Breaking the jinx of the Friendship Peak (17500) Feet in Himachal Pradesh
Kitchen to Mountains
Lush Green mountains, White peaks, Wild flowers,
Koflach shoes, crampons, Carabineers, Seat harness, chirping sounds of the
birds fascinates
me always says Sahil Patel of Vidya
Vardhaka Engineering College.
It all started in April when the dream was dream't and
the ideas were discussed. Many were reluctant due to various factors and one
solid reason was 17,500 ft and it was climbing a peak.
But nevertheless it gained momentum in May- June and
we were finally a team of 20 people from Mysore, Bangalore, Gwalior, Mumbai and
Farrukhabad and the team comprised of 13 male and 7 females
Special Seven: Five ladies have ventured from the
kitchen to mountaineering is the crux of the expedition, who has no iota of
what trekking is and took to mountains. That is the courage they showed though
only four could make it to the summit. But remaining ladies were stationed in
the advanced base camp-Lady leg for technical reason.
Day-1: The team reported to the Base camp Naggar,
where in the mountain goats were taken for acclimatization walk to Roerich art
gallery for height gain which is approximately around 1000 feet climb from the
base camp Naggar.
Day-2:The team started the trek from Solang nala to
Dhundi (7kms & climb of 2400 feet), when we started the trek, the
torrential rains and the falling stone from the mountains, & slush on the
roads and in the tunnels were a deterrent, but never the less the team was well
molded mentally by Mr.Ramakrishna K a Neuro-linguistic practitioner.
Day-3: Though it was cloudy, but I think rain gods
were happy with our expedition and it just drizzled, but nevertheless we
cris-crossed a girl from Mysore who had gone alone for the basic mountaineering
course to Shitidhar base (15000 feet) and we exchanged pleasantries with dates
and chocolates and they shared their tales. And by afternoon we reached second
camp Lourna which is as high as 10,000 feet.
In the second camp we could see the people and tent of
the institute of ABVIMAS taking people for the various training programs and
the majestic Hanuman tibba standing tall was staring at us.
It was a huge blast in the area everyone got scared
but, our coordinator Amar Chand Thakur came outside and told that it was an
Avalanche falling in front of you on opposite mountains and that was the first
time many have heard of it and not seen it. It was scary as it was happening at
regular intervals.
Day-4: On the fourth day we embarked for summit camp
Lady Leg Advance base camp, the temperaments were high as few were gossiping
about the summit in case it rains etc, but en-route the wild
flowers took away the strain of the day as everybody got their camera out and
started clicking pictures.
The team reached in the noon and had grueling session
on how to use Koflach, crampons, Ice Axe, Rope management and skills to climbs
the glaciers were thought by Mr.Yogesh and Mr.Tej Thakur.
In the evening the team had early dinner at 5.30pm and
went to bed. The camp area was hissing with the wind and it was pin drop silence
and only thing that was going in my mind was whether we will be able to summit and come back safely as the previous team from west Bengal had to retreat due to bad weather
and they missed the summit by 200 feet as one of their team mate had fallen
into crevasses and the girls team from the institute had only two members on
the top. All these
factors were giving sleepless nights.
The team was supposed to rest and go for
acclimatization walk on 25th July 2016. But never the less the core team
comprising Tiger Solanki, Amar chand Thakur and Tej Thakur decided to go for
summit as it was clear that evening and its unpredictable to predict the
weather in the mountains.
Day-5: It was 11'O clock in the night, Monday the
25th July 2016, all of them woke up and sipped lemon tea and started to climb
with the gears.
Initially it was tough, as the momentum gained the
speed and
all were up into the glacier patch and the team members changed the gears and
started to climb with the help of rope which was being fixed up by the
instructors and guides.
Every mountaineer was hooked to the rope and all the
safety Parameters were
checked and the team started to gain the momentum. By
8.30am the team had reached almost 16,500 feet and we were just short of 1,000
feet and the team had quick bite and moved further, but alas! The team had lots
of hardship to face as the area was prone to avalanche and crevasses and each
individual has to keep his foot with calculation or else you may end up inside
the crevasses or you may trigger avalanche.Nevertheless we had few fatal one with Harshitha,
Devendra Tiwari and Kushal landed up in the Crevasses, but were rescued
immediately by the technical team.
The misery didn’t end up there, as we were nearer to
the peak and as our team leader announced that we have reached the summit the sun from the top was adding to the
problems as the glacier was melting and the rock was getting brittle and we
were advised not to stand for too long so we just stood for a picture and we
retreated back. It was like touch and go experience says Mr.Karthik KM of Vidya
Vardhaka Engg College, Mysore.
Harshitha A, a Techie from Bangalore says though we went with all difficulty but couldn’t stay there for more than two minutes due to hostile conditions but nevertheless I am satisfied that I have done it!
After picture with the national flag and expedition flag the team retreated back to base camp via same route and reached back to the advanced base camp after grueling climb & Descend of 19 hours, it was just not tiring but few had fatigued and fell flat only to dose off to get up in the morning.
Without any formal mountaineering experience, I went
to Friendship Peak expedition with very little expectation, but returned with
overflowing memories of joy and happiness. The scenic beauty of mountains and
gurgling streams and river is still ringing in my
ears. The unforgettable panoramic view of Pir Panjal Himalayan range is still
very close to heart and with successful summit, this expedition is a rare and
unusual experience for me says Veena Ashok a house wife from Mysore.
In the morning the team was in full jovial mood after
the summit of previous day and was descending down where they were warned by
Guide Karan Kotian that there was all possibilities of fatalities if you don’t
concentrate on descend as the accidents happen most in the mountains only while
descending.
The team started from the Lady Leg Advance base camp
directly hit the Dhundi camp giving a skip to lourna camp. Despite drizzle and
rain, the momentum was charged as they were going back to base camp after
successful expedition.
Narrating her experience Ms.Varshika Gowda of SJCE
said though I was brought up in an atmosphere where I have not carried any
thing in life but this expedition has taught me
the values of life and I have learnt what hunger and thirst in life is!!
The crux of the expedition is, though we had gone to
height of 17500feet but none of them had fatigued to the mountain sickness and
every mountaineer could recoup to the call of the team leader ,that was the
motivation .The team was charged by Mr.Vipul Kumar IPS, DIG and Director of
Karnataka Police Academy in his training session at Mysore.
The team retreated back to the Naggar base camp after
a holy dip in the Vashist hot water springs and they returned to Delhi on 30th
July 2016 only to return to home sweet home on 31st July 2016 with success
stories and sweet memories of the expedition Mt Friendship Peak.
The program culminated with mountain goats cry LE LA
LALIYO –HIYO HIYO and every mountaineer were honoured with the Kullu cap by
Himalayan Adventure and Trekking Centre (HATEC) for the successful summit.
Earlier in Chandigarh the program was flagged off by
His Excellency Prof Kaptan Singh Solanki, Governor of Haryana and Punjab and
administrator of Chandigarh.
In Mysore, the team had endurance session for more than one month in Mysore at various places like Chamundi hills and Kukkarahalli lake.
The program culminated with a with a befitting graduation ceremony held at Raj Bhavan, Bangalore where in His Excellency Shri Vajubhai Vala, Governor of Karnataka Presented the Graduation certificate to all the Mountaineers.
The team members are Mr.Devendra Tiwari (Deputy Team
Leader), Mr.Ganesh Kshirasagar (Deputy Team Leader), Mr.Karthik KM (Deputy Team
Leader) Mr.Amar Chand Thakur, (Expedition-Facilitator), Mr.Shreekanth DP,
Mr.Suyog Jain, Mr.Raghavendra Rao, Mr.Kushal MS, Mr.Lohith SM Naik,
Mr.Prashanth S, Mr.Sahil Patel, Mr.Varun K, Dr.Guru Prasad and Mr.DSD Solanki.
The Married ladies are: Mrs Sandhya Rani NK, Dr.Veera,
Mrs.Veena Ashok, Mrs.Vani A, and Mrs Nanditha Dp
The other girls are Ms.Harshitha and Ms.Varshika Gowda
(She is the youngest of the group).
The program was organized by International Academy of
Mountaineering and Allied sports in association with Tiger Adventure Foundation
and Himalayan Adventure and Trekking Centre (HATEC) from July 20th-31th July
2016.
Editors Comment : Though every body were little apprehensive with us with respect to various factor like how did u decide to take the untrained fellows to the mountains, have you taken the permission from the agency etc, but alas the expedition could break the jinx that if you have the will then no mountain is far away from you to climb. Training is a myth in the mind, if you have the determination then there is nothing in the world which can stop u.
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