Arms akimbo he stands on the slope"Oh cuhmon Deepa! You know what will happen if you don't...faster!!"
Panting in the April chill, "yessss sir, running!" i whimper thinking to myself "Phooey! It seems I'm as bad as I was the yesterday.Just NOT effing improving" .This is what played almost everyday at 6 am - while running up Darjeeling slopes for PT at HMI.
That was the start of my journey at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.From day one when we are starry eyed, apprehensive naive 'cadets' counting each breath before the assault of the morning PT begins to waiting for the tough trek to end to waiting for the cold long walks to the glacier to end to waiting to get back to Basecamp after reaching the summit, to getting that BMC certificate that embellishes us, its a crazy eventful journey.
What we go through :Mountaineering Basic course is a 28 day course. 8 days are spent crawling around the Institute premises in Darjeeling. You are not allowed to step out except 2 "outing" days. You're locked in for 28 days with strict wake up, Fall In and Light out times. The days are split up into morning PT(1 hour), mealtimes(7.30 am, 10 am, 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm), Rock climbing and rappelling sessions( both on natural and artificial surfaces) and lectures on mountains, climbing, medical aspects, map reading etc.We had one 22 kms trek to Tiger Hill with full load,few days before we left for Basecamp. Day 9 - bus trip to Yuksom(SIkkim) and day 10 we began our trek. Yuksom - Bakhim(9000 ft)- Dzongri( 13200 feet) - Chowrikhang( 14600 feet). We stayed at Chowrikhang urf Basecamp( in the Rathong valley) for about 2 weeks where we learnt the basics of snow and ice craft plus some bouldering with those dratted 2 kg snow boots and jumarring and at the end we did height gain aka summitted Renok peak. The last 4 days were spent at the institute - in cross country races and sports climbing competition, turning in our equipment, writing an exam, learning how to make a stretcher. They were the most relaxed 4 days - something we weren't used to at all....The last day we had a graduation ceremony when the principal pinned a little ice-axe replica with HMI written on it on our proud chests and gave us our precious certificates.
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| On one of the bridges enroute Bakhim |
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| Ice Climbing on Rathong Glacier |
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| Self Arrest in Snow |
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| Getting down from the glacier |
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| Outdoor Climbing wall at HMI, Darjeeling |
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| That's XYZ Peak , %^&* metres/feet, first climbed in 19&* by _________ |
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| Rappelling practice at Basecamp |
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| Jumarring practice at Basecamp |
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| Stretcher making |
The Preceptors :The Instructors treated us with caustic charm which did go down well with us - atleast the ones who "toed" the line. They were mostly a perfect balance of discipline and fun and pushed us amiably to raise our physical and technical standards. People cribbed about discipline. We weren't used to it. But then in the mountains or any unstable terrain, I have come to realise, that's one of the things that can save you.Needless to say all the instructors are not only proficient in technical skills; they shared their knowledge, experience and passion well.A big thanks and hug to all of them for that. We had a brief interaction with the Principal whose committment and passion to raising the bar at the institute as well as the welfare and training of the students is commendable.
The Disciples: There is a diverse mix of people in the course representing the length and breadth of India as well as ones from the defence forces.We the slow ones called the penguins.One very valuable lesson learnt about ourselves was this: While tangible things like strength and endurance has its uses, its intangible things like perseverance grit and love( yes, love!) that makes it useful. Each person has his/her own way of assimilating, spurning and negotiating through the course.Mountains have their own ways of dealing with overconfidence. There were many knee- jerk reactions to the tyrannical itch that seniors/ defence peeps and some instructors sometimes showed( I'd blame it on Altitude Sickness). But it's all good. It's all fun. After all" the best journeys are not in straight lines"
Nom Nom: Breakfast was a standard dry bread plus eggs / pakoras, puri bhaji some days. We had tea- biscuits at 10 am and round 4 pm. Lunch and dinner was standard Indian fare of Indian bread, rice, lentils, curry, paneer/ chicken at the Institute and at the Basecamp we additionally had soup before dinner and hot chocolate post dinner....:D
Kit & Kaboodle :
Equipment is provided by the institute. They literally have a "godown" and plenty of sizes available for all. We were given a down jacket, a sturdy wind proof set, high altitude sleeping bag, mess tin, bottle, harness set alongwith a piece rope, snow shoes, crampons, gaiters, ice axe, sleeping mat, rucksack, spoon, glass.
Stuff that you MUST take with you - Besides your clothes, fleece jacket, warm socks, cap, woolen hat, and other things, I would recommend:
1. Headlamp AND one set of extra batteries( Headlamp preferable to a torch- imagine trying to hold the
mess tin and water bottle and torch and also eat....)
2. Butter paper - cut into 20 X 15 cms - saves scrubbing your mess tin. Trust me the water is COLD! The food is greasy.Your hands love to stay inside warm gloves. You do the math.
3. Hydration pack. I like to keep sipping water. I hate to keep stopping. My bottle is out of reach. I love my
hydration pack
4. Wet wipes. Ok this is an red siren for environmentalists. But instead of toilet paper, this is THE miracle
swab for your a** and also good to wipe face/feet, body with whenever you feel like having a wash.( Oh forgot to mention- you don't bathe for 28 days...yes..Because mountaineers have no sense of smell!!;))
5. Buff - Life saver for the face. The valley is cold, the sun is strong, winds are fierce enough to make the tin
dustcan fly...your face will dry and blacken and flake without this essential piece. Or atleast carry a cotton
scarf for your face.
6. Trekking poles - save your ego for another time. Your knees will thank you this time. The walk back
down I felt was the worst - knees took the worst of it.If you don't have trekking poles, no matter, pick up the first stick you see once the trek begins. There are plenty. And then guard these sticks with your life.
These are the things that get easily flicked!
7. Sunscreen - CARRY it!
8. Moisturiser - Will save your skin too
9. Chapstick - Carry atleast one spare. They have an uncanny want to slither out of pockets/ bags.
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| Lectures at 14600 feet |
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| Cricket at 14,600 feet |
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| The graduation snap |
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| "Define Ridge" ...whilst studying for the written test |
Finding your compass: What you will take back is beyond your imagination. Yes we come here to learn and take back the certificate. Then of course there is also the "cool" element of impressing one's friends, family and acquaintances. But then if you keep an open mind and heart...you'll take back much much more - tangible and intangible.This is a powerful life changing experience for many. "For those who live in fear, nothing ventured, nothing gained."
I barely used my camera except to click some funny faces. The people stories in the mountains:). There were enough DSLR's clicking away in the background. I was satisfied with my phone camera. There are somethings that a camera can only capture a sliver of. The surreal nature of what I saw will only exist in memory. Most of the time during the trek, I was sunk in thought. It's strange but the burden on my back and the constant shouts of "catch up" and "this is not a trek, its training" made sure kept my nose to the ground.But then there were times when i looked up and saw scenery that reminded me of the floating hills in Avatar etc. Yes I have an active imagination. But that's the only way I could survive 3 days of uphill assault.Plus counting breaths and reciting and counting whatever i was reciting( even if it were an expletive;))
Whether its negotiating the wee morning ablutions with a stranger, trying to hack your way on an ice wall by frontpointing or learning to trust that stranger down below belaying you or walking up a rock slope you never thought you'd go without protection, such an an experience exposes you to various shades of trust and bonding.They teach you how to sustainably live with nature. Though I'd like to add that I'm not really proud to speak of the amount of garbage we generated with so many of us. You learn that adventure means also being responsible about the team and one's safety and a great deal of emphasis is placed on how's and why's of protection before, during and after a climb.Mountaineering is not about playing Russian Roulette with one's life!
Inevitably, almost everyone falls sick, whether its chest problems or gastric ailments, or skin allergies and chillblains. But this illness is sort of an adventure within an adventure that leaves you doubly transformed. And then when you get better, you are paradoxically stronger than before. ( Of course living and labouring in the mountains and at altitude adds RBC's, Vitamin D and lung capacity;))
"I am so small I can barely be seen.
How can this great love be inside me?
Look at your eyes. They are small,
but they see enormous things."
- Rumi
Whether devout or not, inexplicably, the mountains are a numinous place. Sometimes you experience the divine while labouring through a mountain path. For some, the haze from their goals dissapears. I've seen the most ego centric people humble down, the most self- centred people stop and help, the most obnoxious people praise perseverence and effort, the slow people lead, the confident question their convictions. You push yourself physically and mentally. The ambition is not just to arrive at some breathtaking distant location but to return to your usual place cloaked in intriguing unfamiliarity and simplicity.
"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place ? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
-- Rene Daumal
To learn more about what gruelling days we went through everyday to all the things we learnt to all the "masti" we were accused of doing, and all the people we met please read:
http://jsincro.blogspot.in/2014/05/life-at-base-camp.html
AND for the Advanced Course Experience:
http://therunawayheart.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/over-the-hills-and-far-away/
What i learnt:
http://searchinformycompass.blogspot.in/2014/05/why-mountains_26.html
About HMI and the courses they offer :
http://www.hmi-darjeeling.com/
(Photo credits: Mr Puri, Mr Hemang Gala, Mr Karan Kumar)
