Prelude

I witnessed the mountains for the first time when I visited Nainital, a hill station in Uttarakhand with my family at the age of ten in the year of 2006.

Thought of climbing these giant rocks and landforms never came into my mind. But one day when I was sitting in my office with not so much exciting desk job and listening to the river rafting experience of one of my colleague, a thought triggered in my mind. That impulse forced me to do some research on some adventurous activities. While surfing on the internet, my eyes stuck on one of the sports and that was Mountaineering and Rock Climbing.

Internet is really good at such things. It always gives the more information than what actually demanded. LOL😀😅.So I researched almost everything related to Mountaineering from all the sources and website available there. On thing which I noticed is that – This is the sport which is highly dangerous. If tried to do without proper training and gears then it could be the last trial of being a hero. Mountains are not less than a battlefield full of mines. One wrong move or step and you will die.

As decided that I will surely be a part of this Adventurous activity but for this I need training. In case if I will choose solo Climbing then at least my training will help me. So I searched for training institutes. I made a list as there are just few institutes which imparts training for Mountaineering. First phase of training is called Basic Mountaineering Course which is a 28 days course.

So I contacted various institutes. It was Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering (JIM) NIMAS of Arunachal Pradesh, ABVIMAS of Manali. But getting seat for training was next to impossible as waiting period was more than 1 year in each institutes. Finally I came to know about an Institute named, IHCAE- Indian Himalayan Centre for Adventure and Eco-touirism, Sikkim. On contacting the institute, they informed me that only limited seats are available for the next Batch. With no time I registered for that batch which was commencing on 14 Sept 2019.

So I was all set to sail through such an amazing and exciting adventure and traveled from Bareilly(U.P.) to New Jalpaigudi(West Bengal) which took approx 29 hours. Reached there in morning of 13th September 2019.

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Training

After reaching the Institute in the evening, all 40 trainees were given some instructions including Do’s and Don’ts, had dinner and alloted Rooms. Each room comprises of 4 beds and I got the room with only two other trainees. Both the guys were from Maharashtra and both serves in different reputed services. We all became very close friends. Day 0 ends.

Day 1 starts at 06:00 AM with jogging, strechings and PT drills. This was the day when I interacted with some people including those who later on became good friends and great part of my life.

Then these forty people were divided into ropes(meaning groups). Total four ropes. Each rope comprises of 10 trainees, each from different states and then leaders were decided. My Rope leader was a girl with short hairs, who hails from Chattisgarh. Division of trainees into ropes is important because it makes the things simpler and it’s easy to handle the manpower and passing the instructions becomes easy.

As phase 1 of our training includes ground training in the institute. Through this entire phase, we were trained physically, various theories of Mountaineering, use of gears, equipments ropes were taught.

Apart from this we were given training for rock climbing.

After all this training, we were required to pass a test in which a trekking trail was to be completed in given time limit. This test was deciding factor whether one will undergo training at height or not. However that trail was not a piece of cake but some how everyone managed to complete the trek. Some of the trainees were injured. One trainee had to leave the training in between and he was my Room mate. I felt bad for him as there was a good bond with him and he was like a big bro for me there.

Before the commencement of Phase 2 training, we were given a day for shopping. We all went to Namchi Market and purchased all the essential item required for training at height

Next day we left the Institute early in the morning for YUKSOM (Height-5570 ft). That was the place from where we all need to trek to reach the Base camp for our snow and ice training. Everyone stayed there in night, used the sleeping bag here for first time. It was really a good feeling. Next morning, We all set to for trek. Before that of trek a motivational speech was delivered by Director of IHCAE- Col D N Bhutia(Retd).

In the evening we reached the TSHOKA-, which was our next resting point. We had dinner there and next day we acclimatized there without going to further height.

Next day, we trek more to reach the next resting point- THANSING(12464ft). After reaching there we spent a night.

Next morning again we trek further to gain some more height and finally reached our Base camp – TORIPHULEY (Height 14100ft- ). This is the place where we have to live in tents for next 7 days. Here temperature goes below freezing point of water, chilled shivering wind blows everytime. From this Base camp, we all need to climb up daily for training and then come down to sleep. In this phase, we were imparted following training.

• Snow Craft

• Ice Craft

• Tyrolean Traverse

• Height Gain

Training was completed smoothly without any Casualties. And then we followed the same route to trek down and finally reached the Institute.

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In the Institute where we have to spent our some last 2 or 3 days, few competitions were conducted, Badges were alloted in the Closing ceremony. After that we all danced “LIKE NEVER BEFORE”. On the last day after everyone enjoyed. By this time, everyone knows each other very well. I made very Good friends here. Some for life time.

So this Adventure really make the person feel alive. A lot of things can be learned. This sports gives opportunity to know the self, other person, Nature, its Beauty more deeply.

A Journey more than Worthy✌️✌️😀😀

“Climbing Mountains is optional but coming down alive is mandatory”.

An Important Lesson in Mountaineering😀