Making of a mountaineer

I'm a book worm and as worms go all naturally occurring stuff interest me.Also petrified by height, under suspected vertigo, any deliberate high energy and rapid activity had been a taboo .. Involvement with sports had been strictly watching football on TV and computer games.... Until one fateful trip I made,way back in the fall of 2011 with an aunt on pilgrimage,after her retirement to Gaumukh!!!

Ganga Devi temple Gangotri

Bhagirathi at Gangotri

The view on the way up to Gaumukh

Bhagirathi peaks behind the clouds

Beyond Bhojbasa

Of course we had to walk to Gaumukh which is through the awesome Himalayas and that was all until I started walking. Well and what was it all about.... pretty scenery,colourful birds &butterflies,wild mountain goats ,paths obliterated by landslide, a gushing mountain river , moving noisily in bends and rapids, awesome rock formations, grassy meadows and lots and lots of tall formidable snow-capped peaks. But wait, that wasn't even a half of it we continued to move up I started getting exhausted, out of breath,hurting all over and most of all scared because of my slow pace and photographing everything of least interest, my team had moved and I was alone in the wilderness!! It was getting late and though the path was distinct, i panicked." Bhojbasakitniduurhaiji?" When I asked a passing porter " bas adhaghanta " he replied and loped off confidently with his huge load and disappeared around a bend.But even after trudging along for an hour I see no sign of the rest destination.So that was another say 25% of it.Finally around 4pm with the sun alarmingly close to disappearing behind the mountain, I turn a bend and there it was right in front descending a couple of 100mtrs,our destination camp!! What a relief.Then came the head ache,sleeplessness and loss of appetite from high altitude! It was terrible.I wanted to go and look around but felt unfit to do so. I was thoroughly dehydrated and exhausted due to lack of calories, I had carried no snacks or lunch and blissfully unaware of mountain sickness....it had taken me 8 hrs to walk the 17easy km!!! And another 4km to Gaumukh in the morning I walked, which seemed rather pleasant after the night of somewhat disturbed sleep. But then on the way back I had learned my lesson and literally ran back to Gangotri in the record time of 4hrs (my record)out of sheer panic. That being the rest of 25% of my first encounter with the mountains!! Never am I walking in the mountains again I said to myself,too much exercise for my peaceful slow moving life.But it did not work out that way....

Back then 2011

Now 2016

There I was trekking again in that winter to SandakphuPhalut,the most popular Bengal trekking heaven...and heaven it truly was!! No amount of reading had ever given me the kind of satisfaction I find walking or climbing in the mountains. And Oh what wonderful pristine mountains we have. Especially given our over populated volatile country and community!

However given my newfound obsession depending on tour guides and agencies wasn't working out too well.I wanted to do it all on my my own and climb higher. Thus came the training. I wanted to learn more.Learn to move safely, knowledgeably , confidently not only alone alonebut leading a team.I needed fitness, climbing and survival skills. Most of all authentic first-hand information .I am still hard at it...way too inexperienced and pathetic in performance, totally in awe of the great alpinists and chroniclers...but still learning.So if the mountains accept I shall yet be a mountaineer.

This site a great help, with awesome articles by esteemed mountaineers sharing their experience freely and specifically to mention the esteemed Mr Ratan Lal Biswas, Mr Anindya Mukherjee, Mr Debabrata Mukherjee...who to my extensively read knowledge are truly remarkable mountaineers of our time. We should be honoured to have more of their precise and exhaustive publications.

Perigrino

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