NIM basic course: May 2008

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Move to the mountains 1

We were busy packing our stuff for the 17 day trip (later curtailed by 2 days) to the training area in Dokriani glacier. It was hard to decide on what to take as your personal stuff as we were acutely conscious of the fact that any item added was more load on our back. So shaving kit went out along with everything else except 2 T shirts, 2 track suit lowers, one track suit upper, one pair of thermal inners, 4 pair socks (2 woolen) and 3 pairs of gloves (1 waterproof, 2 woolen) and 4 underwears. Toothbrush, paste, sunblock, my camera, cellphone (for the gps) and a big toilet paper roll rounded off the required material. To fit all of this in the ruck sack with the gaiters, crampons, feather jacket, sleeping bag, snow boots, helmet, sling and harness was tough. 2 of us packed in the ropes, empty kit bags, mittens etc. The mess tin, mug, spoon and water bottle went in the side pockets and the carrymat was strapped on the side.

We loaded these sacks on the top of the bus and went to Bukki (2 hours). Enroute, we had a stop for tea etc., at Bhatwari. The road was pathetic, though it is a national highway. It brought back memories of another NH in Sikkim where lot of construction and tunneling works for hydro power projects had damaged the highway considerably. Bukki road head had a cluster of tea shops and that was just about it. We unloaded our stuff and went across a suspension pedestrian bridge over the Bhagirathi, onto a trail that meandered up the hill side through the Bukki village. Soon the going became tougher with the instructors shouting at the stragglers and continuously asking us to close the gaps in the single file in which we were moving.

The scenery was interesting but there was hardly any time to enjoy it. The trek was more like a goatherd driving his goats on. All we saw was the back of the guy in front as we were minded up the hill.

We were given stops every hour, to rest and have some water/ refreshment. The path went across streams of water coming down from the snow clad peaks. Mostly there were tree trunks across the water for crossing.

We reached Tela camp site inside 3 hours. It was a flat clearing in the middle of the forest. Clean water stream was available. Soon we pitched our tents and were taken down a slope where we were told to dig holes for ourselves for the morning routine. We did that and came back wondering as to how we will find our own place in the morning darkness! The doctor took a class where we were told about high altitude sickness etc. and we winded up for the night.

Mastering the rocks

The daily trek to Tekhla was meant to condition us for the mountains. The rucksack weighed about 10-13 kgs and as we made our way through the town towards Tekhla, it was quite a sight for the locals. We were initially 92 trainees and about a dozen instructors. The 8.6 km took us 2 hours with a break of 10 minutes thrown in. Slowly we reduced the time taken and the stragglers reduced in number.
Climbing the rocks was a thrill, specially the longer pitches. Slowly we mastered the art of belaying each other up the rock faces and rappelling down. We were served breakfast and lunch at Tekhla with a juice break thrown in. The juice was really diluted squash and two biscuits, but anything was welcome in the hot weather.

Handling the mess tin was also something we learnt quickly. It was an aluminum contraption shaped like an oblong tiffin in two halves making a pan each, one slightly larger than the other. Both parts had a prong like (U shaped) handle which could fold back into the pan. Now the smaller pan with folded handle went into the larger half and voila! you had a folded mess tin which could be opened out with some difficulty and you had two pans to get food in. Handling two pans with hinged handles, a spoon and a steel mug took some adjustments. We queued up for breakfast and got an omelette (supposed to be 2 eggs, but the size varied), 2 pieces of bread with butter in between, two more bread slices with jam in between, some cereal (daliya/ cornflakes) and lot of tea. Occasional change was paranthas and bhature.

The return journey was in 2 buses and an ambulance, belonging to the institute. On returning, we had some more classes and films, to keep us busy till 8 pm. We were already looking forward to the move to the mountains.

Members of my rope and how I got a scar

We were a rope of 7 members. Besides me there were:

1. Bishal Thapa, employed in Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), hailing from Darjeeling.

2. Amol, a student, from Akola who was sponsored by a club carrying out adventure activities in his home town.

3. Pratik Agrawal, an undergraduate student from Mumbai.

4. I. James, an undergraduate student from Tamilnadu, sponsored by National Cadet Core(NCC).

5. Krishan Pal Singh, a student of 12th std, from Uttarkashi.

6. Satpal Singh Makhloga, a local from Uttarkashi, aspiring to get employment with some adventure sports company.

Bishal and Satpal were in their early 20s and all others were 18-19 yrs old.
Despite the age difference with me, we had a good time together and we bonded really fast and well together as a group. We were allotted a room with capacity to house 6 people and Bishal went to another room. We were allocated an instructor, Mr. Anil Saklani, who was on contract for the period of the course, with NIM. The training at NIM started off at a frenetic pace and soon we were allotted equipment etc. also to enable us to get familiar with it and also to take up rock climbing at Tekhla.
Tekhla was about 8.6 km from the institute and we trekked one way daily for 5 days with a full load to the training area. As we learned the rock craft as the training was called, we went through some thrilling moments as we went up the steep rock faces and also rappelled down many a time.

The first small accident occurred on day one when we were trying to master some boulders by free climbing. As each one of us went up the big boulders, one person stood at the foot of the boulder, to steady the climber in case he slipped and came scrambling down. It was important to soften the landing as otherwise, landing on the stones could hurt.

I was standing ready to help Pratik when he climbed. He suddenly fell from about a height of 8-10 ft but made the mistake of jumping off the rock instead of scrambling down along the face as we were coached. He came down in a bundle of thrashing arms and legs and as I caught him, his elbow hammered down the bridge of my nose, driving the titanium bridge of my specs down into the flesh. It opened a gash and blood started flowing. We were all consoling Pratik who was in tears! I held the hanging flesh back to my nose and pinched it tight. Soon the blood stopped and I got a band aid on it. It's going to be a scar, but I am really not bothered about that.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Falling in all the time!

The institute is controlled by faujis (military men) and they do not let you forget that ever! There was an elaborate 4 page minute by minute program pasted on the notice board, detailing the activities and classes we were to take part while we were stationed at the institute before moving to the mountains. Being a railwayman who has the importance of punctuality drilled into his consciousness, I was pretty cool with the timetable. However, I soon discovered to my horror that even if I reached the prescribed venue 5 minutes before the given time, I was late! All sort of comments were flying from the instructors, whistles were blowing and people were screaming at you in the hostel corridor-all asking you to 'fall in' immediately. I soon reconciled to the fact that right time to 'fall in' was 15 minutes before the published time. There were head counts all through the day to identify the missing trainees.
Soon we got divided into 'ropes' of 7-8 trainees each and were allocated a rope instructor to each rope. I got to become the leader of rope 11. For initial 3 days, trainees, mostly Ministry of Defence nominees, kept on reporting for the course and there were few changes in the ropes to accommodate all these men arriving late.
We were issued a whole lot of stuff ranging from snow boots, crampons, slings, ropes, helmet, carabiners, seat harness, gaiters, windproof suits, down feather jackets and sleeping bag, mess tin, mug, spoon and carrymat etc., along with a rucksack (around 55-60 ltr). I got some extra stuff for the rope, like rapelling jacket and mittens etc. We were taught how to pack a rucksack and soon we discovered that there was hardly any space for our personal stuff in that sack!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Diary: First Impressions on landing up at NIM

23.4.2008

As we reached Uttarkashi in a shared ambassador, we initially lost our way to the institute but a we took fresh directions, stopping at a shop and soon we could see the elaborate road signs and the well kept approach to NIM. The taxi dropped us at the gate where the sentry box was empty. We walked into the premises and got us directed to the hostel. A quick check of the list at the reception and Rs.1000 later (hike in fees) we got ourselves directed to a room which had three double bunk beds. This was to be our accommodation for the night before we got divided into 'ropes' i.e., groups of 6-7 each, for the entire training period. We were to be given separate rooms, rope-wise, thereafter.
Ground floor of the hostel housed a mess, with a seating capacity of around 100. There were pay phones and an out of order 'cyber cafe' too.
An orientation lecture soon took place at a lecture hall in the hostel, where the Course Instructor told us briefly about what to expect during the course. We were to take training at Tekhla, a rock face about 8 kms away, for 5-6 days, walking the stretch with loaded rucksacks to condition ourselves for the mountains. After completing the rock climbing training, we were to move to Dokriani glacier, which was about 25 kms off road from Bukki road head. We were to travel the 43 kms to Bukki by bus and the entire glacier trip was 15-17 days long. In this period, we could communicate by a satellite phone only.
As we settled for the night in our bunk beds under the 2 blankets, I could not help thinking that a cotton sheet could have been much more comfortable below those rough woolen blankets. Little was I to realize that comfort was one word that would go out of the window pretty soon!