Prologue to Africa: Part I

Escape to Gangotri: the long six days

In June 2010 I was supposed to be dead. I was deep inside the upper reaches of the Gangotri glacier when that incident took place. It so happens that I had two cysts in my right lung. They grew inside me without my knowledge of course, over the years, to the size and shape of tennis balls. They are called hydatid cysts, kind of a tapeworm (echynococcus granulosus) infection one can get either from dogs or from sheep. I may have got them from eating ( or should I say ‘tasting’ because I only had a tiny bit out of sheer curiosity) raw sheep liver in the base camp of Mount Kamet back in 2005. It amazes me to this day that with these growing cysts in my lung I had participated in many high altitude mountaineering expeditions over 6000m to major summits and even raced on Mt Elbrus (20 trips between 2005 June and 2010 June to be precise)! Should this incident have happened in one of those extreme conditions I sure stood less chance of survival!

Gangotri glacier near its head. the shoulder of Janhukot visible on the left. Chaukhamba  massif forming the head of the valley

However in June 2010, something finally happened as I was leading a small group (Heidi Genesis and Bryan Hylenski) on an expedition that aimed to make the first ascent of Janhukot (6805m). We were only two people in the advanced base camp that night. Thendup Sherpa, my trusted climbing partner and lead climbing Sherpa of all Adventure Mania expeditions and I had chosen the spot for ABC near the junction of Swachand and Gangotri glaciers.  After setting up ABC, we had gone further up that afternoon to have a look at Maiandi Bamak and the mountain we were about to tackle, Janhukot. All seemed fine until late at night, while I was deep asleep, one of the cysts ruptured.

What followed was not nice! First I was coughing nonstop and soon was breathless. Chest pain was accompanied with high fever and dirrahoea making me extremely weak. My first thought was I had HAPE and I must get down to lower altitude. I started taking medications that I had with me to give some symptomatic relief, but that did not seem to work. But the worst part was that I could not drink or eat at all. Nothing would go down.

The junction of Kirti and Gangotri glaciers, before the snow storm

It took me 24 hours to gather courage and energy to start my long journey back to Gangotri. While Thendup, Lakpa and Indra stayed with Bryan and Heidi; Kiran accompanied me down. As soon as I had started walking I realized it is much worse than I had presumed. I could walk only 10-12 steps at a time and had to sit down for 10-15 minutes before I could stand up and walk the next 10 steps. The mountains around me, which looked divine and grand 24 hours ago; had turned into a cruel and unforgiving fortress. It felt as if a death sentence has been announced and the convict was trying to escape. 

It took me and Kiran nearly 12 hours just to reach Sundarban, our BC site, and I was completely dehydrated and drained. This would have taken me 4 hours max in normal physical state. Even though I had lost some altitude, may be around 500m-600m, I was not feeling any better. I thought maybe this is not enough; we should try and get to Bhujbas tomorrow, at least. But over the next 12 hours my condition worsened and by early morning next day I realized I do not have the strength left to walk the seemingly endless moraines of Gangotri glacier. I asked Kiran to go up to ABC once again and get Lakpa down. It seemed at that moment that two helping hands are better than one. Kiran sprung into action, he made a quick dash to ABC and by mid day was down in BC with Lakpa. We had ropes but I had ruled out the option of carrying me down. It seemed reckless at that time. I decided to walk with my two hands across their shoulders. My brave, strong friends, they did not let me down. But the weather was not on our side. It decided to play naughty and while we were just about to traverse the Kirti Glacier junction we were hit by a snow storm forcing us to get back to Sundarban. The snow storm lasted for next 48 hours, covering the moraines with soft new snow and making it even more challenging terrain for I was sinking by the hour.

before the incident in base camp

48 hours after the incident in base camp

In those 48 hours of snow storm it was very important that we did not lose hope although I could sense that my brave comrades Kiran and Lakpa were beginning to doubt if I will be able make it alive! The snow had to stop and so I gathered all the energy I could master at that state and started a very determined push to Tapovan. We knew if we could reach Tapovan we will find people who could help. The fresh coat of snow were triggering frequent avalanches from Shivling and the moraine wall one climbs to reach Kharapattar near Tapovan was hurling rocks down ceaselessly. So we had to detour. Had to move towards the medial moraine of Gangotri glacier and find a safer route to Tapovan. 

Finally after 12 hours of toil we reached the cave shelter of Tara Mataji of Tapovan. At that very moment I knew I was going to live. It was the 5^th day since one of cysts had ruptured. My symptoms were still not improving and I was beginning to think that my case may not be a simple case of HAPE after all.

Mataji of Tapovan. Photo: Heidi Genesis

On the 6^th day of the ordeal when we started our walk we were still hoping to find some ponies at Bhujbas and not having to walk the last 14 kilometres to Gangotri. But after reaching Bhujbas we learnt that while we were stranded in Sundarban during the snow storm a torrential rain washed the lower valley. The mule track that connects Bhujbas with Gangotri was cut off in a few places due to mudslides. So walking we did. But it felt much easier than finding our way through powder coated unstable moraine. By afternoon, on the 6^th day of our ordeal, we reached Gangotri. After resting a night at Gangotri and buying food supply for both Mataji and our expedition team Kiran and Lakpa went back up all the way to the ABC to reunite with the team. For me the journey was downhill. Within 24 hours I made nonstop travel to Delhi, merely changing vehicles and flew to Kolkata; still hoping that I will be able to come back in Gangotri in time to meet the returning expedition team. Somehow I felt consulting doctors in Kolkata was a better idea than getting admitted in the Uttarkashi Government hospital.

At a Guest House in Gangotri after the escape. Left to right: lakpa, Anindya, Kiran

A few days after the surgery at the CMRI hospital Photo: Pabitra  Chatterjee

What followed was a quick phase of diagnosis and then a lung surgery at the Calcutta Medical Research Institute under Senior Surgeon Dr. Saibal Gupta and Dr. Rupak Bhattacharya. I was bed ridden for 3 months. That was a setback for Adventure Mania and its mountaineering service works. We are yet to recover from that. For a small outfit such as Adventure Mania, if its owner-guide is down, and if he is the only one able to attract new work for himself and his crew; the picture does not look particularly sunny!

But friends across the globe reached out and stood by me and my family and I am going to remember that for the rest of my life.

For me a new chapter was about to begin. I had many questions in my mind. Will I be able to climb again? Will my lungs permit me to go high altitude once more? Will I be able to lead and guide expeditions? If not, I would have to face a new challenge, find a new way to earn bread for my family!