My NIM experience: My first ascent to Rudugaira Peak (5819 mts)

It’s been three months since I have come back from the Himalaya’s after my Advance course. But, I still like to remember those days as often as I can and feel good. I had not written down anything on my experience as yet until recently, when I remembered my days at NIM (Nehru Institute of Uttarkashi) again. I had just received my Advance Course certificate. Felt good reading it.
My certificate reads: Excellent Leadership Qualities and Team Work and is recommended for High Altitude Mountaineering expeditions and Alpine Camps. Thanks to my instructors for believing in me.
I should tell you a little about Uttarkashi. Uttarkashi (district) in Uttarakhand state is at an altitude of 4000 mts. The streets though are a maze of cobbled lanes. It will take a while before you familiarize yourself to this small town and its lanes. The houses painted in variety of warm hues from Ocher to pinks and cheer Blues make up for quite a palette. If you stand at a height and look at the township you can gaze at an amazingly medley of houses in colours that seem to glow in the warm sunshine. It’s a lovely sight. There is an absolute rainbow of hues, interspersed with lush greenery. The charm of Uttarkashi lies in its people and their hospitality, the small lanes and its busy market. A walk through these narrow lanes in the bazaar is a must. No wonder that I love the place and would like to visit it as often as I could.

My intention to do the NIM course was not for grades but to learn and learn in harsh conditions. The course both Basic and Advance teaches you to deal with harsh environmental conditions, how to work calmly with a team on high altitudes, communicate better in difficult scenarios, be disciplined, have control on your temperament and be mentally strong. These learning I would say have helped in my daily course of life and my professional life too.

The Advance course is tougher than the Basic course in terms of learning new techniques, carrying more loads, preparing an expedition plan etc. Moreover, the advance course students are expected to be role models for the junior Basic Course students. So you are constantly being watched. Your behaviour is under scanner right from day one. Here is a little tip on writing an expedition plan...For expedition planning it is very important that one must pay attention in every lecture and take notes. Also one must start writing a plan during the course unlike me who had left most of the plan to be written on the last day after reaching the hostel. I had to spend a whole sleepless night to write a good plan.

There are few things that are different at the advance course. Unlike in the Basic course, in advance the trainees are put up in camps at Tekhla rocks for advance rock climbing. We pitch our own tents and camp in Tekhla for four days.
Once back at the institute we have artificial climbing sessions, lectures and checking of all equipment and gear before heading to the mountains.

This time around we were taken to Gangotri Glacier instead of Dhokrani Bhamak Glacier. Gangotri is a holy place. It is the origin of the river Ganga and seat of the goddess Ganga and is one of the four sites in the Char Dham pilgrimage circuit. Here you find tourists, pilgrims and mountaineers (Indian and Foreigners). This small town is centered around a temple of the goddess Ganga , which was built by the Napalese General, Amar Singh Thapa in the early 18th century. A visit to the temple and the market is a must here. It’s extremely colourful and the roadside restaurants are most often packed during the evenings, thanks to the tourists and the mountaineers.

The course was a daunting task. Steep ascent with 20 kg load on your back, walking on moraines and avalanche prone areas is no mean task. Our first long trek in to the mountains was really long. This started at Gangotri (Camp 1 at 3080 mts) to Nalla Camp (Intermediate camp) which was at 4280 mts- a height gain of straight 1200 mts… that was a huge. Many were tired and frustrated..some even snapped at each other... its natural..but in mountaineering this is what you are not supposed to do and control your temperament. While some of us were slow and were able to do it, most found it difficult. Many fell ill as soon as they reached the campsite. Reason: they were not well acclimatized and got acute Mountain sickness (AMS). Some even got high altitude pulmonary oedema HAPO).

The place was however beautiful. We could see Jogin peak from our camp site and it had a beautiful scenic surrounding. We were at this intermediate camp for two days due to heavy snow fall. We witnessed upto 2 feet of snow on the first night at the intermediate camp. The snow fall practically kept us awake the whole night as we took turns to shed off the snow from our tents. Lest it wet our tents. The porters and our instructors were also helping us in this task.

After two whole days at the intermediate camp, the third day we proceeded to the base camp at (4600 mts). This was also a beautiful picturesque place surrounded by peaks like the Gangotri Massif (Gangotri 1, 2 and 3) and Rudugaira. The trek to the Base Camp wasn't so bad.

While at the Base Camp we were trained on the Glacier and Snow. Training on the glacier wall involved revision of basic techniques, aid climbing, two piton base climbing, tip toe climbing and climbing using double ice axe.
Snow craft included Toe kicking, Side stepping, heel kicking; Glissading; Different types of belaying; Ice axe retrieval; Crevasse crossing; Rescue techniques in crevasse using C pulley and Z pulley; detecting avalanche prone area; lecture on avalanche rescue using a revolutionary system called Tracker Digital Transceiving System (DTS).

Just to explain what is DTS? It is designed to simplify multiple burial situations. Once a signal is found, the Tracker directs the searcher to that signal. If a second transmitter is detected during the search, the Tracker stays on course and continues to guide the user toward the strongest signal. Once the first victim is located and uncovered, the transmitting beacon should be switched off and the search for the next buried individual should begin.

After all the training and taking into account the weather conditions it was decided by our senior instructors that instead of summiting Gangotri-III (6577 mts) we would be sumitting RuduGaira peak (5819 mts). They decided against Gangotri III due to bad weather conditions. Infact even Rudugaira was a big ? but instructirs decided we would trek to the advance base camp and then decide the future course of action.

So day 14 of our training we got ready early to march to the advance base camp (4920 mts). Although the load we were carrying was less the trek was tough. We encountered steep walks, moraines and bad weather to add to it. But finally when we reached our camp site all the tiredness was forgotten. The best part was that the tents were already pitched. Amidst cold wind and bad weather it was extremely soothing sitting inside the kitchen tent and having hot cups of tea and snacks along with all the instructors. After a while we went for an acclimatisation walk which was good. The best part was that all the 19 of us were well acclamatised and raring to go. We couldn't resist the thought of summitting RuduGaira.

Once back at the camp site, each team had to cook their own meal for the night. We were given Maggie packets and few other ingredients that we wanted along with the gas burner and utensils. This was part of our training to cook in the high altitudes.

As I sat outside the tent to cook the Maggie along with my tent mates Indira and Maj Geetanjali, we had a lovely panoramic view of the mountains Manda1, 2, Brighupanth, Jogin on one side and on the other side; we could see the Gangotri massif. It was sunset time and we could see the tip of the peak shining gold. We finished dinner by 7 and were all ready to hit the sack. The next day was a big day for us –‘The Summit Day’ -The summit of Rudragaira peak(..5819 M) ;

The first group headed out at 4 am to open the route. The second group left half hour later. The weather was good but windy. The temperature was sub zero with 2 to 5 feet of snow. I wore 6 layers of clothing – 2 T shirts, 1 light jacket; 1 feather jacket and a wind proof jacket and windproof trouser with gaiters, snow boots, helmet and all technical equipment including ice axe and rope.
I maintained a steady pace all through but walked towards end. It was a steep walk all through and the weather was on our side. But we could not delay and had to summit by 9 as the heat was getting harsh. Once the snow starts getting loose it would be a tough for us to descend.

The first batch summitted almost an hour before the second batch. Nevertheless a few of us kept each other motivated and we all finally made it. Except three girls who mentally gave up towards the end. It was our first all woman Ascent to Rudugaira on June 17, 2010. It was a great sense of achievement for all of us. We spent hardly 2 minutes on the top of the peak and had to immediately start descending.

The descend was killing. After a while we had to put on our crampons as the snow got loose and it was difficult getting a grip to walk down.

But as they say all’ well that end’s well. Each and everyone reached the advance camp safely.

The course has helped me hone my technical skills but as they say no amount of training helps unless and until you continuously practice it. The expedition was one hell of an experience. After you have experienced it, you realize what it takes to be a mountaineer.