All the birds have flown up and gone;
A lonely cloud floats leisurely by.
We never tire of looking at each other
Only the mountain and I
– Li Po
Being amongst the mountains was a somewhat newer entry into my bucket-list and since then my bucket has been trying to cope with the ever-growing list of humongous mountains I long to climb. These sojourns through the nature at its most raw has helped me embrace my own truth and be at peace with it. I started the journey with the desire to conquer the mighty Himalayas but instead have realized the futility of the thought and the humbleness of our delicate lives. More than winning, the sense of oneness with the universe is the feeling that I now live with, along with the wisdom that it’s the mountains that decide and allow our journeys through them.
This was my third visit to the mighty mountains, Chanderkhani pass (with YHAI) and Rupin pass (with Indiahikes) being the past ones. Through my meetings with like-minded people in my previous treks and due to my own insatiable desire to know more, I stumbled upon this mania of mountaineering and realized that trekking is a small part of this vast field and there’s a whole lot more to try. Then through a friend of mine I first heard about Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC). And that’s how I ended up applying for it.
Now that I have mentioned the previous treks, I can’t resist the urge to add the team pics:
Some time back I was at the other end of the scenario — reading blogs on the mountaineering course, with multiple questions like, what is it? How is it going to be?Will I survive? And a lot more. Now that I have completed it, I think I should share some of my newly gained wisdom, the most important being: If you really have that incessant desire to be part of it, just go for it! There’s no story, no experience that is going to be like yours. Only you can write your share.
Climb that goddamn mountain
– Jack Kerouac
Now let’s go through it phase by phase, just as in HMI (Himalayan Mountaineering Institute):
Phase 0 : Just before it all began
I crossed the HMI gate when the sun had just set. The institute shared the campus with Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park and when I passed the first gate, I actually entered the zoo with a beautiful landscape. To me, it was like an entirely different world. The cold but still comfortable weather,the beauty of the benches and lamps along the path, chittering and yowls from the animals, and curiosity surrounding the next 28 days of my life made it incredibly memorable. It took a small up-hill walk to reach another gate from where began the institute premises .This gate marked our boundary. Once in, we were HMI’s property and could not move out without the staff’s discretion.
The first thing one needed to do was to get registered at the office and do the necessary formalities.Next the room was alloted. Rooms in girls hostel were alloted on 6 sharing basis with 2 double-decker beds — one single and one double. Each room had 2 separate bathrooms and a shared balcony with adjoining room. The only remaining formality for the day was to get things like bed sheet, quilt, cup and spoon issued. That’s it for the Day 0 formalities.
As I reached in the evening, it was already dark and there was nothing much to do rather than eating, sleeping or socializing a bit. I was going through these mixed feelings because I was happy to be there and excited about the things to come, yet not so sure if I would actually enjoy the course. Was it going to be too tough to be fun or would I enjoy the company of new people? However, the first day was too early to get these doubts answered and finally all I could do was eat, chat a bit and sleep. Sleeping here means one had to be inside the rooms by 8-8:30 because the day started at 5 and one needed to conserve all the energy.
Phase 1 : Life in the campus
Here I will talk about the 8 days we were in HMI before starting on our journey to the base camp. These days served as preparatory days for building up our stamina as well as to give us the know-how of the things we were going to encounter during the trek and base camp stay.
A typical HMI day for a trainee started at 5 am with the call for tea. Often, along with tea we were served a banana or some Parle G biscuits. Then at 6 am all had to gather near the office area. This gathering was referred to as ‘Fall in’ and it was going to become one of the most dreaded words during the course term.
Each day after the gathering we used to have Physical Training sessions, where we had to run for minimum 4.5-5 kms. This was the time when we used to get the chance to step out of the campus and get some glimpse of Darjeeling. Mid way our run we had to form a circle and were made to do different exercises designed to help us build strength for climbing, trekking and glacier training. Though these could get painful, I really enjoyed them. It was fun to see everybody trying to somehow manage to do what the instructors were teaching while looking like a circus troop to passersby. As days progressed, they kept increasing the work-out intensity with harder training and more number of rounds while running ( with us it went max up to 3).
Day 1 passed by easily with just some introduction formalities from the staff and trainees, equipment issuance, campus visit and some classroom lectures. The most important part was the formation of ‘Ropes’. This is yet another important term in the lives of trainees. Rope was the group one was assigned. There were 9 ropes in our course with 7-8 members in each. Ropes were formed so that each group had all its members from separate states. I must say I was blessed to have found such great ropemates as well as roommates. It was a pleasure to share time with them. Here I should specially mention my ropemate, roommate and bedmate Gayathri ; our chemistry clicked I think from very first second we met and she had been my strength throughout the course.
Day 2 was about some more lectures. Highlight of the day was the practical session on rope knots. I would advise all to try their hands on some knots before the course, else it’s gonna be mind boggling. As I never bothered with it earlier, very obviously I couldn’t get a hang of it and was struggling throughout, utterly clueless at every other move. Here are the names that I remember- thumb knot, bowline, bowline on the bight, fishermen knot, double fishermen knot, reef knot, sheet bend knot, clove hitch plus universal and continental rope coil.
It’s from Day 3 that we got a taste of the schedule. First half used to be about climbing and rapelling practice at Tenzing Rock. Tenzing rock area was HMI’s official practicing zone and was just a small walk away from the campus. By now, though it had just been 2-3 days, I was extremely delighted with the idea of stepping out of the campus. This 15 minutes of walk used to take us through the somewhat busy streets of Darjeeling. Being a first timer here, I was relishing every bit of it and was trying to capture all that was unique to the place especially in food department. Once we reached we had an introductory session on how to climb and rapell and afterwards had to practice the same. This was the most dreadful of the tasks for me as it was the start of the course and my ice breaking moment hadn’t come yet; the moment when you realize you are in it and can do it all with just little persistence on sticking to it. Beforehand I had tried my hands on climbing the artificial climbing wall in Pune and was really bad at it, so climbing on a natural rock with not so proper holds was I thought going to be a great challenge for me. But then people started climbing and completing it as well; some pretty easily and some with a bit of difficulty but everybody could do it. By this time I got an idea of all the holds and so could complete it without much of a difficulty. This course taught me some really amazing lessons, not just technical or theoretical ones but life lessons as well. I got one that day – Lesson learnt: Many a times, beginning is the most difficult part, when we are not sure how deep are the waters. But through observation, perseverance and persistence, it can all be achieved. Even while in action part is not as difficult because you are so much in the moment that terror has no place to be. And obviously at the end it’s always rewarding because you realize that it might be difficult but it definitely is not impossible.
There we practiced climbing, rapelling and belaying techniques. We got to learn different rapelling techniques like stomach rapelling, side rapelling, rapelling without using equipments. Chimney climbing was a technique that I heard for the first time there. It involved climbing down and climbing up the fissures in cliff that are wide enough to hold a person, by bridging both arms and legs on opposite walls.
Day 4 onwards, for rest of the days in the campus, schedule remains same -5am: wakeup call for tea n buiscuits, 6 am: fall in, physical training comprising of running and other full body exercises, around 7:15: breakfast 8:00 : fall in and then assembly dispersal for climbing and rapelling session at Tenzing Rock, break for tea n buiscuits, 12:30-1: return and then lunch, 2:00: back to back lecture sessions with 10-15 minutes break amongst each, with tea break squeezed in as well, 7:00 : dinner, around 8:15: sleeping time and bathing once in a while somewhere in between all this, if time allows. Amongst the last lectures of the day, 3-4 days were kept for screening mountaineering related documentaries and one for library session from where one can borrow any book of choice for the time before leaving for mountains.
By this time I had become comfortable with the surroundings, the routine, had made friends and had figured out the things that made me happy and yeah had accustomed to the feel of wearing shoes all the time (because anything else is strictly prohibited).Where ever I go, if I have to spend considerable time there, I try to look for my favorite corner. And if the corner has tea or coffee and a good companion ( a nice person or a good book) then it can’t be any better. Here as we were not allowed to go out side campus, HMI tea parlour was my savior. Though food and coffee were not something to die for, the sense of being around the hills was more than enough to keep my spirit jovial. And yes not to forget I had Gayathri’s company. Most of the times there used to be more people, mostly our ropemates; but special mention to her as she was the constant one.The other favorite corner was my sleeping corner in the bed. Not only because of the sleeping part but more because I had such great company. Sometimes the discussions were utterly ridiculous and outright hilarious and other times there were life lessons through each of ours varied experiences. It would not be an overstatement if I say that it’s just not the course structure that gave me life lessons, but also several other moments like these when I was least expecting it. Rest of the days were on similar lines except the time we were taken to tiger hill trek as part of trial for upcoming trek to base camp and the outing day.
Day 6, Trek to Tiger Hill:
Tiger hill stands some 8500 ft above the sea level and is the highest peak in Darjeeling-kurseong range of mountains.The hill presents a picturesque view of Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal Himalayas together and is very well known tourist spot in Darjeeling. From HMI this is a 22 km long trek with gradual uphill. I heard the rumors of it being around 27-28 km, as some claimed but I am not sure. As this was like a trial trek to familiarize us with the load on our back, we had to carry some 16-18 kg of luggage. The route was beautiful with some pretty houses and hill views along the way.
This continued till Jorbangla market where we took a halt and filled our pockets with some food items. From there we took a shortcut route to the hill which goes via a forest like area before joining with the main trail. The trail started getting much more beautiful from here and was complete treat to the eyes. At places we could see the Buddhist prayer flags fluttering with the wind, adding to the serenity of the place and there were parts which were so narrow that only one could be accommodated and rest was all wildernesses.
Towards the end there’s grassland from where we finally reached our spot. We couldn’t see much of the peaks as it was cloudy, but the surroundings with towering pine trees and elegant magnolias compensated for it entirely. After spending some time and enjoying our tea and biscuit treat on the hill top we started our journey back to the campus. This time we walked through the main trail which was equally enthralling.
The only troubling part was my badly packed rucksack with broken waist strap. I made a note of being more careful with the packing for the upcoming trek. Rest of the day was followed by the similar routine as before.
Day 8, The outing day:
Then came one of the most awaited days – The outing day. The purpose for giving the outing, was to let trainees get all the necessary things to be taken up the mountains. So after the daily physical training session and a refreshing artificial wall climbing session (inside campus), we left for the market at around 12-1. By this time we all were pretty tired of the food routine at HMI or even at the tea parlor and were in dire need of some good dose of outside food. The market was some 20 min walk from the campus and we had some 5 hrs in hand. As can be construed, most of us rushed through the shopping part because we were more bothered about stuffing our stomachs to our heart’s contentment. Some of our hearts were even aching for a great coffee. There’s a cafe called Himalayan Java that came to our salvation and quenched our thirst for the same. Some good books around the corner were adding to its subtle charm.
I even tried my luck with whatever local food I could find like Fale and potato stuffed momos. In the end we managed to dash to the campus just in time for the Fall in. Post lunch we all were struggling with our backpacks and our dilemma about things to carry. It was an immensely irritable time for all of us but we could somehow console ourselves as the day after was just going to be a cab ride and our bodies could breathe a sigh of relief even if for a small while. To my own amazement I could somehow pack my bag nicely this time. I knew the rucksack would be a pain throughout, how could it not be; but atleast I was rest assured of packing part.I could finally sleep peacefully.
White Light 
This is very nice. Keep us on this adventurous mode Richa.
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Thankyou Rahul…..
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