the streamlined version of Rajeev

Here is how i look there days with a shaved head

sports climbing and market

We went to the market yesterday in the institute bus to buy essentials for which we got 60 minutes . A rain sheet, woolen socks and gloves , some sun block was all i needed and I spent the balance time available to get my head shaved . We were to go some 17 days without a bath in high altitude soon and a shaved head meant that much lesser effort to maintain a semblance of personal hygiene .
We had a tougher morning exercise session and went through practice sessions on rope coiling and knots with aching muscles . Soon it was time to climb artificial walls and I did manage to top the easiest one in good time before lunch was called . We are going back for the rest of the walls now .

NIM mess

This is the mess where we are getting our food . No comments on the stuff we get !

hill walk !

As part of toughening up exercises, daily morning walks like this leave everyone (except the special forces and locals) gasping for air.

tehri town is gone!

The town of tehri lies submerged now after the dam got commissioned . Pic taken on the way to uttarkashi.

initial impressions

The days are hectic . We got up at 0430 and fell in formation with loaded rucksacks for a 2 hr trek at 0545! Soon we were huffing and puffing up steep trails and gained 1400 ft in 45 min . We had exercises in a clearing in midst of pine trees and were back in time for breakfast . Classes and demos are on till 8 pm and we have sports climbing tomorrow . A market visit is on today to buy essentials

first day

Date: 24/04/2008 14:21

Woke up at 0430 as alarms started sounding on our mobiles and watches. We were 6 in a room on 3 x 2 bunk beds and the guys on top started jumping down . Soon people were pulling on their shoes and moving to mess to get tea . Tea was in a container and steel glasses were stacked on the counter . Tea was tepid and sweet and soon we were back in our room, getting ready for PT for which we assembled at 0550 . We were quickly split in groups of 15 each , allotted an instructor and we were off , jogging down the hill and going through exercises which were tough on the first day on almost all of us . Members from the armed forces did better as they were physically fitter . I did ok and was in the top 3rd . Only blemish was dropping out after 10 push ups!
Came to know during briefing that sat phone will be available in the base camp but cell phone would not work . We were divided into groups of 7 called ropes and i was made leader of rope 11. Now we are together for next 28 days . We are I.James from tamilnadu, Spandan from west bengal, kp singh and sukhbir from an adventure camping company in nainital, Pratik and Amol from maharashtra.
We have moved together in one room and are bonding ! I am the oldest of the entire group of 77 people at 39 years while the rest of my rope are 18-19 years .

finally at NIM!

I reached delhi railway station at 2200 and found my way to platform 9 to board mussorie express for haridwar. I found Dinesh who was accompanying me for this course, waiting outside my coach along with nrtma coordinator harish who was to board a train to his home and had come to see us off. We reached haridwar in time, went to the rest house to freshen up and joined a fellow trainee at the taxi stand. This gentleman , Rakesh, was coming to the institute for advanced course and gave us a lot of tips for the basic course which he did in 2003. We met up with one more fellow trainee and started to NIM in a shared ambassador , reaching the institute at 1330. We have been given temporary rooms and will get final allotment tomorrow after we get divided into ropes (groups) which will become our family for 28 days . The schedule tomorrow onwards involves getting up at 0445 for tea and ends with dinner at 2000 hours . Lights out at 2200.
Rajeev

shifting to mobile blogging

As I make my move to uttarkashi today , I have shifted to my mobile for further posts . This is the first from the mobile and the system works fine except that the date is coming out to be one day behind the current cellphone system date. Trying to figure that out. Oh! I also put on a vacation message for friends on my email account and disabled all the news alerts and group emails.

I got a whole lot of transparent polythene bags big enough to take a sleeping bag/ clothes/ other stuff each. This will help to keep my stuff dry inside the rucksack. Despite trying my best I could not fit the stuff I want to carry in a 40 ltr daypack I wanted to take. Now I have to bug NRTMA to dole out help by lending a rucksack or kitbag to me. Will do that today. Another important item is to buy 4 more rechargeable AA cells for my camera. Though I already have 2 sets, yet I have learnt the hard way that these cells' efficiency drops drastically in cold climate.

People tell me that they have gensets and electricity at Gujjar Hut but I am not sure whether they would allow us to charge our cellphones/ batteries

Rajeev

How to blog on the move?

One question was consuming me while I packed my stuff. How to blog on the move? Updating my daily diary on net and letting everyone know what I am doing, sounded so cool! Fortunately blogger.com supports mobile blogging and it was pretty painless even for a dork like me :-p

All I needed was to send an email from my mobile to go@blogger.com through my mobile and I got a 'token' through return email. I used this token to link my mobile posts to this blog and I was set.

So now I intend to post while the battery still has some juice and will try to embed some pics too. Let's see how this turns out.

The preparations

I work for the Railways in middle management, as a civil engineer. The current responsibilities were to be factored in the scheme of things which meant I had to be away for a month. Although my bosses (and at times me too) had reservations about such a long period of absence but my immediate boss, the Divisional Railway Manager, Delhi, was very supportive and was instrumental in putting all others involved in the decision making, at ease. The second factor was my family. We are a family of 6, me and my 2 daughters (11 and 8 yrs), my parents and my lifeline, my wife who has always been the major part of my support system. She had voluntarily left her job to look after the kids and also to cope with my frequent transfers, often to far off small towns. As I broke the news and my decision to her, she took it with equanimity and also comforted my parents who took the news with some disquiet.

So I had sanctioned leave, a confirmed slot in the Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) number 202, at Nehru Institute of Mountaineering (NIM), Uttarkashi, starting from 24th April 2008. The first step was to look up the list of essentials we were supposed to bring with us to NIM. After some search on the net for likely places which stocked the required gear, I zeroed down on Adventure 18, Satya Niketan, Near Venketeshwara College. This was conveniently close by from my place in Chanakyapuri. I bought a balaclava cap, lafuma gloves and a raincoat (like the one we wear on a bike), Petzl Tikka plus LED lamp and I was set except for one thing-I did not have trekking boots! Some more search found me confused for the variety of choices. Finally Adidas Terrex GTX won me over and though they costed a bomb, I bought a pair from the Adidas shop in the inner circle, Connaught Place. I had a Lowe Alpine Contour Mountain 40 daypack and I intended to fit all the stuff I was to take, into this. Of course I failed miserably, but more on that later.

I soon found out that one of the trekkers from my previous group which went to Stock Kangri ABC trek, was also signed up for the trip. This made me happier as I knew at least one of my fellow trainees beforehand. Orkut got me 2 scraps from 2 more guys joining the same course.

So here I am, all set to board Mussorie Express from Delhi on 22nd April, for Haridwar.

How it all started

It was a busy office day and I had gone to Northern Railway HQ office, Delhi for some work where I came across a pamphlet issued by NRTMA (Northern Railway Trekking and Mountaineering Association) which mentioned a trip to Leh, including a trek from Stock village to Advance Base Camp for Stock Kangri. Having been a part of a rafting trip down the Ganges in the reaches upstream from Rishikesh and also a parasailing outing with NRTMA earlier, I was familiar with the functioning of NRTMA and immediately rang up the coordinator, Harish Joshi. I got interested as the conversation went on and I decided to sign up.

It was a 10 day trip, involving a 3 day bus trip into and out of Leh.
Pretty soon, I landed up at Delhi Railway Station where we shifted a lot of stuff from the main porch in to the platform where out train was to arrive. We were a group of about 50 and pretty soon were milling about on the platform getting familiar with each other. The train arrived and we were soon ensconced into our berths and were fast asleep. We got off the train in the morning and boarded the Punjab Roadways bus to Manali en route to Leh. I was little prepared for the spectacular scenes that unfolded in front of my eyes, on the second and third day as we negotiated the torturous route on our bus, to Leh.

We stayed in an aptly named hotel at Leh called 'Lung-se-Jung'! As we did not wait at Leh to acclimatise, we were struggling from the next day onwards as we trekked up from Stock village to the base camp and then to the advance base camp. It was an exhilarating experience though and the camaraderie was exceptional in such a big group. As we waited at the advance base camp for the experienced climbers to to go the top and come back, we spent some quality time @ 15000+ ft.

At that time I realized the importance of regular training as I envied the experienced climbers who went to the top. This set me thinking and with the help of NRTMA, I managed to get enrolled for a basic mountaineering course at NIM, Uttarkashi, though I had to get age limit dispensation as I am 38+ yrs old and the upper limit was 35 for the course.

Now I am all set to go to Uttarkashi, where I have to reach on 23rd April 2008, evening. More on this later.