My short stay at HMI base camp

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

Women's hut

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.

Dining Hall

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.

Base Camp with fresh snow

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.

Morning class out in the cold

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.

Long hike to the Glacier

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.

Climbing ice walls

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.

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.

Drying wet clothes and damp sleeping bags

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.

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.

Bakhim to HMI base camp via Dzongri

Even with the cold wind coming in from broken panes, I slept peacefully - the institute issued down sleeping bag was amazingly warm. However, I woke up earlier than usual because there were no closed loos here at Bakhim for either gender - just two separate yellow flag areas. Considering I had never used the natural open surroundings for my morning ablutions, I wanted to get out there before rest of the crowd woke up. So I stepped out with a head lamp and an ice axe. Former because it was completely dark outside and latter because the protocol is to dig a hole, do your business and cover it up! Digging holes at 4 am in pitch dark with shivering hands...what had I signed up for!!!

~11000 ft. End point of acclimatization hike from Bakhim

Today was the acclimatization hike on the same route that we would take tomorrow to Dzongri. We started at 8 am and reached the end point of today's hike (~11,000 ft high) by 10:15 am or so. We didn't have our backpacks on and the terrain was pretty flat but it still left me breathless.  I started to worry even more about the next day's hike. If without backpack, on the easier half of the trail, I was so tired and breathless, how would I manage the whole hike with 12 kilo backpack the next day?

We came back to Bakhim around 12:30 pm or so, had lunch and attended a class out in the open. By the time we finished the class my anxiety over next day's hike had reached new levels. The last 2 hours of hike from Yuksom to Bakhim had shook my confidence completely. I was just looking for another person to say that s/he will go back and I would have joined him/her. In the meanwhile, an interesting thing happened - I noticed that one of the American girls was carrying the boots on her own. Women had the discount on same - our boots were 'shipped' to base camp using the yaks. When I asked her for the reason, she said she wanted to make the hike count...I told her, carry my bag too if that would help your cause :)

Anyway, I made a deal with her - since she was finding it tough to carry the boots - that I will get the boots offloaded to the yaks and she can carry a portion of the load reduced for me instead. It took some work on my part and her part but the instructors finally relented. And that's how she and I both lightened our loads a bit.

Dzongri - women accomodations, kitchen & a shop

Next day, with this lighter backpack and armed with a precautionary pain killer (a suggestion from my Czech friend), I got ready for the toughest day of our hike - 11 km from Bakhim (~9000 ft) to Dzongri (~13,200ft). I don't know what it was - lighter backpack, painkiller, or the half day rest that we got on the acclimatization day or simply that I could get some breakfast inside me - but I was amongst the first quartile to reach the destination for the day. It wasn't easy - after all we climbed 4000 ft in one day - even without any backpack it's a really tough hike but I didn't feel close to dying as I did on way to Bakhim. I was elated at having made it without incident because we were told that last day's hike isn't too tough.

Acclimatization hike from Dzongri

In the evening, post lunch we went for a short acclimatization hike to about 14000 ft of height. Both the altitude and the approaching winter had made the weather really cold. The exhaustion hit me after this acclimatization hike and I crashed pretty early without dinner. The accommodations for women were again wooden quarters (limited space but warmer than tents) and men were again in tents.

On the last and final day of the hike, we were all very excited about the hike as we would get to see the base camp - our home for next 8 days. The first 2 hours of this 13 km trail were not too bad in terms of terrain but the altitude gain definitely started to cause problems - air got thinner and weather got colder. We first had to gain 1500 ft to Dzongri La (14,500 ft), lose almost all it and gain some more - the destination for the day being HMI base camp at height of 14,600 ft. So while net gain was 1400 ft, gross climb would still be close to 3000 ft - not an easy task given a tough hike the previous day plus acclimatization hike and limited rest.

On way to Dzongri La, I got to meet Jamling Tenzing Norgay - son of Tenzing Norgay and author of "Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest". We exchanged pleasantries and he thanked me for reading his book! Given I had missed him when he had visited our camp at Bakhim, I was more than delighted to have run into him here.

 

Weather started to worsen as soon as we left Dzongri

The weather continued to worsen and half way into the hike, the snowfall began - we were cold and tired and journey seemed endless. Again around 1 pm, I hit my wall - I was completely devoid of energy as I hadn't had dinner the previous night and the breakfast just wasn't enough to keep me going from 7 am to 3 pm in this cold weather. Instructors sensed frailty of our minds and tiredness of our bodies - they kept pushing us by saying that base camp is just 20 minutes away.

Around 2:20 pm, we were greeted by advanced course students, who had come down to help us. At first, I refused the offer of having my bag carried by an advanced course student thinking that we are there, but then I learnt that we are still "20 minutes away" and I almost broke into tears when another student offered to carry the bag. Gratefully, I handed her my bag and followed her to the base camp.

 

Finally, at 3 pm I reached the base camp - I had completed the toughest hike of my life so far with atleast 10 kg on back at any given point of time. Of course, I had help - a lot of help - both in form of motivation and in form of actual help in carrying the load.

 

But even with that help, there were numerous occasions where I would ask myself, "this is real suffering, why are you doing it? you are the oldest in the batch, 10 people - some of them less than half your age have turned back, why are you still at it?"

 

There were many times when I had to focus hard on just putting one foot in front of another. There were multiple moments when I wouldn't take off my backpack to rest, for the fear that I won't be able to lift it again. In spite of all this - I made it to the base camp. No it wasn't to prove any point - I was ready to go back on day 1 itself - I think it was because at some level, universe conspired for it to happen. I got help whenever I needed it - mostly without even me asking. It had to happen - my love for mountain made me overcome all physical and mental hurdles and complete this really tough hike.

Trek Map - from Dzongri we took left trail to HMI base camp,
the right route one is part of the famous Goechala trek

Darjeeling to Bakhim via Yuksom

There was no PT on the morning of 26th Oct but we still woke up early to review our packing list one last time. Today we were to leave the warm confines of our hostel and start the 5 day long journey to HMI Base Camp. Today's destination was Yuksom (6000 ft) and the journey was to be made by road. We were all travelling in teams of 10 by Tata Sumos - 8 students crammed in the middle and last rows of the vehicle with one instructor and one driver in the front row.  The road was non existent, very dusty and the weather was actually hot - all this caused nausea in most of us...one of us actually fell sick just one hour into the journey.

A temple enroute to Yuksom

Entry to Sikkim requires permits that were pre arranged for everyone but we had quite a few foreigners in our batch and they had to report personally at the Melli check post. Some of us (yours truly included) had signed up to be part of the vehicles that carried foreigners as we had made friends with them. We assumed the early departure of these vehicles to be a good thing and never bothered to find out the real reason behind it. The real reason was that the check post stop at Melli actually made the route to Jorethang (our lunch halt) really long (almost double) as compared to the route vehicles carrying only Indian nationals undertook.

We had started earlier than the rest and reached Jorethang only at 12:30 pm or so...while the rest of the batch had been there since 11 am. They started for Yuksom as soon as we arrived into Jorethang. Rest of us grabbed  a quick bite and were on our way to Yuksom a little after 1 pm. The roads continued to be bad and dusty and by the time we reached the camp site for the night, we were totally exhausted also because we couldn't even move much due to lack of space. I was still recovering from the throat infection I had contracted while in Darjeeling, so I was feeling the worst of the lot.

Accommodations at Yuksom

There were two tents for 27 of us women and one loo. Men had more tents but no access to loo - a 'yellow flag' area was marked for them about 500 meters from where we camped. Everyone had grabbed their space and since our two vehicles were last, we had to struggle a bit to get into one of the tents (both tents' existing occupants kept telling us that there was no space). The dinner was served earlier than usual - yes we had support staff also travelling with us - they and the instructors would also undertake the arduous trek to HMI base camp over the next 4 days.
I could barely eat as the long journey over terrible roads in confined quarters coupled with my existing illness had made me really sick. There was not enough space in the tent as well, I had to actually get up at 2 am to leave the warm confines of the tent to get some fresh air as I was feeling terrible. I walked around for an hour and when I couldn't tolerate the cold any more, I went back into my sleeping bag.

We woke up at 5 am as we had an early start and before that the tents had to be packed as well. So we all packed our sleeping bags back into our backpacks, rolled the mats, hauled our asses out into the cold and started with taking down the tents. The breakfast was served at 6 am though I couldn't eat any and hence consulted with the course doctor travelling with us who gave me medication to help settle my stomach down. By 7 am we had our 'fall-in' where course director gave us another set of instructions for the hike.

Dog came with us from Yuksom to base camp

Today's agenda was to cover 13 km and gain 3000 ft from Yuksom  (~6000 ft) to Bakhim (~9000 ft). The Tiger Hill trek had given me a hint of what to expect when carrying 12 kilos on my back but our instructors had also warned us that in terms of terrain difficulty, that trail was not even 5% of what we would experience over these 4 days. We started the hike around 7:30 am or so - the start was slow and we were all handed some candy as we exited the camp site. Some of us were happy enough to sing songs as the initial part was mostly flat and then downhill towards a river crossing. My heart started to sink at the downhill part because anyone who has hiked knows that downhill is always followed by an even steeper uphill.

As expected, this was no exception and about 45 minutes into the hike, began our first ascent. Compared to the ascents we encountered later in the hike, this was honestly nothing but this was our first day of the hike and we all had slept poorly due to congested tents, hence most of us started to feel it. The singing stopped and some of us started to lag behind. Those who decided to halt were reprimanded by instructors. Apparently, you can take a break only when allowed to - otherwise you just keep walking. The breaks were only as long as the last set of hikers arrived and then would resume immediately. So if you were in the last batch, you never really caught a break - literally and figuratively!

Around 10:30 am we reached our 3rd or 4th bridge of the day. So far, I had managed to stay in the middle of the pack. Though we were barely half way into today's hike, my shoulders were already killing me. I started to wonder if I had bitten more than I could chew and after learning from instructors that the difficulty level of hike from Bakhim to Dzongri will be exponentially higher than today's I decided to turn back. I asked my Czech friend who was carrying my sleeping bag to exchange our bags back so that I could start the descent back - she laughed it off as a joke and told me that she wouldn't allow me to turn back. She made me give her more of my stuff to lighten my load and also asked a few others to help me. With my ice axe, my fleece, and couple of other items out of my backpack, I could feel it significantly lighter and decided to continue with the hike. This break was also a long one and helped the cause!

We resumed hike around 11 am. Initially the ascent wasn't too tough, but slowly it became steeper. Apparently, so far we had not gained much altitude - we had to gain 3000 ft today and the true ascent had begun just now and that was the reason for a long break. Till about noon, the pain in my shoulders didn't go up any further but I hit a wall in terms of energy. I hadn't had any dinner or breakfast, I had distributed the nuts I was carrying to reduce my load and now while I wasn't really hungry, I was really really tired. I asked folks for some snacks and with some fruits and some chocolate inside me I resumed the hike but honestly that wasn't enough.

By around 1 pm, the pain in my shoulders had become unbearable inspite of using my jacket to increase the padding between them and my backpack straps. The destination was atleast an hour away, the heat wasn't helping and instructors weren't happy with my inability to stay with the pack. While I wasn't really last, I was no longer in the middle of the pack either. At this point, I stopped thinking and just focused on putting one foot in front of another. An instructor helped me by talking about his mountaineering expeditions as conversing with him took my mind away from the pain.

Rest House at Bakhim

Finally around 2 pm, I reached Bakhim. Around 2/3rd of the batch was already there - support staff was preparing lunch, men were busy pitching the tents for their accommodations and women were asked if we would be willing to sleep in the first floor of the rest house with a big hole in the middle. The rest house had suffered during the earthquakes the region had experienced earlier that year. We all voted for the wooden rest house over tents and happily hauled our backpacks to first floor through a barely held rickety staircase with missing rungs.

Men's quarters at Bakhim

The lunch was served at 3 pm and I managed to eat a bit. The 'fall-in' at 4 pm was short - we were told that there will no class today as we must be tired and that we could rest instead. I happily went back to my sleeping bag - I had chosen a corner for myself that no one else wanted  - as it had two sets of windows with broken panes allowing cold air and had a big hole in the floor just where the mats ended. Giving me company in that corner were two American girls from my rope and my Czech friend. We preferred this nook because Bakhim was our stop for two nights and it was good to be in a corner where no one would walk/climb over your legs when you are sleeping.

Kitchen at Bakhim

 

I took a pain killer for my shoulder pain and continued to rest alone in that big hall while everyone else was out singing and having fun. I kind of liked this me time - 27 women cooped up in a room is a recipe for disaster and I wanted to get as much peaceful time as I could before the crazy dominated the atmosphere. For dinner, one of the American gals managed to score some bread for her and me as we were both still sick to eat regular food. Thus ended the day 1 of the tough hike I had heard and read so much about!

Week 1 at HMI

First week's schedule

The first 'fall in' of the batch was around 7 pm on the day we arrived. Around 80 of us gathered in the amphitheater arena and were given some basic instructions (which included a strict dress code of no shorts or open shoes outside hostel) by the course instructors and high level schedule of days at HMI Darjeeling. The detailed schedule was posted in the hostel anyway. 

The next day the tea bell rung at 5 am and after tea we all 'fell in' at 6 am in the amphitheater for our Physical Training. The advanced level course had also begun and they would usually start their PT about 15 minutes before us. After a short warm-up, we all started light jogging towards the main gate, which was all downhill and felt great. As soon as we exited the campus, it became uphill and within a few minutes I was totally out of breath  - given I can run 10 km in little over an hour, this must tell you how the thinner air affects our cardio performance. Of course quite a few folks including couple of my room mates, were amazingly fit and always stayed in front of this 80 member group that was jogging in files of twos. 

Mall road - part of our jogging route

To keep the group together, the instructors (yes they would train with us) would pause every 6-8 minutes and wait for laggards like me to catch up before resuming jogging. Thankfully I was usually in the middle of the pack so always got some rest in form of on-the-spot jogging or hopping.  Those who were last never got any because as soon as they would arrive the jogging would resume. After about 15 minutes we would reach a junction that was wide enough for us to stand in two circles and we would do some stretching and squatting exercises there for a few minutes. 

 

Post that we would continue onward and upward till we reached another junction where we would do body weight exercises like push ups and planks and core training. Yes we did all this in the middle of regular traffic junction that has typical tarred roads with dogs and morning walkers/joggers watching us. The loose gravel would hurt our palms and clothes would get really dirty but we couldn't complain - after all we had signed up for the course! After this set of exercises, the jog was mostly flat or downhill all the way to the campus gate. And then would come the tough part, now tired after a run at 7000 ft, we would be asked to sprint up 750 m long slope in sets of 5. Uphill and altitude always made things pretty tough and I always just walked or lightly jogged to the institute building.

 

Breakfast time

First day we were allowed to head back to our quarters and mess for breakfast after our run but subsequent days, the morning runs were usually followed by a power yoga class which was crazy in its own way. Breakfast (except on Tuesdays) included eggs in some form and bread and some vegetarian option (that I never noticed) and lots of very sweet tea (quite a few folks added more sugar to it).

The loos and bathrooms were common so bathing was always a scheduling exercise. First day I managed to take bath before the second 'fall in' only to find that it's useless because most days we would have activities in form of rock climbing or artificial wall climbing till at least lunch time and occasionally post lunch as well. Once I realized that, I started taking bath after completing all physical activities for the day. Bathing was a fun exercise in itself. Half the time water heater wouldn't work so we would all debate between taking cold shower and no shower. For me former mostly won but some folks waited a few days for the heater to get rectified (smart choice considering I actually fell sick after washing my hair with cold water)

 

At amphitheatre - having fun before 'fall-in'

First day after PT, we were divided across 10 groups (called ropes). Each rope was assigned a leader - mostly the leaders were from armed forces. The leader was responsible for managing the assets like climbing ropes and carabineers assigned to each rope and for ensuring attendance and for reporting on the well being of the members of the group. I was assigned to rope 1 that had interesting composition - a practicing medical doctor from North India, a PhD in yoga who runs a big hotel in South India, 2 young chaps around 17-18 years old (one was NCC cadet), 3 folks from US and a lady from armed forces who was also our rope leader.  

 

 

Some basic knots

The 8 days on the campus were designed for us to get some theoretical knowledge about the key tools and basic techniques of mountaineering. We learnt a few basic knots, we understood  (in theory) about uses of ice axe, crampons, carabineers, pitons etc. We were also given information about the health issues like Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). 

 

On the practice front, we also spent two half days at Tenzing Rock trying our hands at rock climbing (including going down and coming up a chimney), rappelling (Geneva style, shoulder, belly etc). In addition we spent a few hours climbing indoor and outdoor artificial walls. All the activities were done in groups/ropes that were assigned on day 1.  

Going down the Chimney

Coming up the Chimney

One of the tougher rocks to climb

 

 

 

Rappelling - Geneva style

 

 

 

 

 

The days would usually get over by 5/6 pm as it would get fairly dark, after which we would be asked to gather in media room for some motion picture on mountaineering. In absence of same, majority of us would gather in the mess to discuss the events of the day, worry over the upcoming trek or to simply chat.  

 

Loaded backpacks - resting on way to Tiger Hill

One of the days at campus was designed to test if we can walk with our assigned load. We were to trek 22 km to and fro Tiger Hill  with the goal of completing it before 2 pm. We were issued individual equipment  & clothes the previous day, that included a 70 liter rucksack, windproof jacket and pant, down jacket, down sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, mittens, climbing harness with a short rope, mountaineering boots, crampons etc. Except for the boots women were to carry all this to base camp, in addition to our regular clothes and toiletries. Men were to carry everything including the boots. First time ever that I was grateful for the gender discrimination!

 

I found  the issued rucksack (green ones in the picture) very unwieldy, so I decided to use my own 50 liter bag instead, loaded it with the issued gear. However I replaced their sleeping bag with mine (as mine was lighter) and replaced their windproof and down clothes with mine (again mine were lighter).

At Tiger Hill

While the trek/hike route wasn't difficult as it was mostly tarred roads but the load on my shoulders was killing me. I had never carried so much load on a hike before. By the time we finished the hike, I knew I was in trouble. I wasn't sure I would be able to complete the hike to base camp. But I wasn't about to give up just yet. One of the female batchmates from Czech Republic was used to hiking with much heavier loads and she offered to help me carry some of the load on the hike to base camp and I gratefully accepted the offer.  

 

Last day at campus (25th Oct) we were given half day break from our regular schedule so that we could step out and do some last minute shopping for the items that we may have missed but were essential for the trek and the 8 day stay at the base camp. I chose to stay in the campus and used the time to take a long hot water bath (yes they had fixed the water heater finally) and sleep for a couple of hours to rest my shoulders that were still sore from the Tiger Hill trek and all the rock & wall climbing.

 

In the evening, the whole hostel was in a frenzy - we had to finally pack our bags for the next 15 days. Fitting everything in my 50 liter backpack was difficult especially because the course director said that my thermolite sleeping bag (with 0 F rating) won't work and that I had to carry the institute issued down bag. Again my Czech friend, offered to carry my sleeping bag and I carried hers as hers was lighter and smaller (she had her own down bag). That's how I finally managed to squeeze a sleeping bag, a liner, basic clothes & toiletries, basic medicines, pair of sandals, socks & thermals, wind/water proof jacket & pant, down jacket, fleece jacket, and hydration bag! On the outside were water bottles, ice axe and sleeping mat...I felt relieved that I had everything I needed - little did I know what suffering lay in store for me the next few days!

 

Getting fit for HMI

My love for mountains made me sign up for the basic mountaineering course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. I signed up for it in May 2015 and course start date was in Oct 2015. Why HMI? Two reasons - one I didn't qualify for NIM's age limit criterion and second lots of blogs suggested to do Basic course from HMI and Advanced course from NIM.

I got accepted by June and was pretty excited about the course but all the blogs that I had read talked about the tough trek that one has to undertake to reach the HMI base camp in Sikkim. So I knew that I had to get strong to lift 12 kilos on my back and build endurance to climb 8000 plus ft in just 4 days. The challenge though was that in May itself I had a serious flare up of fibromyalgia and my fitness levels had actually dropped as I wasn't able to work out as hard as before. On top of that all the vacations and work travel had increased my weight by 8 kilos...double whammy!!! 

So here I was, in pain and not at my fittest and thinking of joining a basic mountaineering course at HMI...I was nuts! But as luck would have it, I heard about this fitness place near my residence that used sports conditioning, boxing, Muay Thai and CrossFit for building fitness. I was hooked after the trial class and I signed up with them. I liked the variety they offered and slowly my endurance started to build up again. On their suggestion, I would run 3 to 5 km before the class as warm up and added 20-30 minutes strength training on a regular basis. 

In addition I also started climbing 14 floors of my building (280 stairs) with 9 kilo backpack (10 times each instance) twice a week. I also did the loaded backpack hike at Nandi hills just before I left for the course and that told me that I have a shot at it. And that's how I finally landed at Bagdogra Airport on a hot afternoon of 18 Oct 2015. 

I paid for prepaid taxi and got ready for the 3 hour long ride to Darjeeling. Since it was Sunday, the traffic wasn't too bad and as we got closer to Darjeeling the weather cooled down and it felt as if we were driving through the clouds. The steam engine on the narrow gauge train took me back to my childhood...the start felt very promising - quite misleading I must say!

The taxi dropped me at the main gate as outside vehicles are not allowed inside and now I was stuck with a 15 kg unwieldy duffel that needed to be carried up a long steep slope to reach the institute building. Couple of advanced course guys saw me struggling with it and one of them decided to give me a hand with the bag. It was quite a hike to the main building and I was sweating by the time I got there - partly because I had gained 6000 ft in matter of hours and my lungs were still getting adjusted to thinner air. 

Little did I know all that for the next 8 days I would be doing much more at this altitude of 7000 ft than walk up this slope with a duffel bag!

Exercise...how to start loving it!

Exercise is a word that I hated for the first 20 years of my life. Hence, I am not surprised when most folks express the same sentiment about it - some say they don't have time, some say they don't have motivation and some say it outright that they don't like it. Politically incorrect thing to say in this fitness focused age but at least they are being honest!

It's important to recognise this feeling that you don't like or don't want to work out. To be honest who wants to do anything that feels like work? And there lies the source of all problems - we (read adults) have a way of taking fun out of everything including simple pleasures of life like walking or running by calling it work!

Remember how much we used to run as kids in flip flops? I can recall  leaving home at 8 am and not coming back till 8 pm during the summer vacations. All caked in mud and dirt - so much so that my father used to hose me down in the garden before letting me inside the house! This is how much I used to love being outside - cycling, climbing trees, playing games that required lot of sprinting and crouching in weird positions for hours during hide & seek. Never thinking of it as work but getting workout just the same!!!

But as I grew older and started gaining weight, it wasn't just because of my eating habits, it was also because I wasn't spending as much time outdoors. I would study/ work whole day and then watch TV to relax. Walking, however, was a big part of my life as I mostly used public transport to go to school/ college/ work. And then I bought a car and there went my last bit of chance to get some kind of physical activity. Within a few years, my fitness levels were so low that I couldn't walk 500 meters without complaining and even one flight of stairs used to feel like climbing up a hill. All this when I was just 25 years old!!!

The day I realised that my lack of fitness is in fact stopping me from enjoying my life, I decided to do something about it. I started with activity that I really enjoy and one that is easier on joints and muscles - swimming. It was definitely hard to look at myself in swimsuit - so out of shape I was but I stuck with it. A few days later I added walking to my routine, a few weeks later I also started playing squash...and the best part of it all? Nothing felt like exercise...I enjoyed every bit of these activities and slowly pounds started to come off and my fitness levels improved dramatically. And today, I am known as endorphin junkie - I am total b***h till I have had my endorphin fix of the day, i.e., my workout!

So how did someone who hated exercise and would cringe at the very mention of the word, fell in love with it? Simple...I don't do anything that I don't like. For instance, I hate gyms - they feel claustrophobic, people don't clean up machines after them and running on treadmill is boring! So what do I do? I run outside, I swim, I hike....I also get bored of doing the same thing everyday, so I shake things up - I do HIIT some days and weights some other days and of late I have adding boxing and sports conditioning to it.

Now let's say that there is absolutely no physical activity that you like to do or say that you have absolutely no time to work out/ exercise. Does it mean that you can't be fit? No...there still are ways to get fitter without devoting time to a physical activity. How? Simple...stop taking elevator, start parking the car farther, don't take the car out if your destination is within 2-3 km radius,  have fun with your kids in the swimming pool, run/jog with  them when they are cycling...the list is endless

Yes, first time you climb 4 floors or even 2, you will wonder why you are doing it but slowly it will get easier and one thing no one know.....getting fitter is like getting a high...the fitter you get, the fitter you want to be and your fitness goal becomes a moving target.

So...take the first step today, leave that smart phone behind or take it with you if you are so addicted to it but instead of sitting and talking, start walking and talking - watch the kids playing, watch the antics of the dogs being walked, see how the senior citizens are gathered and having fun, see how that toddler is enjoying the swing...trust me you will start liking to walk very soon :)

Eating Plan for weight loss

An eating plan is nothing else but as the name suggests a plan to eat in the fashion that would allow you to meet your fitness goals. But do not confuse this with a diet chart. All diets have following characteristics in common:

• There is a long list of foods that you can not eat
• There is a limited list of foods that you can eat
• They are monotonous - breakfast looks same every day, so do lunches and dinners

In nutshell, diets are designed to fail because  the moment we are told not to eat something, we want only that. Plus monotony is the biggest reason anything fails and diet is equally susceptible to failure due to monotony.

An eating plan differs from diet in all of the areas above. An eating plan is about managing your calories count and key nutrient groups (carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugar and fiber) in such a way that you meet your weight and/or fitness goals. For instance, if your want to lose weight, the key focus area would be a limiting calories and ensuring a balance across carbs, proteins and fats. However, if your goal is to build muscle, then we eat more protein and limit carbohydrates in the diet while eating back your exercise calories.

Now you are wondering, how much reduction in calories do I need? and what the hell is this "eating back" of exercise calories. And by the way, how does one measure calories?

First and foremost, you need to determine what is the daily calorie intake that you need to maintain your weight. This is called BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. There are many sites online that allow you to calculate that. Just Google and determine your BMR. All it requires is basic information like gender, age, weight and height.

Next step is determining how many calories do you currently eat in a day. There are many apps for same - I use myfitnesspal. It has the largest food database and you simply log in what you ate throughout the day and you would know your calories consumption and the breakup cross nutrient groups.

If you want to lose weight, your calorie consumption should be lesser than BMR and vice versa. If you want to maintain weight, the two numbers should be same...simple, isn't it? It gets a bit complex when your goals are not just about weight. However, for now lets just stick to weight loss as the goal.

Now you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight and how many are you actually eating. And if you are not losing weight its obvious that latter is more than former. Next step is fixing this equation - and that's where you decide the fix. If you are eating 1800 calories a day and your BMR is 1400 to stay at my current weight then you need to first bring 1800 down to 1400. How to do that? Simple...look at your food log/diary and see the items that you can easily cut...for instance, you can reduce chapatti count or instead of having both dal (lentils) and vegetables - have only one of the items or replace the sugar in your tea or coffee with sweetener.

This approach to calorie reduction has two benefits - one, it's not a generalized solution (aka diet) that doesn't take into account your tastes and needs. Two, you have the freedom to play with the solution - you can add something back next week because you sorely miss it and drop something else instead. All you need to do is stay at 1400 calories (in this example). As long as you do that, you will lose weight!

This approach also allows a little more play room as against a diet - if you overate one day, make up for it by eating lesser next 2 days...average at 1400 calories a day across the week. Do settle accounts on a weekly basis!!!  I even use this in reverse, I build up the calorie deficit by eating a little lesser during the week and come weekend, I have enough deficit to party and have fun.

Sometimes I use the above principle during the day also, if I know I have to eat out in evening, I eat lesser during the day and keep the surplus for the evening dinner. However, I usually refrain from consuming too many calories in the night because if done often it can cause weight gain even if you are under your limit. This is because you don’t need that much energy while sleeping and calories consumed at night will end up getting stored even though you didn’t eat too much during the day. Also if you regularly eat less during the day, when you actually need energy, you can permanently reduce your metabolic rate. So use this technique rarely.

Now that we have brought calorie intake down to BMR, next step is create a deficit, because intake equal to BMR means maintaining weight. To lose weight, we need a deficit. It can be done in two ways. You can increase your calorie expenditure by exercising and/or you can further reduce the intake. If you have a lot of weight to lose, my suggestion is to do both, i.e., bring down the calorie intake below BMR and also do some exercise. The caveat being that don't bring your calorie intake below 1200, as after that your metabolic rate starts to slow down and that's not good for your weight and your fitness in the long run.

In summary, to lose weight create a calorie deficit by eating lesser than  your BMR and/or working out but don't eat lesser than 1200 calories a day!