Wanderer's Diaries

  10 th  May 2019 At 5:00 PM, entire Giripremi team, all Sherpas, members from other teams, assembled in our dome tent for Pooja. It was one of Giripremi’s rituals to worship Lord Ganesha before heading for the final ascent. It was a unique get together, under one roof, there were Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians. All with a singular goal. Our plan was to leave on 11 th  at 3:30 AM. So that we can clear the rockfall region on the way to camp 2, before 8:00 AM. I tucked in my sleeping bag. It was my first 8000er ascent to be, and the moment I had been waiting for almost a year, had now arrived. All the efforts in training, fund raising, huge support by friends, family, blessings and well wishes from elderly… it was time to repay. I knew I could do it. Well acclimated, well rested, I was in my finest of the health so far. I already began to feel that the summit was now in my reach. However, long and unknown journey was to be explored yet. So, I avoided sweet thoughts of possible ou

  17 th  Apr 2019.   I woke up in my specious tent with groggy eyes and soured calves. Tent floor was not entirely flat. It was slightly elevated. It made me feel a bit uncomfortable as I kept drifting downside due to gravity and my body subconsciously tried resisting it, not allowing me the peacefulness I truly needed. Nevertheless, it was finally the basecamp. Trekking was over and the real business would soon begin. It was my first time to experience a luxury of 8000er expedition basecamp. The idea of personal tent was first that I was in awe of. Personally, I like things organised. It gives me more control over things I own. Inside the tent, there was a lot of space where I could store my belonging well. There were neatly arranged thick mattress and a soft pillow – a luxury I had only craved in my previous expeditions, where I had always found myself crammed in a tent full of more men that tent’s capacity, with mattresses whose existence was questionable and for the pillows, I had

  Inspiration – Col. Narendra (Bull) Kumar One of the most memorable and inspiring moment took place during Dec 2018. On the eve of International Mountain Day, we invited Col. Narendra Kumar. He was the person who discovered Siachen glacier and because of which, today, it is under the control of India. The government of India established a permanent base at glacier and named it ‘Kumar Base’ to honour his deeds for the country. However, his yet another proud achievement for country, and for mountaineering fraternity; which in particular, was inspiring to us was that, he was leader of India’s first successful Mt. Kangchenjunga Expedition, 1977. Mt. Kangchenjunga was first climbed in a British expedition on 25 th  May 1955. Two legendary mountaineers, Joe Brown and George Brand reached to the summit. It was only after 22 years, another expedition could succeed scaling a tremendously challenging north-east spur to the top of Kangchenjunga. That was on 31 st  May 1977, under the leadership