Adventures in India

The peaks are located in the Raktavarna glacier north east of Gaumukh in the Gangotri region. This area was explored in the late sixties & early seventies. The main attraction of the region was the Sudarshan parvat which is adjacent to Chaturbhuj.

The expedition aimed at climbing a moderate height peak with a considerable amount of technical difficulty involved with a small team in a improvised alpine climbing style. The expedition also aimed to expose its climbers to experience in technical climbing at high altitudes giving a chance to push their skills, stamina & endurance to their limits.

The peaks are located in the Raktavarna glacier north east of Gaumukh in the Gangotri region. This area was explored in the late sixties & early seventies. The main attraction of the region was the Sudarshan parvat which is adjacent to Chaturbhuj. Sudarshan is a spectacular peak, huge in size & can be seen from the Gangotri temple.

There were many attempts during 1970 to 1980 o­n Sudarshan parvat of which most of them failed while few managed to climb smaller peaks like Koteshwar located at the starting of Raktavarna glacier.

Then in 1980 Harish Kapadia with a big team (Indo - French) climbed Sudarshan parvat (1 st accent) Chaturbhuj (1 st accent) but failed o­n Yogeshwar. Yogeshwar was first climbed by Ramakant Mahadik in 1991. It was again climbed by a British team in 92. After that there have been no noticeable attempts o­n these peaks.

Chaturbhuj (4 ridges) still has 3 unclimbed ridges while Yogeswar was climbed by the south side through Shyamvarna glacier its west ridge which connects to Chatubhuj is still unclimbed. The Gangotri region is easily accessible with ample of hotels till Gaumukh. Due to easy access & short approach the expedition can reach base camp very fast from Mumbai so as to get more climbing days.

It can be seen from the above, that our expedition was a climbing expedition and not a trekking expedition. The scope of this expedition was much more. It would be great to learn from this experience.

The team consisted of 5 members

•  Nilesh Pitale ( Leader)

•  Mangesh Deshpande ( Co-Leader)

•  Rajendra Mahajan ( Treasurer)

•  Sudeep Barve

•  Sanjay Joshi

The planning had started almost two months before I decided to join. We packed fifteen kit-bags weighing almost 350kgs!

Mangesh flew to Delhi and Sudeep went to Delhi & Uttar Kashi to take care of some of the formalities. We three of us along with all the luggage and personal rucksacks, left for Delhi . From Delhi we hired a car to take us to Uttar Kashi. The journey took us through Hardwar , Rishikesh and a very scenic journey to our destination. After taking some equipment from Nehru Institute of mountaineering o­n hire, we then proceeded to Gangotri.

From Gangotri we took up a route frequented by the pilgrims going to Goumukh. The route is a small rock strewn trail clinging to the mountainside. o­n the right side the river Bhagirathi is flowing in a deep

valley. The snow-capped mountains o­n both sides were huge and magnificent!

The going was difficult as we were gaining altitude all the time. We stayed at Bhojwasa for a day. (15 kms.) We had hired fifteen porters to carry our luggage. We had also taken along o­ne high altitude porter and o­ne cook to accompany us all the way.

We went to a further camp carrying some of luggage. o­n the way we stopped some time at Goumukh to view river Bhagirathi emerging from the massive Bhagirathi glacier. A spectacular sight indeed! This river flows o­n to meet river Alaknada at Devprayag to become river Ganga ! The climbing then became very strenuous. We reached our camp sight. We pitched our tents and settled for the night. The fierce flowing winds and persisting snowfall made it a memorable experience! It was very, very cold. Next morning the whole area was covered in snow! The mountains surrounding us were lost in the mist.

We thought we were stuck here for some time. But the weather in Himalayas is very fickle. Suddenly the cloud cover vanished and it was very bright and sunny. Our porters left with the load to the base camp. We stayed at this camp to acclimatize. In the afternoon the porters came back rested for some time and started for Gangotri. Our cook was very good and fed us very well with very tasty hot food. Next day we got an early start and reached our base camp. The sight was very good indeed. We pitched our tents and set our base camp. From our tent the view of mount Shivling was simply breath-taking! Kedardom, Meru were also very beautiful.They say " Himalaya is an abode of God!" god cannot find a more awe-inspiring and mysterious place in the world for sure!!

We were now camping o­n the Shwetwarna glacier. Glacier is a frozen river. The top of the glacier was covered with rocks of various shapes and sizes falling from the mountains o­n the sides. The depth of the ice under us could be o­nly imagined! As five of us could not carry all the load further, the plan was to carry some load to our next camp and come back to stay here. This became our routine for next 2/3 days. After a hearty break-fast some of us will carry some load to our next camp. They would return by 1.30. After lunch we would rest in the afternoon. Tea time was at 4.00 and dinner time was set at 7.30/8.00pm. The next camp was at a height of 17500 feet and was set at the beginning of a spectacular glacier. We managed to ferry required material to our next camp. We were all set to move to next very important camp next day!

After break-fast Nilesh declared that he was unwell and has decided to call the expedition off!! Sudeep & me were to go along with him to Gangatri. The Porters will be arranged immediately and Mangesh and Rajan were to go to our next camp spend a day there go as far as they could go, wind up that camp and come back to this camp. They would wind up this camp after the porters arrived and reach Gangotri.

The abruptness and suddenness of this decision made us all speechless. Nilesh sat o­n a nearby rock and cried for some time! I then asked if I could stay back with Mangesh and Rajan and go to next camp and help them to wind up both the camps. Sudeep also wanted to stay back and join us as he was quite well now. But within ten minutes Nilesh and Sudeep Packed up, bid us good buy and left us to proceed to Gangatri.

We were suddenly left high and not so dry in a very difficult terrain with a huge responsibility of winding up of our two camps! The first step was to go to our next camp. So we packed and three of us with our o­ne porter and o­ne cook started towards distant camp. The lack of spring in our step was noticeable. The going was more difficult now! We set up our camp. The setting was spectacular. Mount Sudarshan was just in front of us beyond the long winding glacier. Mount Yogeshwar also could be seen o­n our right. Mount Saifee was o­n our left and nearest to us. The sheer magnificence of the scene surrounding us was difficult to take in at o­ne glance!

Then we discussed our plan for the next day. Mangeh & Rajan were of the opinion that we should go further for four hours and then come back to wind up this camp. We should then go back to our base camp o­n the same day. We also took a difficult decision to leave most of food here. We also decided that all the valuable equipment o­nly will be carried by us to the base camp.

We met the Bengali team coming back after summitting Mount Sudarshan . We had lunch with them. It snowed in the afternoon and it became very cold.

We had no option but to sit it out in our cramped quarters. That night it snowed very heavily. The temperature dropped so much that we had snow forming inside of our tent! We got up early, had our morning tea and breakfast Mangesh and Rajan along with guide and cook set them o­n the glacier to go towards Mount Saifee . I had decided not to go. They came back at 12.00 and we started to wind up our camp. We left most of our food, kerosene there, we had no other option. We packed all the equipment, tent and started o­n our way back with heavy heart. Our expedition was over.

We reached our base camp by late afternoon. After a refreshing cup of tea, we sorted out the load to be carried by the porters. Now we had to wait for the porters to arrive. They did arrive next day in the afternoon. The load was rearranged as per their requirement and we decided to camp here tonight, start early next day and reach Gangotri by evening.

A very long trek indeed! But as we were going down all the way, we should be able to manage it. The porters also agreed. We took some photographs and packed our rucksacks for o­ne more time. The return journey was by the same way so we did not spend any time in gazing at the surrounding beautiful landscape but concentrated o­n making good time. Goumukh, Bhojbasa, Chitbasa, a cup of tea here, a hot snack there we kept o­n going. Magesh reached Gangotri just behind our porters. It is amazing to watch these people walk so briskly in the most difficult terrain with loads of 40/45 kgs. I reached gangotri last. We met Nilesh and Sudeep in the same hotel. Both had recovered from their respective illness. We rested and visited the temple again. Next morning we took a bus to Uttarkashi. Loading the luggage o­n the bus was an experience. We reached uttarkashi by afternoon. We again checked in Bhandari hotel. We returned the equipment to NIM.

I was keen o­n sight seeing in Uttarkashi and surrounding places, but others were keen o­n going to Mumbai as our expedition was over. So off we were from Uttarkashi to Hrishikesh then to Delhi . We had to stay at maharastra mandal for two days as we gad to pre-pone our tickets. We did visit Jaipur - The Pink City o­n o­ne of the days. The lavish palaces and grand style was good to see.

We were no doubt, disappointed that our climbing expedition failed. But we did manage to reach 18000 feet (app), trek in Goumukh region for more than a week, camped at spectacular sights for nights, experienced snowfall and had a gret time out in the wilderness!!

There is an old proverb, 'The Mountain chooses its own climbers" . We were not the chosen o­nes, this time! The mountains will always be there as they have been for many a centuries. We can make yet another attempt to climb them, god permitting.

Article by Sanjay