Part 1 - The Markha Trek, Kangyatse-II

PART 1 - The Markha Trek, Kangyatse-II

Photo credits - Most photographs by Aditya Dogra. Few others by Nikhil Naniwadekar, Subodh Kulkarni, Jamie Fuhrman, Avilash Bisht and Amit Rawat

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Today is the last day at office before a long break. Our flight is past mid-night 130 am. I have gathered frantic pace and wrapping things up when I get a call from Satyajit around lunch. The flight is rescheduled to an earlier 1030 pm. With Ladakh, you just can't predict what can't go wrong. The adventure begins.

Satya and I, along with 9 others from various places are off to Leh for a trek to Kangyatse-II. I plan to do one more, Dzo Jongo. These two make it to a list of few peaks which mountaineers classify as trekking peaks. That said, at more than 6,200 m each, the altitudes are serious and it requires you to use basic mountaineering equipment to summit. We are signed up with White Magic Adventure, a highly recommended mountaineering company.

Pic - Thats me and Satya (in green) waiting for our flight at Pune.

Friday, July 13

We have an overnight transit at Delhi. I hunt for turmeric and salt water to gurgle my throat which is now fully infected. At one extreme end of T2 @ Delhi, I discover recliners. Uncomfortable but still recliners. Satya and I try to sleep for 2 hours before getting ready for a 6:30 am flight to Leh. Our other Puneite friend, Nikhil calls up. His flight too is rescheduled. Its Ladakh.

I try to stay awake watching our flight enter the mountainous geography. Snow caps, deserts, meadows - all varieties freshen you up despite of the lack of sleep.

Pic - Leh from the air

Pic - That’s Nikhil arriving at Leh. 

Subodh and Nishant from Mumbai make the 5 of us signed-up together. Once in the car, I realise my Vodafone won’t work here in Ladakh. Satya has a BSNL which works. 

Pic - We arrive at Hotel Royal Ladakh which had a good view of Stok Kangri & Shanti Stupa

Tenji from White Magic is at the hotel. He made sure that we felt at home. I was happy to learn that the gentle and always smiling Tenji would be with us for the entire trek as one of the mountain guides. 

That’s Tenji.

One by one all 11 of us climbers are in. Though it was relatively cold in Leh, it wasn't difficult for us to break ice. We spent good part of the day in the garden playing cards, chit-chatting and sipping hot water.

Pic - From Left to Right. 

Subodh Kulkarni (Mumbai) - The only holy soul in our group ¹

Vaibhav Gaaydhani, (Pune)  ²

Amit Rawat, kneeling (Delhi) ³

Nikhil Naniwadekar (Pune)  - The other Godman - Gurudev. Kripa Rahegi. ¹

Aditya Dogra, already bearded (Bengaluru) - official expedition photographer ³

Krishna Kumar, KK (Mumbai) ⁴

Jamie Fuhrman (Boston) ⁵

Tony Lee (Boston) ^{5, 6}

Satyajit Chitale (Pune) ²

Nishant Shah (Mumbai) ⁴

Aubro Mukherjee (Stockholm)6

Superscripted numbers indicate room-mates/tent-mates.

Avilash Bisht of White Magic is our trek leader. One of the finest mountaineers I have met. We all had been speaking to Avilash. So we knew him. He probably came straight to the Hotel on landing to check on us. He couldn't contain his curiosity as to what kind of herd of sheep he has to put up with for the next 16 days. Once satisfied, he promised to come back later for a briefing.

Pic - That’s Captain Cool. The chief herdsman. Avilash Bisht.

Tenji came in the evening again with snow boots for size trials along with one of his colleagues. We mistook this other fellow for a rock star going by the rapturous welcome he got from one other group at the Hotel who had trekked with him just until a day before. We were introduced to Rock Star, Sunny, our 3rd guide. We would meet Nima, the 4th guide, much later.

Pic - Please meet Sunny

After sorting out the snow boots and briefing by Avilash, the team went to each room to check our summit day clothing. My down jacket was rejected forthright for being too inadequate for the cold on 6,000 m. 

Later in the evening, I was feeling nauseated but chit chat with the gang and little rice helped me stay in my senses.

Saturday, July 14

After a good breakfast. We went to Shey & Thiksey monastery as a part of our acclimatisation. The sun was beating down on us to give us a flavour of how it is going to be starting tomorrow. 

Back to Leh, we got off at the market to purchase missing, additional items for the trek. I picked up a good down jacket and a head-lamp. We had a masala dosa at Neha Snacks. I procured an Airtel sim using only my Adhar number & thumb impression. Impressed. Subodh took us to a local monastery to acquire additional blessings for our trek. Can’t take chances.

Had full dinner today although the throat continued to be infected. Too late to see a doctor. I stopped thinking about it and went to bed. All set.

Sunday, July 15

Drive from Leh to Chilling & trek from Chilling to Skiu (3,500 m)

Trek starts from Chilling. It is a noun, not an adjective. We loaded all our stuff in 3 vehicles and we were off to Chilling, the village from where the trek starts. We stopped by at Zanskar | Indus confluence to click some pictures. 

Pic  - The muddy waters are of the Zanskar. We drove into the valley on the road you can see in the picture below along the Zanskar. 

The road too turned muddy soon and it was a test of patience to sit in the cars, windows rolled up without the AC in 30 plus deg heat to keep the dirt out that was flying off the tires of our other vehicles.

At Chilling, the motorable road ends near a bridge under construction. Bridge can’t be used yet. You have to crouch in a trolley which needs to be pulled from the other side. 

Pic - Nikhil and Jamie who arrived in previous rounds are helping pull Satya and Aubro (getting off the trolley) who in turn will help pull the next batch of 2.

Pic - That is Amit and Nishant. Last few people waiting in the background. The empty trolley will go back to fetch them.

Subodh did his small customary Pooja. Out went the loud war cry’s and good omen slogan’s. We are off to what would be an eventful journey in the mountains. 

The trek starts at Chilling

Rules of walking are simple. Avilash sets the pace. We walk in a file behind him at our respective pace but never exceeding his pace. The slowest member is accompanied by Tenji, who is the sweeper guide. This was pretty much the formation till we summited. Pic below

The heat from the Ladakhi clear sky was amplified because of the arid, yet beautiful, landscape. You could feel it burn your skin. Avilash set an easy pace. With 2 breaks, we reached Skiu camp site within 2.5~3 hours, a good hour before the anticipated time. The site was one to fall in love with. Lush green tree lined meadow. The horses followed us and the camp was being set as we had our packed lunch - Pic below.

Some of the guys went to the stream to take a dip. Later, the dining tent became our meeting room. Everyone was there. We had the whole of afternoon for some intense discussions on how to make the world a better place and on whether Data is the new religion and Google is the new God and similar subjects. We were an all-boys' group in the wild, so there were no holds barred.

I had to pop a combiflam to take care of the fever from infection. 

After dinner, when all of us were in the dining tent together, Avilash used to brief us with necessary details about the next day. He used to answer each and every stupid question but the moment we veered into the day after next or summit, he used to defer the question to the day prior with a smile. Tomorrow is one of the longest days. 7~8 hours of walking. 

Monday, July 16

Trek from Skiu (3,500 m) to Markha (3,700 m)

I woke up in fever feeling terrible but equally determined. Combiflam was a must but it also made me drowsy.

Our morning routine was made up of rolling up the sleeping bag, packing the duffel bag that goes on the high altitude goods train (horses) and the day pack, tanking up the electrolyte and water bottles, applying Sunscreen etc. The action began quickly. I walked right behind Avilash step-for-step for the early part of the trek but my energy quickly depleted and I started trailing behind gradually. Aditya stayed back with me. Our sub-group walking at the tail was made up of me, Tenji of course, Aditya, Satyajit and Nishant.

We met a French family at a parachute tent. The enthusiastic lady not only told us that France won the world cup last evening but also explained the 6 goals scored in great detail. 

The landscape was beautiful. Greener than yesterday, serene and home to one of the oldest continually inhabited places.

It soon turned spiritual for me with the arrival of these 2 monks (Lama’s) as if descending from outer world. Pic below snapped by Aditya. Hardly a minute spent talking with them, seeking their blessings was refreshing being down with fever and slugging it out on one of the longest days of the trek.

Sunny and one more staff had carried our lunch in a gigantic lunch box. We stopped by for lunch literally on a stream or should I say in a stream. You decide seeing this pic below. Tony (in green) has the best seat in the restaurant today.

Walking after such a refreshing break is always difficult but we were lucky to get cloud cover minus the rains thankfully, most of the day today. 

We reached Markha, after a 7 hour walk. Markha camp site which was a shade more beautiful than Skiu. Nicely spread on the edge of a farm that had mustard yellow swaying to the winds. 

Pic - Markha camp site from an adjoining hill. 

There was some entertainment for the bathers in the camp. One of them mistook a long haired European male bathing in the stream to be a real Mandakini (the actress) until he turned around to the utter disappointment of our fellow campmates who discovered he was actually Randhir Kapoor. The Mandakini topic in different variants continued to trigger a riot of laughter in the dining tent for the rest of the day until it was replaced by a riot of colours around sunset. Pic below

I was still unwell. I started my daily dose of Diamox. Things were to start getting better  from tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 17

Trek from Markha (3,700 m) to Thachungtse (4,120 m)

The landscape continued to be beautiful. We had to cross a just-broken bridge a few minutes into the day.

Pic - That's KK walking on a tight rope

We came across a monastery perched high up on a hill. 

Amit, Jamie, Aubro and Aditya  climbed up to meet a young monk staying all alone up there for a year as a part of his education. Pic below  

At Hankar, I managed to call home from a BSNL landline number. Hankar is the last village in the valley. 

Pic - We had lunch here. Hankar village. 

We reached Thachungtse. This camp, unlike previous 2 camps, was up in the open in the middle of a windy valley. Things had gotten a little serious on altitude and cold front. No one ventured to take a bath today. Probably because there were no Mandakini’s around and also because Avilash told us about how a climber had died after bathing above 4,000 m. 

Pic - Thachungtse camp

Wednesday, July 18

Trek from Thachungtse (4,120 m) to Nimaling (4,720 m)

Walk to Nimaling was not long but steep. The Kangyatse range of mountains will appear in the horizon today and will dominate our skyline till the end of the trek. The first glimpse is seen the picture below.

Pic - You can see KY-II merged in the sky in the middle of the picture below.

We had come a long way and far higher. 

Pic - A glance at the Markha valley that we were leaving behind.

Just before descending from a pass at 5,000 m in to Nimaling, we got a clear view of Kangyatse. 

Pic - Reflection in a large puddle of water at the pass. 

 Nimaling is as beautiful as it can get. 

Pic - Nimaling camp site

Nimaling is bustling with people and animals. It is the last camp on the popular Markha trek. Ladakhi herdsmen have a settlement on the other side of Nimaling Chu, the glacial melt that can be seen above. 

There were all types of animals - Dzo’s, Yak’s, Horses, Donkeys, Sheep, Pica’s (smaller than rabbits, bigger than rats) and Marmots. The Pica’s were chased around a little by the children in us but none of them were harmed. Everyone had their favourites animals & topics - Aubro was enamoured by 2 cute foals, KK was researching the number of brays every individual donkey does and what it means etc, Amit wanted to cuddle a Pica. 

Pic - By the way this is a Pica. Don't remember the local name.

Aditya and I went for a stroll up the valley towards a herd of sheep. Pic below

Kangyatse 2 and 1 as seen from Nimaling.

After dinner, Avilash circulated his pulse oximeter and started keeping notes of everyones readings. Either on seeing our poor readings or reading the poor weather forecast, he took a call to rest tomorrow instead of a planned trek 250 m up to Kongmarula and back. The weather was cloudy but not raining. 

Thursday, July 19

Rest at Nimaling (4,720 m)

We woke up knowing fully well that there is nothing to do today. It was cloudy since morning. A little after breakfast, it started pouring hell. It was hail and rain both if I remember it right. We spent most day playing cards, sipping tea and hot water sitting it out in the dining tent. 

Pic - Thats Nikhil inside our dining tent


Our cook, Daawa and his assistants - Dorjey, Daawa Jr and Ramesh, used to whip up so much variety that we relished every meal. Apart from regular fare, we were treated to Pizza’s, pasta, apple-pie, gulabjamun, puri sabji, paratha.. endless variety of delicious food. 

My tryst with medicines continued. Today, I had a swollen upper lip. Food allergy, some insect bite - on an idle day all theories were discussed and some jokes cracked on the tempting subject and my swollen funny 'Anushka' look.  The anti allergic didn't help but only made me feel drowsy. 

The afternoon was utilised for equipment demonstration and handing over our respective kits.

My snow shoe inners both turned out to be left footed. Sunny offered his shoes to me which fitted well. He had a spare pair. 

The kit was made up of Snow boots, crampons, gaiters, harness, carabiner etc. We had some more weight added in our day packs. 

Continued in Part 2 - The summit story
 - https://altitudesandattitudes.blogspot.com/2018/08/part-2-summit-story-kangyatse-ii.html

Part 2 - The Summit Story, Kangyatse-II

PART 2 - The Summit Story, Kangyatse-II

READ PART 1 - https://altitudesandattitudes.blogspot.com/2018/08/part-1-markha-trek-kangyatse-ii.html

Photo credits - Most photographs by Aditya Dogra. Few others by Nikhil Naniwadekar, Subodh Kulkarni, Jamie Fuhrman, Avilash Bisht and Amit Rawat

Friday, July 20

Trek from Nimaling (4,720 m) to Kangyatse Base Camp (5,000 m)

We left for BC in the morning. Today’s climb was in snow shoes, so as to get used to them before the summit day. I was stupid enough to wear woollen socks. After a few minutes, my feet felt like they are boiling from inside. The remainder trek was on snow shoes without socks ending up in two nice blisters on the ankle. 

Pic - Thats our official photographer, Aditya Dogra. You can see the tiny tents deep below & near the stream behind Aditya. Up in the clouds on the other side is Kongmarula pass. We will be crossing Kongmarula on our way back on the last day of the trek. 

“Kang-Baba” as some of us had started referring the mountain out of respect started appearing grander as we got nearer to the BC.

Pic - We are walking towards the base camp on the other side of the stream below. The mountain is hidden in the clouds

Pic - “Kang Baba” basking in sunlight in this amazing picture by Aditya. On the left is KY-I (6,400 m) a technical peak and snow slope on the right that goes up to the shoulder is KY-II (6,250 m) which is a trekking peak. 

Pic - This is how the camp looked once we were set up. 

BC was nice. We spoke to a few people who were attempting the summit that night. 

After lunch Avilash announced that we will be making a trip to ABC.  Its a mere 2 hour walk but steep enough to take you 500 m up vertically. At the 1 hour water break, some of us opted to go back. I went up to the ABC with 5 others. Whoa - Where did that simple snow slope disappear. The KY-II that looked gentle and welcoming from afar looked endless, daunting and massive from the ABC. 

Pic - That’s me at ABC sitting at the feet of our beloved ‘Kang Baba’

By now my evening routine was set. Stop sipping tea or hot water by 6 pm. Fetch the thermos, the 1.5 l Aluminium bottle, tooth brush, paste and head lamp or torch from the tent. Soup was followed by dinner which usually was over by 7:30 ~ 7:45 pm. Get both bottles filled with boiling water which served dual purpose of keeping you warmer inside the sleeping bag during the night and for drinking the whole of next day.

Saturday, July 21

Acclimatise at BC and around

At around breakfast, Avilash announced that we will be making the summit attempt tomorrow since all of us are not fully acclimatized. We should however make good use of the contingency day today. We broke in two sub-groups. One decided to walk up to ABC height but on the other side of the valley along with Sunny. Our sub-group planned a long stroll towards the other ridge (probably South ridge) of KY-II. 

Pic - We are on the other side of KY-2. Subodh (in red) telling us something about the climb tomorrow.  


Nima led our walk to another pass towards KY-II second ridge. 

By the way, Nima is the 4th guide who had joined us at Nimaling a couple of days back with additional supplies of food items and a brand new shoes for KK. 

Pic - That’s Nima, doing some acrobatics on the rocks.  

Rest of the day was spent tracking other climbers, chatting with those who had attempted the summit and returned.

With everyone breaching the 5,500 mark over the last 2 days, we looked all set and raring to go.

Sunday, July 22

Summit KY2

After breakfast Avilash announced that we will leave BC for the summit at 3 pm sharp. Pack-up, sleep, take rest, hydrate till then. 

Suddenly the mood at the BC changed. A mixed feeling of anxiety and excitement. Also, it was a relief when we learnt  that some heavier stuff like snow boots can go on horses instead of our day pack.

Pic - Before leaving the BC. “We are going there.” Note the sunny & clear sky

Our train started chugging towards ABC. We had done this journey on Friday, so we knew the route. We reached high camp at around 5~5 30 pm. It was a little cloudy. By the time we settled down, the sun was about to set.

Pic - That’s Amit on high camp

We had some food. The wake up call was set at 10 pm. Start time of 11~1130 pm. We made full use of the twilight to put on our harness and gaiters before getting inside the sleeping bag. Surprisingly, I could get good sleep. I woke up at around 930 pm. The camp was all quiet. The moon was shining sharp. I put on the snow boots and the down jacket. Rolled up the sleeping bag. All set and packed up, I lied down waiting for the wake up call. 

After the wake-up call, we quickly huddled together fully decked up for a quick snack. The excitement was palpable but no one was jumping yet. There was studied silence in anticipation. Kang Baba looked peacefully asleep far away and high up. We had some coffee and porridge. Our walking poles were replaced with an Ice axe. We were all waiting for Avilash to signal a start with his customary “OK”. Out went the war-cry and slogans and we were marching up a zigzag moraine. The weather was perfect and so was our mood as you can see the smiling faces in the picture below.

Pic - That’s Aubro and Aditya (in blue) at the start. No more pictures until dawn break now.

Monday, July 23

Summit KY2

“Happy birthday Amit!” - Someone shouted out as we stopped at the snow line to put on our crampons. It was around 1 am. Amit Rawat turns one more year older today. Probably his most eventful birthday, but you never know with Amit, he might have had far crazier ones earlier.

The walk so far was easy. Weather was looking good. Everyone was fully charged. Perfect conditions. We could imagine ourselves at the summit in a few hours from now. Excitement levels moved one more level up.

We put on our crampons. The guides all made sure equipment was in place and secured tight. Avilash quickly demonstrated how to use crampons & ice axe in case of a fall. 

We all were walking on the snow. It was more enjoyable than the walk in the moraine so far. After a few minutes we settled down into an easy pace. The moon-light and our head lamps made the environment enigmatic adding to the excitement levels. Someone announced, we are now on the traverse. The snow became a little more trickier to walk on. Two  amongst us, accidentally sunk knee deep in the snow at one point. It was a task pulling the leg out. But nothing major. 

As the slope got steeper, there were some places of hard ice just beneath the snow cover. Not being used to the weight of snow shoes and crampons, we were finding it difficult to even take walking steps and here was Tenji telling us to stamp our feet, rather hit the toe on the ice for better grip. It was a Hobson’s choice - Hit hard or Slip back to square one. We learnt our own best ways of dealing with it and kept moving.

We were split in 2 ropes. Avilash (lead) and Nima on the first one had Nikhil, Nishant, Jamie, Aditya and Aubro in between them. The second rope was led by Sunny and on rear guard was Tenji. KK, Satya, Tony, Subodh, Amit and I were in the middle.

Suddenly the first train came to a screeching halt on a steep snow patch after some commotion. It also started getting a little windy. I could see some snow flakes falling or was it an illusion? As I stood wondering, how to tide over this steep & slippery patch, Sunny asked me to hit the ice axe and pull myself up. This sounded hardcore mountaineering but wasn't that difficult. After struggling for the first couple of shots, I got the technique and started quite enjoying it. After few more shots, I realised, I will do well with my right hand. But Sunny asked me to stick to my slope-side hand only. It had started hailing now as we approached the rock cluster towards the end of the steep patch. 

The rock cluster is a notional mid-point of the snow portion where the traverse kind of ends and the looonnng summit ridge begins. This was a designated water, food, bio break point. The hail seemed to be turning into storm. Exhausted from the ‘axe affect’, I sat down facing the hail taking it on my face. After bearing with it for a few minutes, it dawned on to me that I can be better off by turning around and letting my back take the brunt. By then the hail had intensified. I didn't even get an opportunity to open my bag, sip water, electrolyte or eat something from the packed food pouch we were carrying. I sat ducking my head down. After a good 10 minutes, I realised my down-jacket zipper was half open and snow had accumulated inside. Paralysed by the hail battering and the wind, like a fool, I asked Tenji what should I do? He told me the obvious - pull the zipper down and let the snow fall off. I also wiped it clean in the process wetting the inner layer of my hand-gloves. Thankfully, it was not as cold. I don't know how long we were there but surely around 45 mins. As I was sorting this down-jacket mess, Avilash had given marching orders to his rope. I quickly sipped some water finally and wondering how are we going to walk in this storm. I was feeling good physically so was not averse to walking though.

By this time dawn had broken in. We could see that sphere of endless white below our feet and endless white in the sky getting bigger and bigger by the passing minute. Visibility was hardly a few meters though as the hail was still going strong. Wind was gushing as loud as it can get hampering audibility along with visibility. We had to speak really loud to be heard. Sunny and Tenji hastened us to get moving as rope 1 had started moving already slowly.

KK faced the most difficulty seeing ahead because of his glasses. Hence, he was vocally apprehensive. We were all silently skeptical anyways. He shouted out to Sunny asking him if he was really expecting us to walk when we can hardly keep our eyes open and to double-check with Avilash. Sunny either ignored us or did not want to disturb Avilash who I am sure had taken a well-thought decision to continue the summit push. 

When KK started repeating his concerns, I impatiently gave Avilash a shout at the top of my voice. I could see him high up on a different mound of snow. “Avilaaash…”. It was a considerable effort to get heard in that wind. He stopped and looked in my direction. I continued with my plea, “We have a point of view”. I anticipated he will ask me what it is. Instead what we heard him say is “OK. Keep walking.” And without wasting a second, he took the next step. (Now, Avilash is too much of a gentleman to say something like this and he denies saying this. He would later tell us that he actually didn't hear me at all). Even though he didn't say the above words, by his action, he exactly meant - “I know what I am doing. I understand your concerns but keep walking unless you are sick or there are any other problems.” 

I have aborted a summit push in much less stormy conditions in the past and here was Avilash asking us to keep walking. Stunned and left with no choice, we continued with our walk. This was undoubtedly the tipping point of our climb. 

Coming back to the climb. Every step was harder to take now. Our feet were sinking deeper than earlier. We were walking 2 steps up. 1 step slide down. The hail continued to batter us for some more time.

There was endless climb in front of us. Summit was not to be seen. Once you get on to the top of the endless slope, there was another waiting to be crossed and another and another. There is no point asking how far are we from the summit?

Pic - Amit had the tenacity to pull his camera out and take this shot while it is still hailing. You can see the French group arrived at the rock cluster waiting to start on the summit ridge. 

Gradually, the sky started getting clearer. Avilash had taken yet another perfect call.

Pic - And this is how it was looking ahead of us. One of our ropes pictured as the sky started clearing up. 

Pic - Another endless slope from Subodh’s lens 

After this began a long frustrating march up. For every step taken, the determination to make it to the top kept on going up. I used to start determined not to stop before we take 15 steps at a time, but one slip or sink in the snow, I found myself resting even after 2~3 steps. The sun had come out. We were feeling warm now. At a point, we could see the KY-I summit not very high up in the air. Wow! This means we are almost there. One of us half hallucinating wondered whether we lost our way in the storm and are heading wrongly towards KY-I.

Then, there was a faux summit, a point which I thought was the summit but the rope ahead of us continued walking past it. We trudged our way to the final mound of slope that merged into the real summit with prayer flags. It was a painfully long walk. We took more than 30 minutes to reach the summit after spotting it. 

Up there - the views were superb. The clouds had cleared barring only a few hanging around. The slopes below looked shocking. Couldn't believe we climbed those. Surprisingly there was no feeling of triumph. Only feeling satisfied and highly overwhelmed.  

Pic - That’s Aubro playing the bagpipe on the summit.

Pic - Group photo at the summit

Pic - That’s the French group tracing the path we had just walked on. You climb from the right hand side edge seen in the picture and later towards the summit from where Aditya took this snap. The downward slope is an illusion, it is actually straight.

I lazily ate some energy bars trying to have a 360 degree look. We waited there for 15~20 minutes as the French too reached the top. The summit was suddenly crowded.

We started assembling on the rope for our descent which was more difficult than the ascent. Imagine walking down the same sharp slope. 

I was behind Sunny yet again. The first tumble is always special. I might have slid a good 2 meters before I hit my ice axe to apply brakes. By then Nikhil, who was behind me, too had dug himself in and was on the ropes arresting my fall. We were now walking for 9 hours and exhausted. Falling and sliding was an easy way out to cut distances. It was good fun. The disciplined French climbers were quick to start their descent behind us & soon overtook us.

We reached the rock cluster at around 11 am. We took our first true break to relish the accomplishment. We could see the ABC area covered all in snow. 

I reached our crampon point at 2 pm. Getting the crampons off after 13 hours was a big relief. But still there was this moraine walk of 1 hour in snow boots up to the ABC.

Pic - Nikhil, KK & Amit taking their crampons at the snow line

Exhausted beyond exhausted, getting the Snow shoes, gaiters, harness, down-jacket etc off at the ABC felt divine. I made the most of the halt lazing around at ABC and was one of the last few to leave.

Started my long walk to the BC alone. There was no rush. I was walking as slowly as possible letting the summit experience sink-in. Just 2 days back, I had  returned from ABC shaken and stirred. Today, I was bidding goodbye with a heavy heart to a friend - a gentle giant who was kind enough to let me walk over one of his arms all the way to its head. Fully dehydrated, there was no energy left, but the sense of mission accomplished made it a sweet feeling. It was raining (or hailing) again. On the way down, I met a lot of European climbers. Stopped to chat with each one of them whoever was curious as to how our climb was. They were all upset because of the weather as their climb was scheduled to start tonight. 

Reached BC along with Nishant more than 24 hours after starting from here a day before. The dinning tent was empty. Our friends had started arriving from a couple of hours earlier. They had lunch and everyone was tight asleep. Dorjey got me a large cup of some mango drink followed by a large and strong lemonade. Went to the tent after freshening up but couldn't sleep. It was soon people gathering in the dining tent. Time to cherish the previous night and the adrenalin rush we had this morning. Daawa had baked a cake for Amit’s birthday.

Half of us are slated to summit another peak, Dzo Jongo. For 5 others including my Puneite friends, the trek was over with the summit of KY2. They would be returning to Leh. 

After the fever on first 2 days, I had kept KY2 BC as my humble target. Having overshot that target, I don't feel like pushing myself more. So I decided to opt out of Dzo Jongo climb slated 3 days later. This would give me 5 days of rest at home before getting back to work. I informed Avilash about my plan, to which he simply asked me to park my thoughts until tomorrow.

Later, I remember the pose in which I hit the sleeping bag at 8 pm didn't change even an inch till I woke up at around 5 am next morning. 

Tuesday, July 24

Trek from KY-II BC (5,000 m) to Nimaling (4,720 m)

I handed back my harness, gaiters, crampons etc back to Sunny staying firm on my decision to go back to Leh. 

For various logistical reasons it turned out that the earliest I would reach home would be just a couple of days earlier than planned. Climbing Dzo Jongo started making sense. It is only 2 days more. Dilemma.  

My resolve to go back was demolished by Nikhil first and Avilash broke it completely when he asked me to think about it as going back means having to put another 15 days. In true Avilash style, he gave me only 10 minutes to decide. So what do I do? We had just learnt on the KY2 climb that when you are in a situation to decide whether go down or go up, its always better to go up. 

No brainer - I am going up to DJ.  

The water level in the stream at BC had increased substantially owing to the rains. We had to start our walk by crossing the glacial stream bare feet. I felt my spine go numb and feet turn into stone the moment I stepped in that water. We walked back to Nimaling in under 1 hour. 

Pic - View on our way to Nimaling. Note the fresh snow caps as a result of our summit night weather.


Back to the donkeys and horses. It was an evening to celebrate. Some Chhang was in order.

Pic -  The old lady who sold us Chhang didn't accept a Rs. 10 coin. Reason - It is heavier than a note and that altitude even few grams matter. Also, she didn't accept Aubro’s generous offer to keep the change. Mountain simplicity. 

Pic -  Our second cake on the trek

Wednesday, July 25

Trek from Nimaling (4,720 m) to Dzo Jongo Base Camp (5,500 m)

We bid good bye to KY2 group made up of 5 - Satya, Nikhil, Aubro, Nishant and Subodh. 

Rest 6 of us - KK, Aditya, Amit, Jamie, Tony and I started our walk up to DJ BC. Another endless climb uphill led by Nima who set an easy pace. With 2 to 3 breaks passing through rich flora - mushrooms, flowers, bacterial blooms etc, we reached DJ-BC which was at 5,500 m at around noon. Same height as that of KY2 ABC. It was at the end of a glacial slope. Sunny caught up with us carrying our lunch which we ate upon reaching.

The camp was set up.

Pic - Dzo Jongo BC. DJ is at the farthest snow peak towards left. Looks smaller because of the distance.

KK was my tent mate now for the remainder 3 days. No sooner was our camp set up, it rained a little. We didn't realise this was bad omen. It was very cold as we were literally on the glacier edge. Avilash asked me to add a wind breaking layer. We couldn't wander around the camp as we did till now. Had to stay put in the dining tent.

A group of 3 Italian climbers reached the camp along with their guide around 2 pm. They were led by a 60’ish experienced Alpinist. One another was a skier. They had attempted the KY-I previous night but had to abort because of bad weather. Now their horses had lost their way in the valley. The guide had gone looking for them. We welcomed them in our dining tent. They nicely filled the vacuum left behind by the departing KY2 group. Their plan was to sleep in our dining tent should the horses not arrive. Brave. They would have obviously had dinner with us. But luckily for them, the horses arrived just in the nick of time before it was dark. Ours were the only 2 groups at the BC.

Thursday, July 26

Stuck at Dzo Jongo Base Camp (5,500 m)

KK woke me up at 5 am asking me to touch the sloping tent roof inches above my head. It was heavy holding residual snow. It seems, it hailed during the night. I shook off the tent and the bad omen it brought with it. It was bone chilling cold. 

We had a lazy day. The plan was to catch up on as much rest as possible and sleep during the day and importantly stay well hydrated. We were to begin our summit ascent tonite. There was no ABC planned. We decided to go for summit push directly from BC. It was apparently easier than KY2. 200 m of height gain on a long gradual uphill glacier walk to ABC. May be 2~3 hours. Then 400 m of Jumar patch to the top. 4~5 hours. Return to BC in another 4~5 hours rappelling down + long tiring walk over the glacier back to BC.

Sunny and Nima had left to fix ropes at 830 am. They were expected to return by lunch.

I could sleep at will whenever I got inside the sleeping bag. The weather was cloudy since morning sowing a doubt in my mind though I was feeling probably the best in the trip so far physically. As we were sleeping in the tent at around 3 pm weather turned suddenly bad. There was heavy rain and hail. It was windy too. This went on till 6 pm but there were short breaks in between that giving us hope that the weather will get better. 

I used the next 2 hours to do all scenarios and made up my mind that I surely don't want to get hammered yet once again by the hail. Given the weather condition, I will prefer sleeping in the tent than summit in bad weather. I had company at the BC. Tony had decided to stay back as well. 

Pic - Both tent pictures tell a story of nature’s fury. Notice the poor visibility even after it had stopped hailing.

During one of the hail breaks, we managed to slip out and gather in the dining tent at around 5 pm. Sunny and Nima hadn't returned yet. I told Avilash about my decision. Others too were in dilemma but that didn't stop them from drying their wet snow shoes in the heat of stove in the dining tent. 

6 pm. Nima and Sunny had returned. Despite of bad weather, they were successful in setting the apparatus up for our climb and ready for the treacherous climb yet again with us. The soup was served for an early dinner. We were to start summit push at 10 pm.

Seeing no respite in the stormy conditions, Jamie and Amit called off. That left the last two brave men standing - Aditya and KK. But the weather outside was unrelenting for even the bravest to decide on keep going. Seeing 4 wickets down, the harakiri caught up with them. Avilash & team were ready to go even if one person was on the bus. Avilash was a little generous with deadlines this time. He told both to decide in 20 minutes as we can't leave it hanging until the last moment. Looking at the heavily loaded sky, they both decided to opt out too.

We all retired to bed at 8 pm with a heavy heart and the wind stopped, the sky cleared. The moonlight was piercing in our tent. Not a single drop of rain came down till the next morning. I slept tight notwithstanding the whole day sleep had earlier.

Pic - The clear moon lit sky all night through!

Friday, July 27

Dzo Jongo Base Camp (5,500 m) to Nimaling (4,710 m)

Avilash and Sunny went up at 5 am to remove the apparatus. We were sad that we made a wrong call on the weather but none of us had any regrets, at least today. (I felt the regret strongly a good 8 days after coming home.) The weather remained clear.

 Pic - Nima took KK, Jamie, Amit & Aditya up the glacier for a stroll.

We started for Nimaling for the third time today in the last 8 days. Sunny led the trek. Sunny was fast but it was fun running down along with him. He didn't allow us a single break. Waiting for the horses at Nimaling, it got very cold in the afternoon. KK and I walked to the tea house. It was nice, warm and cozy. People of many nationalities were already there. Israeli, Russians, Danes, Belgians, Canadians, French etc. The tea-house owner, KK and I were the only Indians. All of them had walked up the Markha and would go to Leh tomorrow. Nimaling is the last stop in the Markha trek which is popular. 

We sipped some tea. A guy brewed coffee. Someone else was having maggi. KK and I enjoyed just sitting there and hear them talk about India. We would meet all of them tomorrow on our way back to Leh.

While paying for the tea, we met our horseman who had not come up to DJ BC but was curious to know whether we summited DJ? 

It was a lunar eclipse tonight. KK and Jamie were the only guys interested to watch it since its once in a lifetime types. Thanks to KK, who held the outer tent layer open for me to watch it without having to come out fully of the sleeping bag at 1 am.

Saturday, July 28

Trek from Nimaling (4,710 m) to Chokdo and drive to Leh 

We rolled our sleeping bags for the last time today with a heavy heart. On one hand, we were happy to finish our trek today but sad to be missing the mountains, the tents, the camaraderie, the fun, the excitement and the break from our routines. All were ready dot at 7. Breakfast done we were on our way climbing up the Kongmarula  pass at 730 am.

The foreigners caught up with us on the way to Kongmarula. I called up home and spoke to all after exactly 10 days.

Pic - Walking up the Kongmarula

Pic - At Kongmarula. In the background are KY-II and DJ

Pic - The downhill walk on the other side of Kongmarula

The walk downhill was most enjoyable. Crossing a rivulet at least 20 times walking over the stones trying not to trip. The group of ladies walking along with us transformed the gruffly cowboys that we were to perfect gentlemen eager to help them cross the rivulet. No prizes for guessing, it was Sunny who turned out to be the girls' undisputed hero for helping the most. Now I knew what made Sunny the rockstar that he is.

Pic - The feeling was indescribable when we spotted our vehicles at a distance. 

Finally completing the trek for which we were preparing for 4 months and it will linger on for many more to come.

The drive back to Leh was in a mini bus. Back to the hotel, we had a nice shower. Changed to a completely fresh set of clothes left behind at the hotel. Amit, Aditya, KK & I went to the market. Shopped. Hogged on samosa chat at Neha Snacks. 

 Pic - Returned in time for a 730 dinner with Avilash, Tenji, Nima and Sunny.

Will be home tomorrow. Couldn't sleep well in the warmth of the bed. Already missing the sleeping bag. 

Mountain Philosophy

What I learnt from the mountains, yet one more time again.

1. Be Humble. You can climb well only with your head downwards.
2. The only way to overcome fear is by taking it head-on.
3. Distances are deceptive. Don’t take things for granted.
4. Your survival instincts are sharper than the wisest man around you. Seek advice, be a good listener but do only what you feel from your gut. 
5. Life is a great leveller. Don’t bother to catch up with others. Enjoy the walk at your own pace. At the end of the day everyone reaches the same destination at more-or-less the same time.
6. You can climb only that high as much you resolve to go in your mind. No limits matter. No constraints count.
7. Going downhill is obviously difficult but not always bad after having accomplished what you wanted to.

While at high altitudes, day after day, your reserves are depleting as you are fighting hostile conditions – extreme weather, lack of oxygen, appetite, sleep and everything else that you can imagine. Yet, your resolve to get to the top gets stronger and stronger. You burn yourself to exhaustion to reach the summit. It is all beautiful & magical up there. Yet, it is also cold and lonely. You don’t feel triumphant but merely satisfied and overwhelmed. Your ego gets completely burnt too. Sir Edmund Hillary said it so well - You Don’t Conquer A Mountain, But Yourselves.