Climbathon 2014 – Bara Shigri Glacier part 3

The trek begins

On the morning of 16^th we hiked along the Chandra river towards the snout camp of Bara shigri glacier. Only obstacle was the notorious Karcha nallah. Previous year while crossing the nallah one of the participants had slipped off. Thanks to the instructor present there who ran towards the scene and secured him out. The climate was sunny and the trail was plane with mountains on left side and the Chandra flowing benignly on the right side. We had already identified famous peaks of the valley such as Papsura and Dharmsura as they could be seen from the road. Within 3-4 hours we reached the snout camp. A lush green meadow upon which red, blue and orange colored tents were set up. A tiny blue watered pond augmented the loveliness of the campsite. But on the mountain side, intimidating moraines and deep jaws of valley through which the Bara shigri glacier flowed, awaited us next day.  

At night we gathered in a huge dome tent which accommodated everyone including the instructors. Wing Commander S K Kutty was to take the charge of the expedition then onwards. When he entered the tent Subhedar Jagroop Singh was narrating the incidence of rescue operation which he conducted on Mt. Kamet. When Kutty sir entered the tent, he quickly took a place among the students as opposed to standing differently like few other instructors. In this first act itself I could see in him the down to earth attitude and willingness to consider participants not as subordinates but friends. His soft spoken nature but clear-cut instructions pacified the last night’s anger and revitalized us for next day trek.

By now Akash had mastered the art of getting the work done from the tent mates. He had stopped using his plates long ago and would enjoy devouring in my plate so that he wouldn't have to clean the plates. Very soon he devised a strategy to eat in anybody’s plate and just before the plate is about to empty he would say ‘I`m full’ and walk away stealthily. When we would make fun of him then he would promptly say “toh kya hua, ek plate me khane se pyaar badhta hai” Only thing that he carried was a spoon in his pocket. Apart from me, Pranav was his water bottle filler. Funny part was that he always needed Sandeep to walk with him for the potty run. And even funnier thing was Sandeep always got defeated by Akash’s insistence.   

                                   

Our next destination was an intermediate camp (IM) where we were supposed to bivouac. Bivouac is a temporary shelter made out of thin plastic sheet for a night survival if one doesn't reach the designated campsite before dark. The trek was really tough. There was no trail, only boulders and scree. Carrying a heavy pack and negotiating big and sometimes loose rocks was a challenge in itself. Few were extremely tired and couldn't walk with the heavy loads. Lotus, Sandeep, Pranav, Hadi and few others, voluntarily shared their buddies’ loads. We reached IM by late afternoon and started looking for a suitable place. Our bivouac was legendary in a sense that when we squeezed inside, there was no room for air to breath. The sheet would fall on our face. On top of this, the perspiration had drenched the sheet from inside eventually causing showers under the shelter.

That evening, Hadi mesmerized us with his extraordinary Hindi learning. Within 10 days of stay in India, he was able to speak and understand few Hindi sentences, recall numbers from 1-10 and from 10-1 as well. We wholeheartedly appreciated him when he sang the song ‘Ye Dosti’ from ‘Sholey’.

Next day, trek to the base camp was pretty much longer than the previous one. Ours was the duty rope and we had to walk after everyone left the camp site. The trek continued after the IM through the boulders where at times balancing ourselves on our feet became a necessary skill to be mastered. By 5 o’ clock in the evening, we entered the actual glacier of Bara Shigri.  Sinister and unpleasant sights of screes and boulders were replaced by magnificent snow clad mountains such as Cathedral, Kulu Pamori, Kulu Makalu on the right side; while knife edge ridges of rocky faced mountains on the left side of glacier. Admirers of nature were mesmerized with such contrasting features of mountains. Sitting at the base camp in the late evening, we forgot the pains and miseries of the earlier treks and wolfed down spicy mutton curry with loads of rotis.