11th October, 2013: Uttarkashi
Our happiness knew no bounds once atop the summit of Mt Rudugaira (5819mts). The 12 member team consisting of Yashwant Singh Panwar (Expedition leader and partner 3 Point Adventure), Deepak Rana (Expedition Guide) Guneet Puri, Saurav Rautella, Pitambar Chandola, Shashi Bahuguna, Udisha Uniyal, Saurabh Dhiman, Vipul Vashistha, Aditya Shinde, Saurabh Dhiman and Anusha Subramanian and one porter – Raju summitted the peak on the morning of 6th October at 9 am.
It was indeed a big achievement for all of us as the conditions were tough. After encountering steep inclines, moraine and winds blowing at speeds of 35kmph the team slowly and steadily climbed up to the summit.
What was more overwhelming for us was the fact that our team was the first team to have summitted a peak in the region post the 16th June disaster. The expedition was conducted in an effort to boost adventure tourism here and also to aid all those people who had lost their jobs in the aftermath of the disaster.
For all of us mountaineers on the team it was an overwhelming calling to do something in a place we are so very found of. Having spent a lot of our time in Uttarakashi during our mountaineering courses at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and also later on expeditions, it seemed only right to give back to the mountains and people who had welcomed us into their hearts and lives.
Post the June 16th disaster most of team members either found themselves already in Uttarkashi or answered the call of the crying mountains to help with rescue and relief operations in the district. With the approaching winter, the need of the hour was to help the villagers get back on their feet, so that they could sustain themselves through the harshest of seasons. The need of the hour was to help rebuild Uttarakhand.
Thus was born Summiting4Hope, the brain child of Journalist and mountaineer Anusha Subramanian. The first project undertaken under this banner was Climb for a Cause: In Uttrakahnd, For Uttarakhand, By Uttarakhand in association with a local Uttarkashi based adventure agency 3 Point Adventure.
The expedition team was flagged off on 29th September by Padmashree Chandraprabha Aitwal, a legendry climber of India who also happens to hail from Uttarkashi. The team set out on its journey to Gangotri on the 30th in a Mahindra Scorpio sponsored by Mahindra Adventures.
The drive was wonderful with the car supporting us all through the narrow, rough and not so perfectly made roads. The Border Road Organisation (BRO) had restored roads that had been completely lost and thus had made it easier for the villagers to be able to at least come down to the Uttarkashi town for their essentials. Also with the winter round the corner most people in the upper reaches come down to Uttarkashi town.
Despite the bumpy drive the view succeeded in making up for the discomfort of the journey. The deep gorges, vivid colours, the now calm Bhagirathi River, all made the mountain seem to come alive and beckoned us further into its lap.
The landscape was breathtaking all the way till Gangotri; passing through the quaint villages of Harshil and Dharali which are famous for their apple orchards. Gangotri is also a beautiful little temple town. What’s interesting here are the rock formations, especially in the river. It’s something one would have never seen before. They are huge single boulders, smooth in shades of brown and grey, with depressions in them, as though someone has left finger marks in clay dough.
After a good night’s rest at Gangotri (3140m), the team along with the cook and the porters set out for our expedition on the morning of October 1. The trek from Gangotri to our first camp - Nala Camp (3450m) was a steep climb with several landslides on the way, vestiges of the June 16 disaster. After a neat 4 hour walk we had gained a height of approximately 300 meters on the first day.
The next morning we set out for our Base Camp which was situated at a height of 4450. It was a treacherous and steep climb and we gained a height of nearly 1000 meters that day. The walk th ough treacherous was breathtaking. We had the Bhagirathi river flowing on our left, glimmering like a thousand diamonds under the midday sun, and the mountain ranges flanking us on both the sides of the valley, showing off a spectrum of colours, dark green pine forests, orange to brown till finally red alpine meadows higher up, and the whipped cream and chocolate flakes, like snowy tips.
The team having seen two extremely strenuous days of walking while trekking up to Base Camp, decided to rest for a day to get better acclimatised. Thus instead of going straight up to the Summit Camp we decided to set up an Advance Base Camp (ABC) as well.
We left from Base Camp for ABC on the morning of October 4 at around 9:30am. The entire team was at ABC at around 10:30am. The terrain was slightly grassy with hints of moraine. There was also one place where we had to descend into a "nala" and then climb straight up an incline of about 50 degrees. The ABC (4600m) was set up in a ground on the other side of this ridge.
After setting up the team's tents and the kitchen tent we went for a small acclimatisation walk that also served as a scouting trip for the next day's trek up to Summit Camp. The weather was as we had faced every day, bright and sunny in the mornings and overcast during the evenings.
The morning of the 5th was bright as well and the team wrapped up ABC and started moving towards Summit Camp (4800m) at 9:30am and reached at 11am. The terrain from the ABC to Summit Camp was completely moraine. After the camp was set up the team went for a short walk to acclimatise and to scout the route to the summit.
After lunch the weather started turning bleaker than usual. By 3pm there was a white out and as we waited for the tea to boil it got increasingly worse. At around 5pm it started snowing in earnest. There was also severe thunder and lightning. We were quite worried at this point and there was a general low feeling in the group till dinner time.
Then the weather started cleaning up and the team called an early night in anticipation of the early rising call the next morning. The team set out for the summit on the treacherous moraine peak, from the Summit Camp at 5.30am and reached the summit at 9am.
The morning of the 6th was a clear one but it was extremely cold till the sun came up. Even after the sun came up the day proved to be windy, with winds blowing at speeds of around 35kmph.
The terrain was rocky with moraine and there were several patches of slippery slate. We encountered snow only about 150m from the summit. Some amount of front pointing and side stepping was involved in getting to the top but at 9am the last feet of the team stepped atop the summit of Mt Rudugaira (5819m).
Though tired there was a general atmosphere of triumph and jubilation among the team members. After the initial rounds of hearty congratulations and many more rounds of celebratory hugs the team sobered down for the Pooja at the summit thanking the gods for the excellent weather as well as the mountain for letting us sneak up to her summit. Incense was burnt, offerings of coconut scattered and Tibetan prayer flags were also tied at the top.
The team spent another half hour or so taking pictures and videos on the summit and then started the slow and cautious descent to Base Camp. We stopped at the Summit Camp to have tea and wrap up the camp. The next stop was to wrap up the ABC where we also had lunch. The entire team was safely back at Base Camp at around 3pm after having gained nearly a 1000 meters and descended nearly 1400 meters.
The next day we wrapped up our expedition to Rudugaira and walked back down to Gangotri. With the weight of the expedition gone the team frolicked on the way back. The team reached Gangotri at 2:30pm on the afternoon of the 7th of October.
Where a member stumbled there was another at his or her side to steady them, where someone slipped there was another to pull them up. In this way we proved that even though Uttarakhand has stumbled we are still here to help her back on to her feet.
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