowing the party down and made me carry his lighter one instead.
At Dzongri La, we bid fond farewell to the doctor and one of the instructors and continued our descent to Dzongri. I reached earlier along with sherpa and cook and grabbed some noodles for breakfast at the shop there. The hot soupy noodles warmed me up and hydrated me and I resumed the hike down with lot more energy even though it had started raining. We walked 25 km almost non-stop and reached Bakhim around 4:30 pm. Rain had not let up at all and we were very thankful for the warm and dry rest house there. While going up we had taken 2 days for the same distance.
We all stayed in one room and the cooking staff served us an awesome early dinner around 6 pm. It was the best meal of my HMI days. By 8 pm, all of us had retired as cook and sherpa were headed back to base camp early AM next day and rest of us students would head back to Darjeeling via Yuksom with the instructor.
It was a 13 km hike from Bakhim to Yuksom and we started at 5:45 am after a very early breakfast. There was just one tough ascent today and I had my own heavy backpack but I managed it without any incident. Rest of the hike was all mostly downhill with mild ascents in between. We reached Yuksom around 10:30 am where our instructor made further travelling arrangements and we left for Darjeeling around noon. With a short lunch halt at Jorethang and another one at Melli check post (3 of the 5 descending were foreigners), we managed to reach HMI campus only around 9 pm due to heavy road construction all along the route.
The next day was spent in returning institute issued equipment and getting clearances and making return travel arrangements. I also managed to explore Darjeeling a bit as I had missed the same before we left for base camp. Thus ended my first serious attempt at mountaineering and even though it was short, I got exposed enough to understand what hardships it entails. Next time when I join the course, I will be better prepared to handle it and get the required grade to gain admission into advanced course.
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