Gorichen & Goodbye | NIMAS BMC 8/8

NIMAS BMC : Last Few Days of the 30 day course

Before you  check out the last days at Meerathang Glacier near Gorichen peak & the return journey, hope that you have read the previous blogs in the series.

1. Basic Mountaineering Course NIMAS – Beginning.
2. Sela pass &Jaswantgarh war memorial
3. Riverside New Melling 
4. River Crossing & Survival 
5. Hot water springs at Mago
6. The beautiful Jeethang
7. Journey to Meerathang Glacier 16500 ft

DAY 21 GLACIER TEST

Today was D-Day. Test for 4 point was on. However the weather delayed the start.

I felt that Gorichen would stay hidden all the time. But after an hour or two the sky cleared up & the Gorichen presented itself in all its glory. Finally.

We made way towards the glacier for one last time under the watchful eyes of the Gorichen. The picture below symbolises the entire course. Things that completely drain us, is like a walk in the garden for instructors.

We reached the glacier. Everyone was focused on the test.  The focus in everyone’s mind was clear as the glacier echoed with ” Barfani Baba ki Jai”. I wanted to be my best at the Ice wall. I put every bit of my energy to surmount this challenge and slowly made my way to the top using proper technique. I was happy as I had finally climbed this glacier at 16500 ft.

After everyone had completed this test, there was a session on Crevasse rescue. We were taught the C-pulley & the Z-pulley method. This definitely got me interested in the search and rescue operations. Some day will definitely do that course. Someday. AMC first.

That was the moment when we realised that we had reached the end of this wonderful course.

With a feeling of accomplishment we headed back to the camp. Before that one more pic of this fascinating Meerathang tarn.

Jampani awaits. Last dinner at this altitude (14700 ft) for a long time to come.

DAY 22 RETURN TO MAGO 23Kms

Return journey starts from here back to base camp. I hate return journeys. Would love a different starting point and end point for a trek. Same route kind of dissolves the fun of the return journey. Today we carry the 25kg+ monster back pack back to Mago. 23 Kms in one stretch.

This back breaking load ferrying descend was a beautiful journey as we enjoyed the beautiful expanse of untouched beauty. A yak posed for me.

After about 8-10 hrs we were back to Mago. Immediately I headed to Dhodup Chuten, the hot water spring. Half an hour in this heaven and my muscles were rejuvenated. Having nothing else to do I tried to study for the theory test. Felt asleep. Some things never change 🙂

DAY 23 RETURN TO NEW MELLING 23Kms

The load ferrying return continued as we moved from Mago towards New Melling. The return can hardly be called a descend as there are continuous ascends and descends atleast 3 major climbs till Half Link.

Once at New Melling apart from the physical pain we were reeling under mental stress as the next day was the day of the biggest tests of the course. There was to be a written test based on all the theory lectures , practicals and GK about Mountains. That was the easy part. The endurance test was the one all of us were really worried about. It meant carrying 15kg rOOksOOk and running all the way to the hydel station & back. That’s 8 km of running for a  fully acclimatized mountaineer.

Enough worrying about tomorrow, we had minor celebration at the New Melling Café.

DAY 24 ENDURANCE & THEORY TEST

Endurance TEST 8kms 15 kgs backpack

The day started. Having spend 6-7 days here earlier meant that we had certain ease of doing things. The morning activities were quickly wrapped up and the bags were weighed for 15kgs. The moment of truth arrived as we prepared ourselves for this endurance race.

Most people’s first race for 8 kms at this altitude with 15kgs load. The army guys rifleman Kuldeep & Raghu had an unfair advantage of having done tougher things in life. The current record was about 55 minutes. It was too be broken today as Army guys had its eyes set on glory.

The race started and I was panting as we walked & ran intermittently on the slightly ascended road towards the hydel plant.  About a km before the hydel park I met the returning army guys on the way. This really fuelled my pace. On the return journey I upped my pace and definitely covered a lot of lost ground. I managed a descent time of about an hour.  The record of 55 minutes was broken by army guys – Rifleman Kuldeep & Raghu.

Considering the fact that I was barely able to walk two months back I was indeed very happy with the time. Entire 2 months flashed before my eyes. My struggle with the recurring knee problem. Almost no leg strengthening exercises over the past two months before the course. And here I was running 8 kms with 15kg back in 60 minutes. I was delighted. Everyone completed the race in descent time. This batch had one of the closest timing seen in recent days. The race was done. We had a good breakfast & started revising for the written test.

THEORY TEST

My first written test after so many years after engineering & MBA was quite an experience. We were made to sit in the cold veranda and face the walls to prevent copying. Mountaineers are quite determined though. Hours of study that I had put in before the course paid off as I managed the test easily

In the evening we had a brief counselling with the Director Col. Sarfaraz Singh. We exchanged handshakes and provided our feedback on how to improve the course. From my side I was very happy with the experience and cribbed about the lack of documentation about this course. This blog series is an effort to spread awareness about this beautiful journey.

The day scurried away. We had fish for dinner. The best fish at 8642 ft. Let me tell you the cook which accompanied us from New Melling to Glacier & back was one of the best chef you can get. With all the equipments available at base- Dirang , the food there was sub par compared to this scrumptious food prepared with lack of equipments & under the harsh conditions of higher altitude. Truly a marvel !

DAY 25 RETURN TO JANG -15kms & TAWANT VISIT

Today we leave this beloved heaven of New Melling. The entire staff is supposed to accompany us till Dirang. But this time around an expedition to Gorichen was planned. The entire support staff & instructors were heading back again to the higher altitude. The emotional turmoil was beyond description. All the golden memories that we shared will be etched in my mind forever.

The only good thing was that Subedhar Dan Singh Sir would still be with us till Dirang. One last group cheer.

” Rock Baba ki…..Jai.

Bharat Mata ki…….. Jai“

While the mind was wounded emotionally the physical distress didn’t stop. The huge ass rOOksOOk was the heaviest ever as we carried back the stuff kept back at New Melling as well. The river felt beautiful as always.

We reached Jang in the afternoon. 

JULIE – The warrior

Julie had accompanied us from day 6 at New Melling to about every moment then onwards till the glacier till today day 25. She was the warrior from New Melling always barking against the horses & yaks making sure the way ahead was clear for us. Even when we were tired and breathless her energetic frolicking kept us motivated & cheerful. Every trekker understands that it is the mind which breaks the last. She prevented us falling at this final frontier. Today we bid her good bye at Jang as we continue our journey & she watches another batch just leave her back. Cruel hearts.

After a heart felt good bye we headed for a day off in Tawang. The famous monastery awaits.

We were put up at Government Tourist Lodge. We had modern amenities like electricity, bed to sleep, personal bathroom, a commode in a separate room with a door. I had never shed a tear in my lifetime before 🙂

We roamed in the market in the evening. Seeing so many people after such a long time does feel a bit different. We had reached food heaven. After surviving so many days of bare minimum, all of a sudden we had the privilege to select what we could eat.  There was chicken, mutton, pork, beef & fish. I ate till my cash was burned out. We ravaged the nearby bakery outlet.

Back to the lodge there was home-made chicken by aunty. I helped myself with another serving.

That night I slept on a bed :’(

DAY 26 RETURN TO DIRANG

After having bathed after many days , we packed our bags and set for the sumo journey to Dirang. It had snowed and the views were terrific. We passed through the same route covering Jaswantgadh memorial, Sela Pass & Baisakhi army base.

We reached the Dirang camp, it was a bit nostalgic to see this place again. We took possession of our big tent as we enjoyed a leisurely day.

DAY 27 LAST DAY OF OUR COURSE

Being a backup day nothing was planned for today. We had a Puja in the morning thanking the almighty for the safe course. It was on that day that I finally found the artificial rock climbing wall at Dirang besides the temple.

We had nothing to do through out the day. We chilled that day doing nothing and relishing the memories. We had to giveback the equipments. Sad.

The ceremonial send off dinner that day was a special. We had camp fire. Guys were expecting free booze. Nothing happened.

MAY 8 – DAY 28 BYE

 We bid adieu today. People from around India had a jolly good time over the month. So many unknown faces turned out to such good human beings. I hate Good Byes. Some planed there return journey from Guwahati while the lucky others decided to go around North east for few more days.

We started our journey back to Guwahati via Rupa pass. This was my brush with the beautiful nature of the seven sisters for one last time.

I stayed at the same Guwahati hotel which I had stayed on my way to NIMAS. Seemed to  be a good budget hotel

MAY 9

I took the AC bus to the airport. It starts from a place 10 minutes from the railway station. The boring Indigo flight didn’t provide me free food. You can charge me 6000 rs for a ticket cant provide me food. They are like malls who charge you  Rs 2 for the freaking bag after shopping for Rs 100000.

The layover at Bangalore for 4 hrs didn’t help my case. I splurged 250 rs on the subway we normally get for half the price & another 250 at KFC. My hunger was insatiable as I was back into this concrete jungle. The heat showed a noticeable difference.

Next Indigo Fight to Mumbai. No free food 😓. However i spotted my home from the sky.

Here are some moments of the last few days at NIMAS

Back to the city I could feel myself sweating profusely. The heat is unbearable as there is difference of about 40 degrees. Anycase it feels good to see the traffic again. No It Does NOT !!!

Till next time. 🙂

PARTS: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

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If you have read till here I am sure you are an adventure monkey and would love to read about my 6000m summit of Stok Kangri

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