Bandarpunch Under Arrest!

A few days into our expedition, we found out by satellite phone that there was a warrant out for Kutty's arrest by the Forest Dept. Somehow, the journalists figured out that we did not pay the peak fees to summit Bandarpunch, which is an understandably large offense. Of course, they didn't check their facts to find out that we were exempt from such fees since we were taking a course through NIM, a government-run institution. So, what did they do? Published it in both Hindi and English papers throughout the area.

Although slightly alarming, we were sure that the confusion would be cleared up without much fuss.  However, after summiting we learned that not only was the issue unresolved, but also that two members of our group who had left early had been detained for questioning.

Two classic examples of India's ineffective police force:
1. The officials who detained my friends for questioning didn't have their own means of transportation. (From our later run-in with the forest department, I'm guessing the officials were just sitting on the trail near the town of Suki and waiting until the trekkers walked by.) Not having transportation is inconvenient when the goal is to bring the detainees to a town 25-minutes away.  The solution? They used common sense and squeezed into my friends' vehicle and directed the driver where to go. Although I support carpooling, I think they should at least have chipped in for gas money.

2. According to my friends, the forest department was ready to arrest the couple. The hitch: They knew they could put the husband in jail, but they couldn't decide what to do with the wife besides put her up in a hotel (even though she was equally "guilty"). The solution: Too much confusion; they released them both.

Here's one of the many ridiculous articles floating around. There are a lot of inaccurate facts. I particularly like how the police and forest department "swung into action" (more accurately, sat around and bummed transportation).

The Pioneer
Forest dept, police issue notice to climbing institute
June 22, 2011   11:38:59 PM

PARITOSH KIMOTHI | DEHRADUN

The Uttarakhand Forest Department has sent a team to arrest a group of adventurers, including foreigners employed as faculty in Woodstock School, Mussoorie, after the group went on an expedition to the base camp of the 6,316 metre high Bandarpunch peak in Uttarkashi district without completing mandatory official procedure.

Both the police and the forest department have issued notices to the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering from where this group had gone towards Bandarpunch base camp. The group of 18 foreigners, all faculty members of Woodstock School, had gone to NIM to take a special course in mountaineering as part of which they had gone to the base camp of Bandarpunch peak without filling a mandatory form or receiving the permission of the State forest department.

According to information provided by official sources, a group of faculty members from Woodstock School including foreigners from the US, UK and Korea among other nations had gone to NIM to attend a special mountaineering course. The group said to comprise 18 faculty members, four trainers, four guides and 55 porters left for the Bandarpunch base camp a few days ago.

The group also spent a night at the Army depot at Suki. Following reports of this activity published in local newspapers, the police and forest department swung into action. According to the Uttarakhand Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden Srikant Chandola, a department team has left for the base camp and is expected to reach the site by Thursday. The trekkers will be arrested and brought back to Uttarkashi, because they had not taken permission for visiting the base camp.

While NIM officials state that the passports and other documents of the foreigners have been deposited with the institute, police officers said the foreigners violated regulation by travelling to the base camp without filling Form C. The forest department team is expected to bring the group back to Uttarkashi within a couple of days.

Bandarpunch, A Successful Summit

The Short Version:
I'm alive and well after standing at 20,722ft! Seventeen out of twenty-one people in our original group made the summit around noon on June 28th. The summit push lasted a long 16 hours, but everyone is alive and healthy. We have officially made Woodstock School history as the school's first ascent of Bandarpunch, not to mention the school's first major mountaineering expedition undertaken by staff. Thank you to all who made this adventure possible and many thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for safe travels.

The group on the summit. I'm holding up the Woodstock School flag on the left!

The Long Version:
In all honesty, I have no idea where to start telling this tale. It was such a unique experience and I'm sure I will be attempting to wrap my brain around it for many months to come. In many ways, it feels like a dream (which is partially attributed to the lack of oxygen that suffocated my brain to the point of limited functionality). I'll try to keep this short, manageable, and somewhat organized, though that is really the antithesis of what the trek was actually like, much less my thoughts about it.

This being my fourth Himalayan trek, I had a good idea what the day-to-day lifestyle might look like. Far from self-sufficient, our team included many cooks, guides, and porters - a trekking style passed on from the British expedition era. Though we were not responsible for cooking or carrying food, our packs were still over 50 pounds, which is a manageable weight at low altitude, but is quite taxing as you get higher. This is where the "known" ends; the rest of the trek was full of unknowns and surprises.

Most surprising to me was the lack of information and navigation. None of our guides had ever done this route, so they could not give us a good picture of what to expect. In light of this, NIM hired a Sherpa guide who knew the route. True to Sherpa form, he was incredibly smiley and happy to help, but was very vague when it came to specific details.

As a lover of maps, it was very disorienting to never see one. The area is so close to Tibet that the government does not allow detailed (i.e. navigational) maps to be produced. There are some less-detailed maps available, but I have yet to see one. Instead, we were guided by Gyalbo's memory and walked in whichever direction he pointed. Apart from the first 4 hours of hiking on Day 1, there was rarely a path to follow. We mostly bushwhacked, khud-climbed, scrambled, and butt-slid our way up and down the hillsides. This was frustrating at times - it's difficult to enjoy the scenery when you have to focus so intently on footwork and have constant visions of tumbling to your death - but also invigorating to feel like a kid scrambling around.

I was surprised at how little we moved camps. We spent many days at each camp to acclimate and seemed to do fewer days of walking than I expected. However, that's not to say it was easy. On "rest days" we often did day hikes that were more difficult than expected due to altitude gain. I was particularly thankful for the rest days at the high camps, as they conveniently corresponded with my fight against dysentery and offered a chance to recover before summiting.

The summit is indeed the haziest day in my memory. My head was clouded with both altitude and exhaustion, and I have very few photos of the day due to the difficulties of managing to take out a camera while holding onto ropes for dear life.

The technical skills needed for the trip were difficult for me to imagine and thus it is impossible for me to decide if they met my expectations or not. While the peak was called a "walking peak" it would have been nearly impossible for a group such as ours to summit with nothing more than our two legs. Instead, we relied heavily on ropes, harnesses, and jumars to safely get us to the top. We traversed a plethora of 50-60 degree slopes, many of which I lovingly referred to as icy slopes of doom. I'm afraid of rock climbing, but this ice wall climbing was surprisingly fun. Along with the rope equipment, we donned Koflach snow boots, gators, and cramp-ons (which, in my humble opinion, are tied with jumars for the best mountaineering invention of all time).

My health, apart from the short bout with dysentery, was great. It was fun (and heartening, haha) to monitor my heart rate as we gained elevation. I also got the chance to check my blood pressure at 14600ft and oxygen level at 17000ft, which are both good indications on how well a body acclimates. While my oxygen level was merely average, my BP and heart rate were excellent. As far as battle wounds, I walked away the least scathed by far. While others are peeling off layers of sun- and wind-burned skin and dressing minor cuts and bruises, I left with a tiny sunburn on the underside of my nose (due to snow reflection) and a cut about 1mm in length from absent-mindedly walking into a helmet that was swinging from a friend's backpack on the last day. The group was joking that it looked like I went to a spa rather than climbed a mountain.

Overall, it was a trip of immeasurable value. I am so thankful to Woodstock, the Hanifls, and of course our fearless leader, Kutty, for giving us this opportunity. Enough words, the pictures can do some talking:

The Pass on Day 1 at 11100ft. Looking down 
towards the valley we would soon be entering.

Forest Camp (9600ft) with the high ridge we traversed 
earlier in the background.

Taking shelter from the rain under a huge boulder at Forest Camp.

Precarious landslide crossing on our way to Base Camp.

Passing through a stand of Paper Birches on our way to Base Camp!

Trail? Literally pulling ourselves through thick bushes with pure arm strength.

Morning Yoga session at Base Camp (12400ft).

Kutty sharing wisdom at Base Camp.

Having fun on the frozen river above Base Camp.

Abe learning the art of jumaring.

A Bharal (blue sheep) camouflaged on the snow.

The shephard family that startled me at Base Camp. They were
throwing stones at the bharal near our camp.

The Shephard's kids giddy with excitement about
inheriting a chocolate bar from our group.

Zach looking like a shephard as he
 contemplates the cliffs at Base Camp.

Moonsoon clouds in the valley at Base Camp.

A clear morning with the elusive snow peaks at Base Camp.

A cook making breakfast with the
Advanced Base Camp ridge looming behind.

Ady, Priya, and Kate showing off their snow gear:
Ice axes, gators, and snowboots.

The steep traverse up to Advanced Base Camp. 

Porters watching the world go by from Advanced Base Camp.

The last few meters of the snowy, steep incline to Advanced Base Camp.

Steve taking a break on the snowy approach to Advanced Base Camp.

The ladies' makeshift toilet has a pretty
nice view at Advanced Base Camp (14600ft)!

Enjoying the sunset above the monsoon clouds at Advanced Base Camp.

More of the sunset at Advanced Base Camp.
The peaks in the distance are roughly the height of Bandarpunch!

Sunrise at Advanced Base Camp

A day hike towards the Summit Camp.
Bandarpunch peaking out over the horizon.

The glacial ice falls (i.e. ridiculously intimidating wall of ice) with
Bandarpunch behind. If you look really really really closely there
are a few people setting up ropes for us in the upper right.
Don't strain your eyes - they are really tiny. 

Glacial lake (or "tarn") in the glacial bowl below the ice falls featured above.

Kutty in action

 

360 view from the glacial bowl. Apologies for the 

bad zooming - it was too sunny to actually see anything on the camera!

Kutty sharing information about glaciers. 

Group photo in front of the ice falls and Bandarpunch.

Rope work up the ice fall.

A flat part on the ice falls.

Stumbling upon Summit Camp in the dense fog (17000ft).

Reaching Summit Camp. It felt like we were walking on the moon!

The skies cleared at Summit Camp and gave way 

to a gorgeous view, including the Bandarpunch peak!

The view from our tent at Summit Camp.

Narrow, but deep, crevasses like this were
plentiful near Summit Camp.

Summit Camp below Bandarpunch!

Feeling small against the backdrop of Himalayan peaks at Summit Camp.

Summit Day: We trudged uphill for hours with little
indication of what progress had been made.

Me and my trusty ice axe around day break. 

Taeyoung proudly revealing the South Korean flag on the summit.

Me on the summit of Bandarpunch at 20722ft.
(Yes, I am in ALL of my clothes including two jackets!)

The last group reaching the summit. Those arms
were out-stretched for about 10 minutes!

 The final 20 meters of relatively flat walking was a 

killer - this gives you a sense of how ridiculously exhausted and 

slow-moving we all were.

Our leader, Kutty, after he fell to his knees upon reaching 

the summit, and a half-hearted panoramic of the 

summit (I was too exhausted/dizzy to stand up and 

get a proper panoramic!). 

Heading down from the summit. This was one of the scariest
parts of the trip for me.

The snow conditions changed while we were at Summit Camp and
left our route home plagued with scary crevasses!

Gyalbo probing for a safe path across a complex network of crevasses. 

Kutty carefully crossing on a narrow path between crevasses. 

Back down the ice falls. 

The Okies rockin' the descent down the ice falls.

Me in the whole get-up (minus the helmet). 

More hopping across crevasses in the glacial bowl below the ice falls.

The comic relief of the trip. This man's sole
responsibility is to manage the satellite phone, which
comes in its own suitcase! He had a tendency to
shout very loudly in Hindi and ended every
sentence with "oh-wa" (his version of "over").

Gyalbo chatting with a shephard on the last day of hiking.

The shephard's house with kids peering out. 

For those who are interested, here is the actual itinerary:

June 15: Leave Mussoorie, arrive at NIM in Uttarkashi (5 hour drive north)

June 16: Relax at NIM - pick up mountaineering gear, learn some knots

June 17: 3 hour bus ride to Suki army base where we spent the night camping surrounded by barbed wire and tall fences. Highlight: playing volleyball with the military dudes/trekking cooks.

June 18: Day 1 of hiking! Started at 8600 ft, climbed to a pass at 11100ft, and back down to Forest Camp (9600ft).

June 19: Day 2 of hiking: Forest Camp (9600ft) to Base Camp (12400ft)

June 20: Base Camp: Morning hike halfway up to Advanced Base Camp to help acclimate.

June 21: Base Camp: Morning class on snow skills - ice axes, self-arrests, jumaring, etc. Very fun!

June 22: Base Camp: "Load-ferry" our gear up to Advanced Base Camp, but walk back down to sleep

June 23: Base Camp (12400ft) to Advanced Base Camp (14600ft) - a precariously steep route with the first rope work of the trip

June 24: Advanced Base Camp: Morning hike halfway up to Summit Camp (glacial bowl)

June 25: Advanced Base Camp: Rest day (more like "Dysentery Day" for me!)

June 26: Advanced Base Camp (14600ft) to Summit Camp (17000ft) - completely in snow, lots of technical rope work.

June 27: Summit Camp: First Summit Attempt. Turned around shortly after 2am due to weather and spent the day sleeping, eating, and resting.

June 28: Summit Camp: Second Summit Attempt. Left around 2am, summited around 11am, returned by 6pm. A long 16-hour day of exhaustion.

June 29: Summit Camp (17000ft) to Base Camp (12400ft).

June 30: Base Camp: rest day

July 1: Base Camp (12400ft) to Military Camp (82000ft)

July 2: Military Camp to NIM to Mussoorie!