Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC)@ ABVIMAS July, 2015 (Spiti)
"Because It's There", I heard the words of Late Mountaineering legend Mr. George Mallory and began preparing myself for a professional course in mountaineering. It is always better to give a professional touch to our passions, especially when the passion is adventure sports.
Our country has some prestigious institutes that train mountaineers to achieve great heights, some of them being-
- Nehru Institute of Mountaineering Uttarkashi, Uttrakhand
- Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjelling, West Bengal
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee Inst. of Mountaineering & Allied Sports, Manali, H.P
- Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering, Pahalgam, J&K
- National Outdoor Leadership School, Ranikhet, Uttrakhand
- National Institute of Mountaineering & Allied Sports, Arunachal Pradesh
- Pandit Nain Singh Surveyor Mountaineering Training Institute, Uttrakhand
- Sonam Gyatso Mountaineering Institute, Sikkim
- Indian Inst. of Skiing & Mountaineering, Gulmarg J&K
The courses run for 26 days in all the institutes and the cadets have to go through a hard and effective training which further polishes them into a mountaineer
(Following are the extracts of my Journal, published as they were written as I love to retain the originality . If you find content for a particular day to be short, just assume that I was as relaxed as a dead man and didn't care to write much) :)
Day-1 (The journey begins)
Our dorm is opposite to the washroom which has advantages and disadvantages both. We had our breakfast and were told to line up for collecting our equipments.
Total 15 items were issued to us -
Half sleeve feather jacket, Lower made of Polyster, upper
windcheater, monkey cap, sleeping bag and its inner, a mess tin, sleeping mat, Gaiters, seat harness, rope sling, one carribiner, helmet , Ice Axe and
ofcourse a Rucksack.
We even got a rubber sole attached to our
canvas shoes from the cobbler at the institute, this provides a good grip in rock
climbing.
Cobbler at the institute attaching rubber sole |
After that we had a museum visiting session after lunch
and we saw all the equipments. It was a great time having a look at traditional climbing gear. The day seemed quite free as students were
still joining and the number finally ended at 114. Yes, there were 114 students from J&K to Kerala and Gujrat to Meghalaya.
In the evening 'fall in' (term used for assembly of group) we were divided into
14 ropes , 8 in each and respective rope leaders were selected along with a course
senior, an equipment in charge and a quarter master. We were allotted rope instructors who would
train us for next one month. Later we headed for our first knots lecture, it is the most important
part of this course and we learnt over 10 knots in a single day.
Learning Knots is always fun :)
Learning Knots is always fun :)
Late evening we were given instructions for the next days schedule.
Day- 2 (Rock climbing)
5.30 morning tea followed by a PT and a 5 km
run.
The PT instructor was the best and most humble instructor we saw during the whole course (Mr. Bhag Singh Chauhan), he was always there to ask if we had any issues with our training.
8.30 AM was our activity fall in and various 'central equipments' (these were common for everyone and to be returned after activity) like ropes, carribiners were distributed to us rope wise and we had
to carry the load on our back.
Ready for the activity |
The first day was rock climbing , we were
given a demo and soon we were made to climb on big rocks and boulders with an inclinations
of 60 to 80 degrees.
We were told to just focus on techniques of
eye climbing and finding the correct holds to place the hands and feet. We all did well and climbed 10 to 15 feet
on every patch.
The rock area is just 3 kms away from the institute
and the best rock field indeed. One can practice almost every technique over
there, from overhangs to chimney climbing. We returned and had our lunch and after that we
had a lecture on mountain manners.
The lectures used to be very interesting as
we often heard some mountaineering stories as part of examples and later another
lecture on knots. After that we were sent for purchasing rain
sheets (Monsoon days) and canvas shoes for rock climbing.
Day -3 (Duty rope)
It's duty of our rope today and we have to serve
food. We were given duties to serve food rope wise and we had to serve the breakfast,
lunch, evening tea, and dinner. I was in rope no. - 2 so it was ours duty today. Duty day is usually very hectic but fun at the same time.
Again the same routine was followed, but this time our
morning run was increased to 9 kms.
Today we did better on rocks than we did on previous day and
we were taught about belaying and placing anchors on rocks.
The lunch was always great , but we get to
eat less on duty day as our rope was short of time. After
lunch there was a lecture on avalanche, which was again an interesting part.
The post dinner fall in used to be really
interesting as it was dark and we used to Shout, scream and make funny voices. After fall in we had chats and fun outside
hostel.
One day we were lucky enough to capture a flying
squirrel in our camera after fall in.
Day- 4 (wall climbing)
Today our morning run had increased to 12 kms,
though most of us had to walk the last 4 kms. Running at such an altitude is not
that easy, especially when you come from 300 meters above sea level.
Today we were divided into two groups. Our rope along with six others were to stay
at institute itself as we had to practice wall climbing and other group went
for rock climbing
We performed well and learned belaying
through autolock 'grigri device'. Many candidates had prior experience of wall
climbing and were the once who did really good.
Post lunch we had a lecture on mountain
hazards and rucksack packing, which was again an interesting part.
Now we were told to wear dirty or old
clothes as we had to begin our obstacle course.
The joy of doing obstacles is that we get
dirty in mud (reminds of childhood). We had to walk on bars, cross a 9 feet high wall. We used to push our friends from down so that
somehow they climb the wall, then crawling under the bars and jumping through
tyres.
And obstacles now made us take bath every
evening with cold water which we had been avoiding.
Day-5 (last day on rocks)
Yipee!!, no morning PT today as it is
raining. But we had a yoga session.
Today was the swap, our group was sent on
rocks and the other had to climb wall. It was the last day of our rock climbing,
so we practiced climbing in a chimney like crack, we even descended with our
forelimbs without rappelling. It was fun.
Post the lunch we had our lecture on first
aid in mountains by a doctor and after that was an obstacle course again. Three rounds for everyone, but the PT
before obstacles made us fully tired in second round itself.
Day -6 (Everything gets cancelled, its
raining)
There was no PT today as we had to trek to Hadimba mata temple with our 20 kg bag. But they made us climb the stairs instead of taking the original path and that was our real test. Later we again
moved to rock field as we had to do Rapelling today. But due to rain we could only see the demo
and had to return. Now the time was free so we heard the Fall
in whistle and it was movie time. But to our bad luck the projector stopped
working after five minutes and movie also got cancelled.
Post lunch we had our knots test We were alloted a sequence which we had to remember
althrough the course for assessment. Test was quite easy and interesting too. Evening was without obstacles as the field
was wet so we went behind the institute in woods on
the bank of river Beas. We had fun, clicked lots of pictures.
Day-7 (Adams day)
Its Adams day!!
The whole day is free and we can chill and
just chill. I along with three friends visited vashisth
temple and jogni falls further two kms from there. We came back to Hustle bustle of Manali town and walked towards
old Manali, the hub of Manali's best cafeterias.
We had lunch at mall road along with three
more friends and then we had to buy some essentials like goggles for snow and
snacks to eat. We even visited monastery on the Gompa road
near bus stand. It was just beautiful.
We returned to institute by 6.30 before the
reporting time and we didn't had to go through push-ups punishment for being late. We walked 13 kms that day.
Day- 8 (Rappelling & Jumaring)
Its again running and PT time, back to the old
routine after a day full of enjoyment. Today we did two activities in one day, Rappelling
and Jumaring.
Rapelling down |
Rappelling is fun and quite easy, Jumaring needs
stamina and the concept should be clear else you can get tired midway. All needs to be done is use your lower body strength as much as you can.
We reached institute by 2 pm and had our lunch.
Later we had lecture on map reading and navigation. This was really an
important one. The obstacle course activities resumed and luckily it
turned to be the last day of it.
After dinner we were told that tomorrow
will be river crossing.
Day -9 (River crossing)
In morning we were taken behind the
institute into woods for morning PT. Later we went for river crossing at Jagatsukh village 6 kms from Manali.
It seemed like a long walk (maybe because I was walking in the wrong shoes today), but the valley was
really beautiful where we spent time crossing the river. The water wasn't much cold but it was a good
experience. We learnt how the first man crosses river
to tie the rope to the other side.
Valley near Jagatsukh |
Later we had a lecture on Himalayas, the best
lecture as we discussed about various peaks with our sir. And we were
officially told that we would be tavelling to spiti this time instead of
traditional beas kund area.
All were set in joy and we had to deposit 1300
per student with our rope leader for travelling there.
Day -10 (mixed day)
There was no PT but we had to trek with our full sack to sharvri temple in Jagatsukh village at 4.30 AM. The view from there was mesmerizing.
There was no physical activity today as we
were to be issued snow shoes and crampons for walking in snow and ice which took almost whole day.
We got the crampons
adjusted and had a library reading session where we read adventure books on
Everest and other peaks. After lunch we saw film 'K2' as this part was
still pending. We even had a lecture on tent pitching
after evening tea.
Day- 11 (last day in manali)
The morning exercise was to trek to
vashisth temple and have bath. We returned by 7.30 AM and had our
breakfast. Today was scheduled as rock climbing test
but due to rain it got cancelled, and we had our second knots test. Almost all did good and scored well.
After lunch we were sent to market for purchasing
necessities as it was our last day in Manali.
We did some shopping, we had thupka (a tibetan dish made of soup and noodles) and came
back. We were supposed to submit our luggage in
clock room by 9 PM. I Called home as I was to be out of network
zone for the next 13 days.
Day - 12 (moving to Base camp)
This was the day we were moving to Batal. 16 Tata sumo were standing in a line waiting for us. We got our packed lunch in our mess tin and
all were set for the journey with full packed rucksack and a day sack.
We left a 9.30 AM and as our car was fifteen
minutes ahead of everyone so we got enough time to play in snow at Rotang. (reviving our childhood).
Soon we entered the great spiti valley and
took a turn right from gramphu (the other road goes ladakh), we were heading
towards kaza road and at chattru, the first and only dhaba on our way we had
our lunch and began our journey to Batal.
(Let me mention if you cross hampta pass
from manali to enter spiti, you end up reaching chattru itself).
We reached base camp by 3 pm and pitched
our tents. Five guys in a tent was the criteria. The
altitude was recorded at 13,100 feet. All were very excited as the place was
really beautiful. No vegetation, but amazing views. There was a small stream flowing through
the campsite which was to be used by everyone. The mess in charge had dug out separate
stream for the clean water for food.
In evening we were taken to a hill behind our
tents with our Ice axe and we were told to dug a pit for our early morning discharge and close it
every time it gets filled up. But no one could ever find his pit again in so
vast toilet area.
The campsite was set up and we were told about our next days schedule.
Day -13 (visiting kunzum pass)
The first night after drinking a hot coffee
was really helpful in acclimatization process. Early morning with a bed tea and washing the
face with cold water made us realize that we are no more in Manali.
The campsite was surrounded by various big
mountains not very far and beside our camp across the highway was the fast
flowing chandra river. I did mountain gazing with my binoculars
every morning trying to locate if I may see a climber on the way to summit.
We had our breakfast, washed our mess tin
with sand and marched towards kunzum pass by taking many risky shortcuts and crossing
streams.
The pass at 14,900 feet is really a
beautiful creation of God with snow covered hills on both sides.
Chandrabhaga Range seen from Kunzum pass |
Kunzum Devi Temple |
There is a temple on the top which has a magnetic
rock. If your coin sticks on it your conscience
is pure. Luckily I made it in first attempt.
We rested there for two hours and almost
all of us slept there because the heat of the sun was perfect for a nap which further helps in acclimatization. We came back by 3 PM and had our lunch, after
which we had a lecture on camping and camp hygiene.
Batal is a place where one can experience extreme
winds which may even blow away your tent. And the same happened with our dining
tent.
Though we never pitched it again.
Day- 14 (In search of Ice)
We had to trek to our activity site so that
we can understand the route. Route was very very long tiring as we had to
walk over moraines and loose rocks as if a large landslide had occurred over
there.
View of Base Camp |
View from the route to training area |
Then our instructors went further to check
the conditions of Ice wall. We were back by 2.30 PM and had lunch after
which was the rest time and some of the instructors with students played cricket
and some volleyball.
Some like me were enjoying nature and visiting
the dhaba for maggie or biscuits. There is a dhaba beside our campsite afterall we camped next to so called 'National Highway'. Later we had a lecture on snow shoes and we
practiced walking in them at our camp site.
They say washing mess tin with sand removes oils, but washing it at night was a nightmare. No electricity only head lamps or torches working.
They say washing mess tin with sand removes oils, but washing it at night was a nightmare. No electricity only head lamps or torches working.
Day- 15 (Snow craft-1)
After breakfast and washing the mess tin with
sand we again set off on our journey. We headed towards the snow field with our
rucksack on which had only required items.
Till now most of us had arranged a second
waterbottle for ourselves as the route we traveled on did not had any water
source the closest one was near the camp only.
We practiced different techniques of
walking on snow. We were back by 3.30 pm and had our lunch. There was no lecture now but a hailstorm to
welcome us. The temperature dropped 12 degrees in half
an hour. We suddenly heard a news that the advance course
instructo had a fall and was injured badly. His
leg had broken and a team of our instructors went up to the chandra river (near karcha naala- a point were crossing chandra river gets very risky) to evacuate
him as he was brought by advance course team from the other side of river.
We asked them if we can volunteer but our instructors
couldn't put us at risk, I and my friend gave them our binoculars as they needed it to spot the rescue team. Later the casualty was brought to camp and transported
to Manali early morning.
We had dinner and our Bournvitta drink and
slept.
The breakfasts were always the same, roti, aloo
subzi and dalia (porridge).
At this point of time we had started using only one part
of mess tin so that we don't have to wash both boxes every time with icy cold water. We had started to
mix everything and eat in a single box. Based on our needs and exhausted by aloo and
roti we had to be creative and we learnt the art of jam roll, dalia roti, and mix
veg roll.
We learnt how to arrest our fall if we slip
on snow using our ice axe. We also learnt glissading , a technique of
descending fast on snow. Till now we had become habitual of walking
on rocks and stones so we came down running today, but the
aftereffects were that everyone had a minor knee pain. We were back by 4 PM and had lunch.
Later in evening we used to discuss various topics with instructors and hear their stories.
Day- 17 (snow craft last day and back to
duty rope)
It was our duty rope again and I volunteered
to serve tea with two others Going tent to tent and calling 'chai chai' in
our own style was fun.
Bed tea call was more seriously taken as a wake
up call rather than tea time. We did served the breakfast and I today the food
was special (egg bhurji) which ofcourse finished very soon.
Today we learnt how to fix anchors in snow
and how to arrest if the members of team fall when roped up. It was a good experience.
In evening we had lecture on crampons and
how to fix them to snow boots. We had Maggie at dhaba, purchased dairy
milks, hide and seek and returned back.
Day- 18 (Ice craft-1)
We walked double the distance we used to
walk for snow craft. It took three long hours to reach the Ice wall. By
the end the route was very complicated with sharp edged moraines while edges were facing up at many
places and we had to make our own route.
We climbed up a small hill on our
right, walked up on the ridge and then descend on other side (this descending
was actually not very safe.)
Then we walked over moraines and reached
the destination. Our Ice wall was on CB-12 Glacier. We had lecture on ice climbing and we tried
our best to climb the wall.
Ice Wall |
There was a 'free climb' option available
on the side of wall where we could climb freely without any belay rope up to a certain
height. I spent most of my time there as I felt comfortable adjusting my toes
by hitting into ice.
I did not even had a fall during the climb
and that motivated me. The crampons were not very good and became loose very often.
CB-12 Glaciers Ice Fall some distance apart from our training area (Appears Dangerous) |
We returned by 4.45 pm and during our return
the distance between first person and the last in our group would have been 1.5 km as everyone
had their own pace of walking over unstable rocks after a tiring activity
Today we had a lecture on glaciers in Himalaya in evening and later we enjoyed another awesome sunset.
Peak Climbed by Advance Course. |
Day-19 (Ice craft gets over and so the long
difficult trek)
As usual waking at 5.30 AM and many of us moving towards the toilet field with a bottle in one hand and ice axe in another
to dig a pit.
Today no one wanted to go again for ice craft that far, but we had no options. We left for the field with our rucksack and
refreshments, and we were told that this would be our last day on Ice and
everyone looked so joyful as if we were a bird and had been set free from a cage.
We saw the demo on how to fix ropes in Ice
using screw ice pitons and later we did jumaring (a technique of ascending
using mechanical device that doesn't let us fall)
Some ropes were left for people who wanted
to practice climbing using their ice axe and some of us including me also practiced how to fix
an screw piton in ice.
Jummaring on Ice |
We would no more see ice in this course now
and we began a photosession on the way back too.
After walking for long on rocks we preferred
to take snow path on our way whenever we encountered a patch and that was the time I realised why people prefer snow route during climb.
On the Way Bac to Base Camp from Ice Field. |
We again reached at 5 pm and yesterdays
routine followed including a maggie and a pack of hide and seek biscuits. We were about to have a lecture on mountain
terminology when our director visited our camp surprisingly. This time he had
accompanied advance course in the expedition and their camp was not very far
from ours.
He motivated us and took a briefing about
the activities we did.
Day - 20 (Rescue Techniques)
The fall in was at 9 AM instead of 8.30 AM as
we had to trek just nearby the campsite where we were taught various techniques
of rescuing someone if he falls in a crevasse. We practised various types of setups prepared to rescue someone using ropes and pulleys.
We practiced them and reached the camp by 12 P.M. This was the time we used to reach our
activity site a day before and today we were all free by now.
We took some rest and some of us began playing cricket. I
was mostly found on a nearby rock with some friends and we used to discuss
about treks and mountains.
We had a lecture on mountain terminology
and were informed that tomorrow will be our height gain day and we shall try
our best to do atleast 17,000 feet.
Everyone was extremely happy and we were distributed
dry ration like toffees, biscuits, chocolate's and dry fruits as there would be
no lunch tomorrow.
Day -21 (The most important day - Height Gain, Summit of an Unnamed Peak)
We had our fall in at 5.30 AMand we left
immediately
As we exit batal, we cross a bridge and just
after that is a temple, where we offered prayers as this was the real climbing
day of BMC.
The bridge was named as bridge of hope (I will
tell the reason later.)
We reached the kunzum pass by 8.30 and just
before the pass we started the steep section at its right and started to climb the hill.
Later at some point near 15,900 we started
to feel that the oxygen level started to decrease but we all were quite comfortable.
View of Kunzam Pass from above |
As we trekked over loose rocks the size of
moraines started increasing, and on some we could even practice rock climbing,
but today our motive was to gain height and not jump over rocks.
We took rest at a point and the altimeter
read 16,161 feet. We had already attained our qualifying
height of 15,500 feet. We decided to move ahead and walking
through the rocks and over stones with each section we climbed, the summit appeared
just next few steps ahead. But when we reached the top we could again see
another ridge leading to the top.
Before reaching the top we were almost
exhausted that we walked few steps to take a rested for a minute. Our instructors were
continuously motivating us and finally I heard the hooting of my friends who
reached the top. We also began running and in no time we
were there.
And we did it, We Summitted an Unnamed Peak.
At 17,483 feet we could see as far as Indo-Tibet
border and some beautiful 6000 meter peaks and some peaks were just a little more high
then we were.
Altimeters Reading 17483 feet. |
We clicked as much photos as we could and
with as many friends as we could. All were congratulating each others as this
was the first time that Basic course had achieved such a good height with 98%
attendance at the peak and no dropouts from the batch. The credit goes to the our instructors and the difficult treks we
did everyday to reach our activity site.
After some time we descended and reached
the base at kunzum pass within two hours and further 1.5 hours to Batal.
Highest Fall in at the Sumit |
The Joy of Summit |
Day - 22 (practical test and the day for
rest)
Eating a cheese slice separately is an awesome
thing to try in mountains.
Today we were divided into two groups. One
group will give test while others had to clean their equipment such as gaiters,
snow shoes, crampons and axe. I was in the cleaning group initially after which we
all began to practice for our test.
Meanwhile advance course had arrived at our
campsite and also set up their camp next to us. After three hours was our turn to give test.
It consisted of four parts, the first one
being naming all the equipments and their descriptions as they were displayed
and I did very well. Then was my knots test which I performed well. Then he
asked me to demonstrate various rappelling techniques and in the end was the
rescue test in which I had to prepare the setup for rescue (Z- Pulley Method).
I was doubtful about what marks he would give me. Later in the evening was a lecture on
making stretcher using ropes and we practiced that. Making a hammock is quite similar to that.
So the next days schedule was decided that
we will trek to chandratal lake and that was optional and not part of any
activity, as we had to cover 34 kms in a day.
Day-23 (trek to chandrataal lake)
Today we got packed lunch as we had to
return late in the evening. Most of the students including me did not take it as we
couldn't anymore bear the aloo subzi and roti that used to convert into papad
very soon. My group had heard from the nearby dhaba that there are small eating points
near the lake so we skipped the packed lunch.
We begin our journey at 8.30 AM and it took us long five hours to get there, meanwhile some students who did not want to come along as they could not
walk had arranged a mini truck by convincing the driver who had stopped at the dhaba
and some of them including our kitchen staff reached there before us. As we were
moving we could see amazing breathtaking views of open wide valley and a
small road passing through with chandrabhaga peaks on the left.
CB-14 Peak on right(Highest in Chandrabhaga Range), CB-13 to its left |
The moment we saw the lake we were amazed, A fresh blue water lake in the midst of grey and brown mountains. We walked down to the lake and everyone could feel the cool breezee. We immersed our feet in cold water and sat on the shore. It appeared like a Beach in mountains.
To our surprise there were no dhabas or
eating points at the lake and thankfully I had purchased some snacks 2 kms
before the lake from a stall. We ate our biscuits and chips and after
spending an hour we had to move back to our camp.
It was 2.30 PM and we marched back to our camp. the road with amazing views appeared as it was going to the paradise.
It began to rain and we were still in midway.
We had our ponchos over us and began moving. All were almost tired after a 34 Km long journey and waiting for a glimpse of the 'Bridge of Hope'
Actually, this bridge was next to base camp on the Highway that leads to Kaza, We could see this bridge on our way back only when we were 500 metres away from it as for the rest of the time it did not appeared to us. So upon seeing this we were relieved that we have finally arrived at our base camp. We had three journeys on this road , the first being on second day at Batal when we visited Kunzam Pass, next when we went for Height gain exercise and the third being this trip to Chandratal.
Bridge of Hope |
Chandratal is a seperate route of 14 kms from the main highway and the road ends at the lake. We reached the camp by 6.15 PM and today again was
a maggie day. I with my friends rushed early before the crowd could occupy the dhaba.
Later in the night we were given instructions
about next day journey to manali.
Day -24 (back to civilisation)
We had to move at 9.30 AM, so we got up
early, packed our bags and tent, had breakfast and collected the packed lunch. We began our journey with amazing views of mountains. The remix music was adding more energy to our bodies. We reached manali by 3.30 PM and the first
thing everyone wanted to do is collect our bags and have a bath . I was lucky to
have it early.
We had an opportunity to have bath at base
camp one day, but most of us including me did not had as the water was too cold. Finally we called home after a long gap of two weeks.
Later in the Fall in we were told that we had our written test the very next day and we
begin studying at night.
Day- 25 (written test and closing ceremony)
It was our test and it was really easy.
Many were copying the answers and I scored well.
After the test we had to submit our equipment's
which consumed a lot of time.
We had interview session later with our
director where we had to give our feedback. We were told that today will be the closing
ceremony.
Later in evening the ceremony began at 7.30 PM and we were given badges and some special badges were also like clean Himalaya, Best
male and female cadet, best rope award. It was followed by a cultural dance and music and then course report was read. It was 10.30 PM by now and almost everyone's stomach was like an empty drum waiting to be filled.
We had our dinner and all began dancing and
singing as it was to be our last night. We were awake till late untill our
instructors had to obstruct our fun and we were sent to sleep.
The Reward |
Cultural Programme |
Day- 26 (good bye BMC)
We were told to collect our leaving pass from
10 AM onwards and we also bought souvenirs like t-shirts, caps from the
institute and I purchased a warm fleece jacket which our instructors used to
wear. Almost all were going today except few who
had to leave next day. We all went to market to cherish the last moments in Manali.
And the journey ends with many awesome memories.
Flora at the Institute |
Trek to Sharvri Temple Early Morning |
Beauty in Institute |
The Point We Climbed (Picture taken From Kunzam Pass) |
Amazing, thank you so much for this? I wanted to ask, how much did it rain throughout the course?? Did the monsoon affect your course in any way?
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a lovely time! The scenery and the food looks amazing! pitons tour
ReplyDeleteFantastic blog. Keep it up. Gave a great deal of knowledge before my course. Thanks. God bless you
ReplyDelete