Basic Mountaineering

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Shortly after the situation with the non-paying passenger was resolved, I struck up a conversation with the only guy on the bus who looked like he might also be heading for NIM. This he was, though he was in the Search and Rescue course, which is basically the 3rd course in the series (basic, advanced, search and rescue, and method of instruction for people who want to be guides/instructors). His name was Tenzing, and he was from a small town in Himachal Pradesh. His English was rather limited but I was quite happy to have met another student, and one who spoke Hindi at that.

We arrived in Uttarkashi around 3:30 in the afternoon and immediately sought food (I’d only had a few oranges and bananas since about 7:00 the previous evening). Over samosas and chickpeas, we attempted to sort out precisely where the other was from, how big our extended families are, and I tried to get as much information from him as I could about his experiences in the basic and advanced courses. He took both from HMI, which is India’s other major mountaineering institute, located on the other side of Nepal in Darjeeling. I searched up and down the street for bottled water, but couldn’t manage to find a single bottled beverage of any kind. Eventually I gave up and drank the “tap” water (I don’t really know where it came from, it was in a big barrel in the back of the eight-seat dhaba where we were eating).

After the very satisfying meal, we made our way up the hill to NIM. Uttarkashi isn’t a big town (population 16,000), but it sprawls along both sides of the Bhagirathi river in a fairly narrow valley, with most of the buildings clustered close to the water. NIM sits perhaps two hundred vertical feet above most of the town, and affords a great view of the opposite hillside, where you can see the path of a major landslide that wiped out a few buildings in 2003. It was March 18th, and both courses didn’t start until the 20th, so there were only a few other students on campus. For the first few days I only got to know other search and rescue students, who I didn’t really see anymore once our courses started and went their mostly separate ways.

The itinerary for the course was posted in the hostel, and as I expected it was very structured. NIM is run by the Ministry of Defense and the principal, vice principal, and some of the instructors are military officers. We were woken at 5:30 every morning for tea, then had PT for about an hour before being served breakfast. Every minute of the day was accounted for, and lights had to be out at 10:00. For the first few days, we didn’t leave the campus. Our equipment was issued, we attended lecture after lecture, learned knots and did some climbing on the artificial rock walls. We were divided in to “ropes” of six or seven people, and each rope was assigned an instructor who was responsible for the practical implementation of what was discussed in the lectures.

After three days we started walking about 7km each morning to Tekhla, where we practiced rock climbing, anchoring, belaying, and rappelling. We had to carry full backpacks, even though we were returning to NIM each afternoon by bus, the idea being that we’d be better prepared for the treks in the mountains. After four days at Tekhla, we boarded the bus for the two hour ride to the trailhead, the beginning of eighteen days and seventeen nights in the mountains.

The first day we trekked about 8km to a camp called Tel. It wasn’t particularly difficult - though it relentlessly climbed about 3,500 feet, the pace was slow and we took a fifteen minute break after every 45 minutes or so of walking. The next day we went about 16km and gained another 3,000 ft of altitude, although there were significant losses and gains en route. Again the pace was rather slow and we took long breaks. We spent three days at the second camp, Gujjar hut, during which we did some very basic snowcraft (this is how you kick a step in the snow so you can walk up a slope) and load ferried supplies up to base camp, another 4km and 1,100 or so vertical feet further up the valley.

Eventually we moved to base camp, where we spent a total of 12 nights. We were still getting up at 5:30 every morning for tea, then PT and breakfast, just like at NIM. We’d then head out to practice snowcraft, icecraft, “high altitude rock climbing” (climbing in clumsy plastic boots instead of nimble climbing shoes), and crevasse crossing and rescue. By late morning the snow was usually becoming soft - it would freeze every night and then thaw the next day - so, we’d return for lunch at around 1:30 and have lectures in the afternoon about the following day’s activities. On our next to last day at base camp we ascended to just over 16,000 feet, which is the highest I’ve ever been (though I’ll be higher than that in Ladakh just traveling on the roads).

On April 12th we set out for the two-day trek out of the mountains, returned to NIM, and generally did a lot of nothing for a few days until graduation on the afternoon of the 15th. We left the morning of the 16th and I came to Dehra Dun, where I am now.

Although we started with 82 students, only 72 graduated. A few dropped out for medical reasons, others because they just didn’t like it/weren’t fit enough. Two of the ten who dropped out were from my rope, which meant that we had a little extra space in our tent, which was a real blessing. There were two foreigners other than me - a French guy, JB, and an Australian, Kris. About 15 or so were from the military, all of whom were very fit and some of them were stationed in Kashmir and were generally as good or better mountaineers than some of the junior instructors. A few of them, including my friend Tenzing (different from the previous Tenzing) had climbed a 25,000 ft peak in the Karakorum range - they only took the basic course because they were required to in order to take advanced and then further courses, and having guide accreditation from NIM is apparently quite useful if you plan to be a guide for Western tourists. I was probably in the fittest 33%, which was a relief as I didn’t really train at all beforehand. Some of the students started out in terrible condition, though most of them stuck it out and worked hard to finish the course. One guy lost over 20 lbs. The average age was probably around 25, the youngest being 18 and the oldest 50, though the 50-year-old dropped out six days before we left the mountains.

With the exception of the senior instructor, the 15 or so other instructors all spoke very basic English. Some students spoke English well, and they were generally very eager to translate for JB, Kris and me. There were only a few students from the non-Hindi speaking southern states, but for various reasons they all spoke at least some Hindi, so it was really just us foreigners who had language problems. The language barrier definitely prevented me from gaining as much from the course as I would have if it was taught by instructors who spoke English, but I gained some significant skills and knowledge and all in all I’m quite happy with the experience.

The two significant complaints I have about the course are the state of my hands and the food. Our second day at Tekhla, I noticed that the backs of my hands and fingers were tender and it looked like blisters were forming. I thought it was sunburn as I hadn’t put sunscreen there, so I made sure to generously cover them for the next few days. However, over the next few days, my front paws descended deeper and deeper in to hands hell. Large blisters formed and the skin would tear off if there was a stiff breeze. In the mountains, my skin became very dry in spite of the fact that I put on lotion four or five times a day. The only water we had was an ice-cold glacial stream, and I had to wash my mess tin, clothes, and self in this water. Eventually the tips of my fingers became so dry that they cracked and bled. The rock and ice climbing, and constant rope handling tore up the backs of my hands, where I had developed a full-blown case of ALHF (acute leprosy of the hands and fingers). About halfway through our time in the mountains I gave up trying to self-medicate and eventually I got some cream from the nursing assistant that helped. I guess it was an allergic reaction to something, though I’m not sure. My hands are mostly better now - they’re just peeling like mad.

The food, while good, was almost the exact same every day. Rice, lentils, cauliflower, potatoes, sometimes chickpeas, chapatti, some oranges or mosambi (complete guess on the spelling, the first time I encountered the fruit was here in India), tomato soup, and stream water. Sometimes we got jello, kheer, or mutton. I got very, very tired of the food but ate it because I had no choice. To add insult to injury, the cooks seemed to think that if you ate meat, you didn’t deserve dessert. I took mutton whenever it was available, and on two occasions this was also a day they made kheer, which I love. Kris and I were both dumbfounded when they refused to give us kheer, and the cooks just kept repeating “kheer veg, mutton nonveg.” I tried to explain that meat-eaters also ate dessert but for probably 30 seconds they didn’t budge. Eventually Kris said “look, just put it on my plate, mate” and the guy looked at him and, after a few seconds, gave him some kheer (he gave me some as well).

I still plan to go to Ladakh, but this evening I’m leaving for Varanasi. I may book my flight to Ladakh within the next week or so, or I might make a side trip to Bombay/Pune, since so many of the students and a lot of my better friends from NIM were from those cities. As much as I was looking forward to the course, it’s nice to be free again to decide what to eat and when to wake up. I spent as much on food and drink yesterday as I would have for a decent meal in NY. It was wonderful.

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Photos

NIM Campus
The building on the right was tin-roofed, and the day before graduation we assembled inside just as a hailstorm was starting. The hail eventually got a bit larger than grapes and the noise inside was absolutely deafening - comparable to standing right next to the speakers at a concert. The instructors made us sit there for 15 minutes (they all went and stood outside on the covered entryway).

Tel
Arriving at Tel, where we spent our first night in the mountains. Elevation is around 8,200 ft.

Snowcraft
We spent a few days on this hillside practicing snowcraft (glissading, self-arrest, placing snow anchors, etc).

Lunch at Gujjar Hut
Lunchtime at Gujjar Hut, our 2nd camp at about 11,000 feet.

Base Camp
Base Camp, where we spent a total of 12 nights. Elevation is 12,200 ft.

GD and Kris
Two of my good friends from the course, GD from the Punjab and Kris from Australia. They both came to Dehra Dun with me after the course, where we all mightily enjoyed our first beers in a month.

JB, Tenzing, and Norbu
Tenzing in the foreground, JB in yellow up the hill a bit, and my rope instructor at the top left. JB and Tenzing weren't in my rope, but our two ropes were assigned to train together (I think because our rope instructor was very experienced and theirs less so).

Food... ugh
What I faced for approximately 50 meals (every lunch and dinner).