Online Photo Gallery of Arnab Banerjee
Home About Photographer Galleries Contact me Links
A Climb in the Clouds
A new route on Manda 2 (6568 m)
Arnab Banerjee
Report of the expedition to Manda organized by Junipers, an association of nature lovers, in June 2001
 |
Highlights :
|
| Manda II (6568m) |
|
The call of the Ice Fall – Camp 1 Mission Possible – thoughts of Camp 2 The lust for summit – Camp 3 and the Pinnacle Gully Appendix A - Members and their brief profiles Appendix B - A chronicle of climbing history of Manda Appendix C – Route map of the expedition Appendix D – Timetable of the expedition
|
 |
|
Manda 2
(6568 m) as seen from Base Camp | |
|
Members : High Altitude Friends Dil Bahadur (HAP) Shravan Thapa(HAP) Dharmi (Cook) |
"You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it however."
Manda. Majestic. These two words always sounded synonymous to me whenever I walked past Bhujbasa on the way towards Gomukh. The imposing fortress of rocks and ice of the Manda group easily expresses a sense of dignity and sheer arrogance to everyone passing by them.
Despite being so close with its gigantic presence to such a popular pilgrimage trail like Gangotry to Gomukh, these peaks have been rarely challenged by climbers. For years, the mountaineers from all over the world visited Gangotry region for repeating many of the well-known routes on the neighboring famous peaks like Jogin, Kedar Dome, Bhagirathi, Sudarshan or scratching for new routes on Shivling or Thalay Sagar. Manda stood alone in her solitary fortress with all her pride and majesty – undisturbed, untouched. (A detail chronicle of climbing history on Manda is attached to the end of this report).
When I started dreaming about climbing Manda in the summer of 2001, I found more and more interesting facts about them. As per the information, all the attempts to climb Manda peaks were made either from the west (from Kedar Tal) or from the north (Manda Bamak – a tiny glacier north of Manda 1). No one ever explored the possibility of climbing them from the east – Bhrigupanth Glacier. Why? Looking at the map, I understood the reason. Two fierce icefalls along with sheer ice and rock walls are all that this routes can offer.
New route, virgin peak, unexplored glacier, technical climbing – is there anything else a climber can wish for in a perfect Himalayan summer outing? I guess not. Everyone in JUNIPERS (our climbing club) agreed that the proposition had merits and worth a try but clearly no one saw much chance of success in this venture other than doing an exploration and reconnaissance.
Finally, after a lot of argument, we decided to attempt a new route on Manda group of peaks from the east. The team looked very ambitious about the plan, but all the information and any logical thinking were against the dream of achieving a successful summit bid. So, we started calling our expedition as "Mission Impossible".
| Some of the breathtaking peaks in the Gangotry glacier and its surroundings | |
 |
 |
| Matri as seen from Camp 1 | Chaturbhuj as seen from Base Camp |
"I am going free on this climb", I told Sudip and Viji, standing beneath a frozen waterfall. That was the last Christmas and we were practicing ice climbing in Frankenstein cliff of New Hampshire, a northern state of USA.
"You mean free!….without rope?", they screamed.
But I went on climbing, as I felt confident enough. In fact, it was a moderate climb but the exposure was great and the wind chill was terrible – may be somewhere near –30F. With two ice tools, I tick-tocked up for around 50 ft and made a traverse to the left. Then, I started climbing down by a different and difficult line. Everyone was watching tensely as I reached safely to the ground.
"Now we can try any route on any peak", told Sudip, congratulating me.
That statement might be over ambitious and came straight from the heart rather than from the brain. But we started believing that. Climbing in high altitude needs so many other things than just skill and stamina; courage, guts, patience, planning, decision and risk calculation – just to name a few.
While driving back from the climb, I asked, "What you guys doing this summer? Let’s go for it."
The dream started taking shape from then on. We thought about several other peaks but the image of Manda 2, towering out of the clouds with its savage and magnetizing faces, as I saw it from Bhujbasa a few years ago, played a vital role in the peak selection. "Nothing like it!" I insisted.
I flew back to Calcutta from Boston in May to join the expedition. Viji got transferred to his Calcutta office from New York in April. But Sudip could not make it. Instead, Arka joined us at the very last moment. Kausik came from Mumbai and Gambhi managed a month leave from her work. We formed a very young and energetic team. But still, the project looked a lot difficult than anything that any of the team members have ever done in their whole life.
We finalised our detail plans based on the analysis and suggestions given by Dr Tridib Basu ( Deputy Director, National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organization). Nayekda (Banabhushan Nayek - the mountaineering advisor for the West Bengal government) gave us all the inspiration and boosted our morale. Also, the kind cooperation of Col Rabinder Nath (Director, Indian Mountaineering Foundation) and all others in the IMF office helped us to get the official approval to enter the glacier and attempt the peaks. Karan Kutiyal (Peaks and Pines adventure club) in Uttarkashi made arrangements for the high and low altitude porters and other necessary things. Finally we started our approach march from Gangotry on 8th June.
 |
| Peaks of Bhagirathi group |
"We need a helicopter to reach the base camp", said Kausik in a humourous tone, with a cup of tea in his hand, relaxing in a small shop in Bhujbasa.
We started walking that morning from Gangotry with 15 LAPs, 2 HAPs and 1 Cook and had reached Bhujbasa (14 Km from Gangotry) by the afternoon. We hiked by the left side of the gorge of Bhagirathi river. As we came close to Bhujbasa, the entrance to Bhrigupanth glacier came out of the clouds with a few glimpses of Manda peaks behind it. We stopped for a while to appreciate the view.
All our eyes were on the gap to enter the Bhrigupanth glacier, high above the other side of the gorge. It was just kilometers away as the crow flies, but the river was flowing with a vengeance deep down the gorge and there was no bridge to cross it! The only way we can go there is to keep walking by the left bank of the river, reach the snout (Gomukh) at 4 kilometers ahead, cross it by climbing up the glacier and then, come back by the other side.
We could almost see the green meadows where possibly we would be going to establish the base camp by tomorrow.
"So close but so far", someone poetically remarked.
"Flying is the best option", suggested someone else.
Unfortunately, We had neither any helicopter nor any flying skills, so we decided to camp at Gomukh that evening. As the sun prepared to set for the day, the clouds decided to leave alone the Bhagirathi peaks, Shivling and Manda. The orangish-yellow rays of the setting sun seemed to lighten up a beautiful evening.
Shivling as seen from Gomukh |
Bhagirathi river emerging from Gomukh - the snout of Gangotry Glacier |
Next morning (9th June), we started early (6 am). We crossed the glacier over the snout and then started walking back by the other side of the river. We decided to stay high up the slopes instead of coming down to the bank. There were no trails at all, but we were walking like an army – breaking the trails with our huge team of porters. I was walking in front of the team so that I can choose the campsite. I reached the gap of the Bhrigupanth Glacier by noon. As we curved our way into the gap, we found a wonderful green meadow but decided to continue ahead in search of a higher campground. After another half an hour, we reached another meadow between a vertical rock wall and a very high moraine ridge. I estimated the height of that site approximately 4200 m. As soon as I saw it, I told to myself, "This is going to be the best camp site I have ever camped on".
 |
| Base Camp |
The superb view of Manda peaks behind the campground peeping above the clouds, the whispering cold wind blowing through the grasses and the tiny flowers blossoming all around, the little stream curling past us – everything made us feel at home.
We took around 7 hours to reach the BaseCamp. Though the distance was not more than 7 km, but absence of any established trail made our approach slow.
"Welcome to the Base camp; Welcome home", I told Arka as he walked into the campsite with the last group of porters.
The call of the Ice Fall – Camp 1
 |
| The ice fall above Camp 1 |
The peace of the base camp was temporary, however. The very next day, I decided to carry on a recee further while others decided to stay back in the camp and arrange high altitude loads. I moved forward with Dil and Thapa.
We climbed a long slope to reach the top of a moraine ridge and then followed the ridge to move deep into the glacier. The clouds were all over disturbing the views. Then, after an hour, the clouds started moving away. When the surroundings finally cleared up, I simply stood spellbound appreciating the huge amphitheater of rock and ice in front of me. The amazing faces of Manda 1 and Manda 2 with a rocky pinnacle in between dominated the view. We climbed down to the glacier from the moraine ridge and traversed the glacier to have a closer look of the north face of Manda 2.
The prospect of climbing by any line on this side looked extremely dangerous and beyond our reach. Steep faces of rocks, avalanche prone ice slopes and continuous rock fall – probably the scariest and most gorgeous scene I have ever seen in my life. Looking south along the glacier, we could see a 250m icefall. I decided to climb that icefall and try to approach Manda 2 from behind.
We moved towards the icefall. As we came closer, we realized that climbing the Icefall also was not going to be an easy task. It has vertical rock walls on both sides with broken and hanging pillars of ice formation all over it. The only line of weakness was a tiny line to its left where it has met the rock wall. But it seemed that the crazy crevasses and rock falls would be our constant companion while we would be fixing ropes over those steep ice walls.
We decided to establish Camp 1 just before the icefall. A safe rocky moraine besides the glacier at around 4600m was chosen as the campsite.
Back in the Base Camp, we planned our future schedule. I decided to move to Camp 1 as soon as possible and started working on the icefall while others would be ferrying loads.
"Here it is! Watch out for the first stunts of our Mission Impossible", I joked, while adjusting the crampons to my snowboots. No one liked the joke, however. No wonder – as we saw a huge block of ice breaking and speeding down the icefall like a cannon ball just a few hours ago.
 |
 |
| Two images inside the broken icefall between Camp1 and Camp2 | |
Climbing an icefall is always a difficult proposition. The huge pillars of ice balancing haphazardly against each other are quite a view from distance but no place for a softhearted person. The blocks of ice, which are even harder than rock, keeps on breaking and coming down the steep slopes and they can destroy anything on their way.
The icefall between Camp1 and Camp2 was also showing all these hostilities. We could not even imagine opening a route through the middle of the icefall. We had to look at the sides of the icefall where it met the rock faces. But there were vertical rock faces on both of the sides with rocks falling from above in regular intervals. After a lot of inspection, we choose the route on the left-hand side, as it looked less steeper and safer than the right-hand side.
On the first day of rope fixing, Thapa and I started opening route on the icefall. When we reached the foot of the route that we planned to climb, Thapa honestly told, "Saab, eisa route to maine kabhi nahin chara ( I have never climbed such a difficult route)".
"Me neither", I replied in a cold voice. But by tomorrow, we would have the experience of climbing such a route, if we were still alive – I thought.
I led the first two pitches while Thapa followed me carrying most of the equipment. Then, Thapa led a traverse. We were making good progress. But the fear of rock fall from above was so disturbing that we were always in hurry to finish the climb as fast as possible. Though a few rocks fell from high above but they missed us by considerable margin.
It was then my turn to lead. I climbed a pitch to reach the bottom of an overhanging ice with vertical rock faces to its left. We stopped there for a while and agreed that the next pitch was going to be the crux of the climb. As we were not carrying any rock gears, we finally decided to call it a day. We were exhausted, too. But, pretty much satisfied with our effort, we came back to Camp 1 and had a nice meal.
We had a nice and happy team in the camp. The team spirit and coordination among members was amazing. In Kaushik, we had a lot of musical talent. So spare times used to get passed easily just listening to him. And, talking about food, Gambhi showed a rare interest and affection to food. We were pretty well fed, probably too well - as we had to bring two extra loads of food during the expedition.
After a rest day, I returned to the icefall – this time, with Dil. After reaching the end of the fixed rope, I lead the overhanging ice wall. It was almost black ice and took all my energy and skills to complete the pitch. I screwed in an ice piton in between and as I reached the top of the pitch, I hammered in a snow stake and fixed the rope. Dil took care of the next pitch by jumping spectacularly over an open crevasse. After fixing two more ropes, we were on the top of the icefall. The icefall consumed 1200 ft of our fixed ropes.
 |
 |
| Route opening from Camp 1 to Camp 2 | The danger zones inside the ice fall |
By the time, we were opening route above camp1 to camp2, the rest of the team did an amazing job ferrying all the loads to camp 1. We did around twenty ferries to stock camp 1. Everyone then moved to Camp1 so that we could start ferrying loads to Camp 2. Camp2 was established above the icefall, another mile deep into the glacier at around 5000 m. The icefall route was becoming dangerous day by day as the frequency of rock fall increased and was literally snapping our ropes and breaking the ice faces we had our ropes on. The early morning seemed to be the only relatively safe period to be on that portion of the route.
The weather closed down by the time and it seemed as a blessing to us. As in the cold weather, we had less rock fall and did a number of ferries to the camp 2 to make it well stocked. We had around 11 ferries to stock camp 2.
We had a few close encounters but tried to remain focussed on our objective. One incident happened on 17th June, when Dil, Thapa, Viji and me, started early morning to occupy camp 2. As the four of us were jumaring the fixed ropes on the treacherous icefall, I heard one of us cry out "ROCK !!" in a shrilled voice. I was the last man and looked above to see that Viji was diving under the overhanging face to find a shelter. Above that, Dil and Thapa were trying to run for any shelter they could find. And, I looked around to see that there was nothing for me – I was quite far away from any kind of safety.
Then, it came….a huge mass of rock fell from high above, struck a ledge of rock in between, broke in thousands of pieces and raining down towards us. First they looked like coming down in a slow motion. Then, accelerated by the sheer attraction of gravity, the pieces of rocks moved like bullets. For a few moments, I petrified and watched the scary drama going on all around me, but then, I decided not to just watch and die. I used my rucksack and helmet to move into a shell just like a tortoise. Small pieces of rocks kept hitting me on the helmet and sack.
It went on and on for around a minute. Then it stopped. I found myself alive with no injury. "I am OK", I shouted.
Climbing up to Viji, I told him, "Any sane man would abandon the expedition right at this moment". But it seemed that we were insane enough not to do that and carried on the rest of the trip to Camp II in silence.
Mission Possible – thoughts of Camp 2
 |
| Bhrigupanth as seen from Camp 2 |
Camp II promised to be even worse. There were massive vertical walls on both sides from which avalanches were coming down at regular intervals stopping just a few feet short of our tents pitched on relatively safer grounds. Added to it, there was a nagging whiteout blocking the view of our possible route. And for the first time during the entire expedition, it started snowing. The initial flurries turned into heavy snowfall as we slipped into the relative warmth of our sleeping bags. We went to sleep with the hope that the weather would clear up the next morning.
The weather did not improve for the next day either. Bored and frustrated, we rested inside the camp. Viji was angry with himself for not carrying any book up there as he had already sang all the songs he knew and told all the stories he ever read. "You will have a lot of stories to tell after this expedition", I tried to make him feel good.
We waited impatiently for the nature to have pity on us. "Mousam khulna chhaiye (The weather should get better)", Thapa and Dil were confident. I looked around at the blurred world around us but could not find any reason for such a confidence.
The next morning dawned clear, however. We could see the massive peak of Bhrigupanth and Meru for the first time. They were just a few kilometers away from Camp but looked like thousands of miles away as the hanging glaciers and steep ice walls climbed up and up only to be halted by the sky – where the summit met the horizon. On the other side, a royal panorama of high Himalayan peaks – Chaturbhuj, Chirbas Parvat, Sudarshan, Matri, Thelu, Jogeshwar, Kalidhang - was so exquisite that it looked almost unreal.
Inspired by the excellent weather, we went ahead to find our route. We had to follow the glacier for a kilometer and then turn right to enter the gap between the east ridges of Manda 2 and Manda 3. Before start climbing, we stood in front of it to assess the route ahead. To describe it, I will use Viji’s first reaction as he saw it.
"We are not going to open route through this mess. Do we?", he told spontaneously.
Looking up, I could see why he was saying so. Two huge icefalls separated by a rugged and broad rock gully with rock fall zone on the both sides – the route even looked unbelievably steep and unsafe. But I was expecting such a route (as in the map) and was so much fascinated by the glimpses of summit ridge seen beyond those icefalls and rock gully that I had no way to resist myself to check the route ahead. I decided to leave Viji on the glacier so that he could monitor our progress and take any action if something happened to us!
 |
 |
| Climbs between Camp 2 to Camp 3 | Route from Camp 2 to Camp 3(summit camp) |
Dil, Thapa and I moved up fast following the rock gully. As we climbed high, we realized that the route was not that steep and dangerous as it looked from beneath. "Illusions", I whispered to myself. But, of course, the fear of rock fall was very much there, but we stayed in the middle of the rock gully and enjoyed watching the rocks speeding down from a safe distance. Climbing was tiring but enjoyable in the bright sunshine. We fixed one rope on a steep rock face to reach a relatively safer ground.
The sky was pure azure with a few clouds decorating it. We moved further up to find that the rock gully concluded in front of a sheer icefall. The col between Manda 2 and 3 was surely situated behind that icefall, but it was out of our sight. But we could see both the summits from there. As Dil pointed to the right, I saw a spot for our Camp 3 - a little rocky moraine between two ice fields. But, I could actually see far more than that…I felt that our "Mission Impossible" could turn to "Mission Possible".
High up in the sky, a cirrus was hanging pretty with sunshine silvering its edges. Just beneath it, the beautiful summit ridge of Manda 2 continued to its destination. The ridge was 1000 ft higher than where we stood and the wall from the ridge descended to the ice field in front of us. We noticed at least two lines on that face that might lead us to the summit ridge. One of them was to the right, an ice gully between two rocky buttresses – a long route but looked climbable (Ice Gully route). The other one was straight up – starting with an ice pitch and then through the steep rocks, traversing left as it went up (Direct Route). The summit ridge above was inviting and looked friendly.
"You take care of the ice, then we will take care of the rocks", Thapa suggested to me, pointing to the Direct Route, his personal favorite. I was not so sure but decided to give it a try. I led on the ice wall and fixed ropes to reach the rock wall. Dil and Thapa followed me. Then, we rested for a while before they went forward to fix rope on the rocks.
I stayed back, exhausted, and watching their progress. But, they were out of luck. After only one pitch, the rock hammer broke. They had to come down. But by that time, I had a good look of both the possible routes and decided to try the ice gully route next time. Dil and Thapa agreed to me as they saw a number of overhanging rocks as they went up the direct route. It was already 2 pm and we decided to call it a day. But what a day it was ! After two days of inactivity in dark clouds and gloomy frustration, we explored our route to the pristine summit of Manda.
We came back to Camp 2. "We are close! We can make it!", I jubilantly told others in Camp 2. But I could still see the disbelief in everyone’s eyes.
On that same day, Arka, Kaushik and Gambhi came up to Camp 2 from Camp 1. They told me that many of the ropes that we had fixed on the icefall had snapped and the route was collapsing fast. They had to open new routes on some ugly portions of it to climb up.
"Will there be any route at all when we will have to climb down to Camp 1 after our summit bid?" Gambhi raised the issue.
"Forget it – focus on the summit. If we can climb up, we can climb down, too", I remarked. But my voice did not sound confident and trembled a little to the end. I took a sip to a cup of tea held in my hand, hiding my anxiety and pretending to be perfectly normal.
One wise climber once told, "Climbing up a mountain is only the half of the climb. The other half is to climb down."
The lust for summit – Camp 3 and the Pinnacle Gully
 |
| Summit ridge from Camp 3 |
We decided not to waste any more days as the weather was again showing all the signs of getting worse. No wonder as the monsoon was on the doorway to enter the western Himalayas. We quickly chalked out a plan and determined to work our best for the final push.
The very next day, we carried a full load to Camp 3 and four of us stayed back up there. Rest of the team came back to Camp 2 after the ferry. This was actually the only load ferry to Camp 3. Camp 3 was at 5500 m with a breathtaking view of Mount Meru to the east. We need to climb towards north next morning to tackle the final obstacles to the summit of Manda 2 – the long-cherished dream!
Viji did not like the site for Camp 3 for not being a very safe place. There was a rock fall zone besides the camp site. Thapa and Dil was very confident though. They said, "Pathhar idhar nahin ayega( rocks won't come this far)". But their confidence shook as a major rock fall happenned at around 4pm and a few big chunks of rocks came rolling down towards the campsite and stopped just a few meters away.
"We should sleep in the tents wearing the helmets", I tried to add a little humour to the scary situation. As the sun decided to set, the surroundings seemed to settle down a bit. Thapa, an experieneced HAP, was telling all the stories of the dangerous campsites he lived through during his past expeditions to assure us. But I knew that I would not be having a good night sleep that night.
I spent all the evening watching closely the ice gully (we had already named it as ‘Pinnacle Gully’ because of its resemblance to a famous climb in North America that we did last winter). After a discussion, we decided that if we could climb that route quickly enough and reach the summit ridge by noon, we would attempt the peak on the same day. Dil and Thapa would be climbing with me while Viji would be following us. We slipped into the sleeping bags early to have enough rest for the coming long day. But the sound of cracking crevasses and rolling rocks all around kept us awake till our tired bodies surrendered themselves to the peace of sleep.
 |
 |
| Summit route from Camp 3 | Meru as seen from Camp 3 |
The next morning, June 21st, we started early. The slopes up the gully climbed steadily at an angle around 60 degree to begin with but then steepened fast for another 10-20 degrees. Dil and Thapa was carrying almost 1500 ft of ropes on their back – unbelievable at such an altitude. But with each pitch I led, the load on their back lightened fast. Gathering all the stamina and energy I had left in myself, I concentrated on leading the steep slopes as fast as I could. The team effort worked great as we fixed 1200 ft of ropes on the Pinnacle Gully to reach the summit ridge by 10 AM.
The clouds had moved in by this time. Through the breaks between the clouds, we could see the glimpses of the summit ridge ahead – it looked much longer than we expected. I decided to climb further up the ridge to make a summit bid. Meanwhile, Viji had followed the fixed ropes to catch us on the summit ridge.
"I am going for it. But as it is already late and clouds are all over, the only way to reach there is to run", I told Viji, trying to assess his intention.
"I am coming with you – I can run faster than you", replied Viji, a fine fast bowler in his early college days of Cricket game. Though gasping for breath in the thin air of 20000ft, he looked confident than ever.
"Sure you can!", I thought, "That’s what is called the lust for summit!".
Thus, our journey resumed – climbing roped up on the loose rocks, icy patches and snowfields along the ridge which ascended steadily gaining height to the summit which was still behind the cloud. Dil stayed in front of the line while I decided to be the last man on the rope. The mountain Goddess was in her playful mode to threaten us with intermittent snowfall and covered everything around us beneath her wrap of clouds. As Thapa suggested, we stopped for a while to pray to Her. I offered cashew nuts and chocolate from my survival pack to the Goddess to pacify her probable anger on us for intrusion into her territory. And, miraculously, that worked! The clouds cleared up for a few moments and we had glimpses of Bhrigupanth, Manda 3, Shivling and Meru.
 |
 |
| Manda3 as seen from summit ridge of Manda 2 | Climbing the summit ridge of Manda 2 |
But it was just for a few minutes before the clouds engulfed us again. We did not have an unlimited supply of nuts and chocolates to offer and thus decided to climb ahead through the cloud instead. The ridge seemed rising infinitely as we struggled for each oxygen molecules from the rarified atmosphere. Then, at about 3 PM, Dil shouted from in front, "We are almost there."
I looked up to see that we were approaching a huge rock stuck to a tiny ice summit, beyond which the ridge again started climbing down steadily towards west. A cold breeze started blowing and cleaned up the surrounding a little. For a while, I could see the rocky pinnacle between Manda1 and Manda2 to the north, Manda3 to the south and the col between Manda2 and Manda3 down to the left. I became convinced that we were almost there at last!
 |
 |
| Meru from the summit | On the summit of Manda 2 (6568 m) |
The celebration on the summit was brief. Deprived of any summit panorama, we took a few shots of the summit and us with national flag. In fact, it was the first Indian ascent of the peak; that’s too by a completely new route. It was indeed a moment of national pride. But we missed the typical summit panorama that could be seen from such a high Himalayan summit. The ocean of the majestic peaks spreading all over towards the horizon remained invisible to us. We took nine hours of climbing to reach the summit and stayed there for only half an hour.
Climbing down was fast and without any event. As we rappelled down to the end of the fixed rope, Kaushik and Arka took us in their arms. "Unbelievable expedition", I heard Arka murmuring.
The next day, Arka, Kaushik and Gambhi climbed following the route we opened and reached the summit. Rest of us waited in the Camp 3 relishing the success.
| As Arka describes his experience of the second summit
attempt
On 20th
June, we, the members of the second team, trudged into the empty Summit
Camp and that surprised us. The plan was that Arnab along with Dil Bahadur
and Thapa, would go for opening the route to the summit and Avijit will
stay behind to capture the technicalities in his Nikon. If possible Arnab
will push for the summit that day only or otherwise all of us will go for
it on the next day. It was already 2'o clock and raining. We made our tent
pitching area on the ice by laying a thick layer of flat stones and we
were sitting comfortably inside the tent within half an hour. Though we
were hungry we thought that we better wait for the others, as it was
evident that all four of them have gone for the summit bid. It was after
four, that we spotted two specs at the top of the gulley and ignited the
gas stove. Dil and Thapa arrived first followed closely by Arnab and
Avijit. Congratulatory gestures, dinner and conversations flowed freely
and it was nearly eleven when we retired into the sleeping bags. Dil and
Thapa had retired early because they were to accompany us to the summit
again the next day. |
I would be more than happy if I could finish this article right here. But, the mountain thought otherwise. The retreat became another major expedition like climbing up.
As we reached the top of the fixed rope between Camp1 and Camp2 (the Icefall route), I initially thought that we were in a different route. The whole geography and formation of the icefall had been changed in the last few days while we were climbing the routes higher up to the summit. Almost all our ropes snapped, the ice slabs collapsed into each other, the tiny crevasses became huge and the sign of destruction was all over it. But we had no other option than to descend through it.
Dil and I led the way opening the routes again down the icefall. A few scary rappelling into crevasses and climbing up and down through broken and unstable ice slopes – quite a retreat it was! We were also welcomed by a few rock falls from the rock faces besides us. We were trying to remove all our ropes and protections from the icefall which was not an easy task at all.
 |
| The climb down through the icefall |
Viji was the first to be hit on his leg by a huge rock while rappelling down a pitch, but fortunately came down without a scratch. I was not that lucky though. After seven pitches down, I stopped there in order to see everyone leave the dangerous zone safely and then, to help Thapa to remove our gears. As we were removing pitons, stakes and ropes, I saw that all the other members had reached the end of the fixed ropes and almost in the safety of Camp1. Pleased and confident, I started moving fast down the slopes with Thapa who was carrying a huge load of fixed ropes.
He belayed me as I climbed up and down an ice pitch to remove the last few ice pitons. We only had two more ropes to remove. To make it faster, I decided to climb down without the help of the rope so that Thapa could untie them and follow me with the same speed. I climbed down the first pitch in a flash and removed the snow stakes. I belayed Thapa while he came down to me. Then, on the last pitch, only 20 ft was left to be climbed down and to get out of the danger zone. I heard a sound from the slope above and saw a mass of ice and rock broke and coming down straight to me. I moved towards the fixed rope and grabbed it with all my strength. The rocks struck me on my helmet and sack while I was trying to protect myself from falling down turning my back to the falling rocks. Something hit me on my nose.
When it stopped, I found my nose was bleeding badly. "Aur bhi aar raha hai(More rocks will be coming)", screaming Thapa from above. I had no time to think and rappelled down the last few feet with blood all over my faces, agonizing in pain. As I was removing my carabiner from the rope, the second lot of rocks came. Already injured, I almost surrendered myself at the mercy of the nature while small pieces of rocks hammered all over my body while the big ones fortunately ignored me.
I literally ran to Camp1 after that and Gambhi treated my injuries. I was happy to be back in one piece. Moreover, Dharmi passed on to me a nice cup of tea – made with sugar (we were out of sugar in our higher camps and had to drink salted tea for last few days) – an ultimate delicacy!
It took us another two days to clean up camp 1 and carry all the loads down to base camp. We still had a leisurely day before porters arrived. Then we started walking down the trail to go back to Gangotry. A satisfying climb in a long and hard effort made everyone happy. Time to return to civilzation from the savage arena until the great Himalayas would beckon us again.
In his famous song "Imagine", John Lennon sang, "You may say I am a dreamer.... but hope someday you will join us…" That’s what this expedition was all about. We had a dream in our mind, and kept on pursuing that even though most of us thought that it was nearly impossible to achieve.
The Bhrigupanth glacier is one of the most beautiful glaciers I have ever seen in my life. It is a heaven for any climber looking for extreme climbing opportunity but no place for happy summer peak bagging. Each and every route on the majestic faces of rock and ice offer path to splendid summits like Manda, Bhrigupanth and Meru. We were welcomed by flowers as beautiful as the green meadows around them. In my novice eyes too, I counted at least 15 different species of flowers. A snow fox used to give us occasional visit at Camp1 and reduced our storage of butter to almost nothing in just one night. And, bharals (deers) were routinely seen on the slopes.
We made all possible efforts to leave the mounatain as clean as we found it. We removed almost all the equipments even from the most dangerous zones but had to leave a few rock pitons up there. All the camp sites were cleaned and garbages were burnt before leaving the sites. We carried down all the tins and gas cylinders to Uttarkashi.
The ascent of Manda2 (6568 m) was reached in a completely new route through such a rarely explored glacier that we enjoyed the joy of climbing and the excitement of exploration both at the same time. It was also the overall second ascent of the peak and the first Indian ascent of the peak. This success will definitely encourage us in all our future missions to climbing new routes and unclimbed peaks in the unexplored corners of the hidden Himalayas.
"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished. If you’re alive, it isn’t."
 |
 |
| A glacier table inside Bhrigupanth Glacier | And here is a tarn near our Camp 1 |
An ascent of Manda2 (6568m) by a new route by five member climbing team from JUNIPERS, Calcutta. This was first Indian ascent of the peak, second overall ascent, first climb from the east and through Bhrigupanth Glacier to the peak.
 |
 |
| Flowers in the Base Camp | |
Appendix A - Members and their brief profiles
Arnab : One of the founder members of Junipers and leader of many Junipers expeditions. Before this ascent, his most significant success was the first ascent of Gorur Dome (6208 m) and first exploration of Gorur glacier in 1998. As an experienced ice and rock climbers, he has climbed all around the world - in Europe and N America other than in the high Himalayas. As a climbing leader of this expedition, he led the team to success with perfection.
Avijit : An experienced climber and leader. In absence of the proposed leader of this expedition, he took charge as the leader of the Manda 2 expedition and did an excellent job. He was also a summitter in the famous 1998 expedition of Gorur Dome. Apart from being a climber, he enjoys skiing.
Arka : The most inspirational member among Junipers. With his great organizational and planning ability, he chalked out most of the ventures of the club. As climber, he climbed Gorur dome, Phawrarang before climbing Manda 2 this summer.
Gambhisana : Her natural ability to climb made her an important part of all the expeditions she took part in. An excellent team member and experienced climber. This was her second Himalayan ascent.
Kaushik : The youngest of all, but the most energetic as well. His contribution to this expedition was enormous. A very active climber all year around. Manda 2 was his first major Himalayan ascent.
Appendix B - A chronicle of climbing history of Manda
Manda 2 (6568 m)
Manda 1 (6529 m)
Manda 3 (6511 m)
Appendix C – Route map of the expedition
 |
Appendix D – Timetable of the expedition
| Date | Activity |
| 3rd June | Team started from Calcutta |
| 5th | Arrival at Uttarkashi |
| 5-6th | Porter arrangement, Shopping |
| 7th | Moved to Gangotry by road |
| 8th | Trek to Gomukh – 18 km |
| 9th | Trek to Base Camp site and establish Base Camp |
| 10th | Recee to Camp 1, Base Camp arrangement |
| 11th | Load ferry to C1, Partial route opening above C1 |
| 12th | Load ferry to C1 |
| 13th | Load ferry to C1, occupy C1 by lead team |
| 14th | Route opening above C1 through icefall completed by lead team, occupy C1 by others |
| 15th | Load ferry and establish C2 |
| 16th | Load ferry to C2 |
| 17th | Occupy C2 by lead team |
| 18th | Rest |
| 19th | Route opened to C3 by lead team, rest occupied C2 |
| 20th | Occupy C3 by lead team, load ferry to C3 by others |
| 21st | Route opening above C3 and summit reached by lead team |
| 22nd | Summit bid by others |
| 23rd | Back to C2 |
| 24th | Re-opening the route through icefall to retreat to C1 and to BC |
| 25th | Load carry down from C1 |
| 27th | Back to Gangotry from BC |
