Phase 3: Days at Base Camp
From here started the most important phase of the course. We were to stay at chowrikhang which stands at an altitude of 14,600 ft above the sea level. The name Chowrikhang literally means “grazing place for Chowri”. The place lies amongst some amazing peaks on all its sides. The schedule here includes 1 day of acclimatization, 5 days of glacier training, 2 days of bouldering and jumaring practice, 1 day of suspension and tyroline traverse and one day of peak summit; 5 days of glacier travel being the most important of all.
The mornings at the base camp were one of the hardest parts of the day. We used to wake up to the noisy thump at the door for the tea at 5. The mundane things of our daily lives like brushing teeth and a visit to the loo were a task in themselves here.If we opted to use the water from the common storage i.e. drum kept in front of the kitchen area and if we happened to be the courageous first ones, we had to break through the top layer of ice that used to get formed overnight and struggle to brush with water that used to be a mixture of 70% water and 30% ice. Needless to say that it stung like hell. The bathroom area was a trek in itself and surviving the gruesome view & smell of big heap of shit needed courage as well. And the finger tips used to be in continuous pain because of the bitting cold. The good part is that food was far tastier and even had soup added to the routine. As it was hard to gulp water at this cold weather, we used to compensate our daily need of water undertake through bottles full of tea and some soup. But we did have to push ourselves for a walk towards the kitchen area.
Soon we were issued remaining equipments which included ice axe, snow boots and crampons for each and ropes, pittance, carabiners for the group. First half used to be full of activities that demanded a lot of physical work. Often after tiring training sessions in the first half we used to have some lectures in the afternoon. We even had to face one surprise knot test while we were there.
The favorite corner for me here was this cute little temple that could be reached after climbing few boulders. The best part was that the temple had gods from different religions placed together. To our pleasant surprise, sometimes in the evening we even used to have jagrata sessions laced with musical instruments. It was basically the kitchen staff members who use to sing and play, but we managed to try our hands as well on some of the instruments. That was the place of my solace where I could fight the pangs of homesickness and demotivation.
The first day after the arrival i.e. on Day 14th, we were taken to a higher ground as part of our acclimatization walk. The climb was steep but comfortable.This was where we had our first lecture. The sky was thankfully bright and clear and we could get a clear view of the peaks. The session was an introduction of the sorroundings and we also got to see the physical manifestations of various mountaineering terms we had been taught at HMI campus. we spotted the end of sangalila range of mountains and from there as we went about the view we spotted brilliant peaks like Frey peak, kabru peak, Rathong Peak, B C Roy Peak, Renoke Peak and few more.
At a distance we could spot the Rathong glacier where we were to have our training. To the eyes it felt like an easy walk of few minutes but that’s how the mountains can deceive you coz it took 2 hours of walk from there to reach the spot. As this was the acclimatization day we didn’t have anything very hardcore scheduled for the day.
At higher altitudes, the schedule often needs to be modified as per the weather conditions and the plans can only be executed if the weather permits it. So on Day 15th instead of glacier training as scheduled we went to a higher ground that wasn’t as far as the glacier, for practicing route opening techniques and self arrest. We were standing there fully attired in mountaineering ensemble – helmet, complete wind cheater set, harness, ropes, carabiners, gaiters, big & uncomfortable snow boots and were demonstrated and made to try various ways of self arrest needed at the time of different types of falls – head up & legs down, head down, side fall, with stomach towards the ground. We learnt how to utilise the ice axe in co-ordination with our boots, knees, elbows, hands & feet. We wholeheartedly enjoyed being thrown off across the snow. For route opening the ropemates were all roped up by a single rope and made to climb an inclined snow covered hill, where we were made to continuously switch our positions to get a overall hang of it. At places the snow was knee deep , at places a bit tricky, a bit slippery as well and walking in snow boot was not an easy feat. But these were the things that made the experience an unforgettable one.
Because of the bad weather conditions, the glacier training which was scheduled for 5 days was cut short to 4. Thank god for that!! We did cover everything that was to be taught though. Our glacier day mornings started with searching and shouting for our things that easily got lost and mixed up as they looked all the same and in struggling to fit in everything and being ready by the fall in time. On these days we used to start at 7 and to and fro it took some 5 hrs of walking.
It was mentally exhausting to walk through the same tiring route full of snow and boulders day after day. The snow boots were making it worse. Often it used to feel like the boots had the mind of their own and my feet were just going along with them and I had no control over them. And we could feel the sun burning our faces with the intense rays. Even the recurring big dabs of sunscreen couldn’t save us much from the sunburn.
The first day we arrived at the glacier, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of it. We were amid this huge & vast mass of ice. It was full of sparkling icicles and the big ice blocks wherever we saw.
On reaching the glacier we had to quickly get in to the complete mountaineering attire with crampons now added to the list. Traversing through the glacier was again a challenge. We had to climb down two steep slopes and had to climb up the same while coming back. There we used to have 2-3 hrs of training sessions. We now had to deal with the ice wall. While being anchored via ropes, carabiners and descendors we used to climb the wall using ice axe and crampons. There were different variations of the climb and the steepest one required ice axe in both the hands and crampons. On reaching the top it was fun to rapell down through the wall. All of us got to have numerous rounds of the climb to help us in perfecting it. Another activity required climbing with the help of Jumar (ascendor) and crampons and changing of the rope in Between.
Apart from this we were taught different types of rock and snow anchors and setting up of fixed ropes.
We also practiced the crevasse rescue techniques where each one of us got to make the arrangement and even got a chance to be thrown in to the crevasse. Being inside the crevasse still feels something from a horrifying yet beautiful dream.
The day the glacier training ended it felt as if a huge burden was taken off our shoulders. We knew we could now survive till the end.
One of the days was kept for the peak summit – height gain as it was called. The peak to be climbed remained a mystery to the trainees till late and the mystery was only revealed a day or two before. This is because the summit is decided by HMI team based on the collective fitness level of the group and the weather conditions. For BMC the maximum height gain is kept at 18,000 ft which means a summit of the BC Roy peak. Our batch got the chance to summit Renoke peak which stands at a height of 16,500 ft.
Compared to the glacier training and the killer trek from Yuksum to Chowrikhang, this was actually a cake walk. Yet it was captivating. For me I had trekked to 15,500 ft till then and so the peak was officially the highest spot on earth where i would be. Also the whole feel of it where we were roped up in a group of 7-8 people, gave us a hint of how an expedition could feel like. By the time we reached the summit amid the screams of joy, the weather had turned bad. It was snowing and all was just fog, mist and hails. Hence we couldn’t see the surrounding view. The space also wasn’t enough to hold us all and hence we quickly managed to click few pictures and had to run down towards the base camp.
As we didn’t stop for much time at the summit and didn’t take any major halts on the way back, we easily made it back to the camp somewhere between 11-12. As we reached the camp, the AMC people who by now had returned from their training at the advanced camp, were all standing there in two parallel rows to cheer us up. Each one coming back had to walk between the rows amid the claps, cheers and warmest hugs from AMC people and the staff (we got a chance to welcome them the same way when they came back from the higher camp previous night). It was hard not to feel the accomplishment and the gratitude. Having been done with the summit and the glacier training part, there was nothing that could trouble us more at that moment. The joy of starting back our journey back home soon was another factor that worked in our favour.
The remaining three days were for jumaring, bouldering and tyroline and suspension traverse. I probably saw or noticed the jumar( ascendor) first time in my life. I knew nothing about it but then it turned out to be one of my favourite activities of the course. We were made to climb the different rock faces with use of two jumars. This was a different version from the one we practiced at glacier, as there we had one jumar and crampons for the climb.
For the bouldering part I am still at loss as to why we were made to practice with snow boots when there was apparently no snow at all. I wasn’t even comfortable walking with them, let alone the bouldering. Nevertheless our job was to do whatever was asked of us and struggle with whatever our fate was.
The traverse part was pretty easy and fun. Suspension traverse was super simple where we had to do nothing but just slide down on an inclined rope towards the lower ground. Tyroline traverse required some upper body strength as the rope was flat and one had to use the hands to travel through it.
After this we were officially done with the training at base camp and were to leave the next day.
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