Unsucessful Mt. Ramjak Expedition followed by successful Mt. Yunam Expedition

Day 01
06.09.23

1600 hours I left from home with my heart full of excitement and nervousness.  This time no one was participating from kharagpur.  Alok and Shubhradip came to  see off me. They brought some sweets for the team.

Day 02
07.09.23

On Transit

Day 03
08.09.23

Train was 2 hours late we reached Chandigarh around 0415hrs loaded all our sacks and equipment bags on the Tempo Traveller which was already booked and parked outside the station. Left Chandigarh around 0530 hrs.

After two hours drive we stopped for a tra break around 0715hrs at Manjeet's Dhaba Chandigarh highway.  Around 1000hrs we stopped for breakfast had some yummy Alu paratha and yoghurt.

Again resumed our journey but near Mandi around 1130 hrs we strucked in traffic jam.

1310hrs jam was cleared. Around 1500hrs we halted for lunch near Kullu. 1800hrs we reached Manali. 

Usually we used to stay at Hotel Neelkamal but this time we decided to change and accomodate ourselves in Hotel Chandan beside Monastery.  Day ended with a yum Bengali dinner at Hotel Shantiniketan.

Day 04
09.09.23

Early morning 0600hrs I woke up and went for a walk upto Hadimba Temple. 

While returning visited Madhyamik Vidyalaya Manali opposite to hospital and saw few lads were playing basketball.  I tried few shots and very soon I realised it's not my cup of tea. 

My cup of tea was waiting for me at the hotel room. 

 I came back and saw Shanti sir and Nitai were arranging equipments.  I joined them.  After equipments sorting we started preparing the list of rason.  We asked our Sherpas to join us for preparing the list of food items.  One thing I noticed, there was no input from the Sherpa whatever we used to say they just used to nod yes.  I was not sure whether we were perfect with our estimates or they were not aware of it.  After breakfast we all went into the market for buying rason and hire snow boots.  There is a shop in Manali beside bus stand Manu Thakur is the name of the owner, you can hire anything related to mountaineering from him.

After few more individual shopping we returned to hotel.  Surajit prepared mutton and rice for dinner and we all relished his cooking passion. 

Day 05
10.09.23

Our vehicle was parked in time we loaded all our rucksacks and luggage.  Me and Richung (Sherpa) went to the Monastery to pay homage to the almighty.  He brought prayer flags with him which he said are useless if we tie them anywhere. There is a particular ritual "Rab ne" which should be done before tieing these prayer flags anywhere.  We went to the Monastery gave those flags to the monk she read some mantras and did some hand gestures throwing rice on the flags. 

 After she finished her prayer we ran out of the Monastery as everyone was boarded and were waiting for us.  It was 1100hrs when we start from Manali.  Around 1430hrs we were in Keylong. 

 After lunch and submission of official documents at the police station we resumed from Keylong around 1600hours.  After an hour of hitting back the road our vehicle broke down before Darcha.  Another vehicle drive back and brought mseal to fix the car. 

Around 2030hrs we reached Ramjak basecamp. Unloaded all our luggage and pitched tents.  Everyone was so tired that most of us slept without having dinner. 

Day 06

11.09.23

Around 0930hours we left from basecamp towards Camp 1 for load ferry. Me, Shubhendu, Nitai, Sudip Sir, Surajit, Debabrata along with three Sherpas and two porters left for camp 1.  Around 1315hours we reached camp 1. 

After keeping the load properly at the camp 1 we decided to return.  Surajit and Debu were still halfway so they kept their loads right there.  Debu already returned after keeping his load somewhere in the middle. Around 1500hours all of us were back to basecamp.  Evening had some snacks and a quick dinner to finish.

Day 07
12.09.23

Rest day at basecamp, those who went for load ferry yesterday were instructed to take rest and rest of the members who stayed back at the basecamp went for load ferry.  Surya Sir, Subrato Sir, Saikat, Debasish Sir along with Sherpas and porters were in action today.

 As per our plan the Sherpas will stay there at camp 1, only the members will return back to basecamp.  We cooked food and had a great time acclimatising and taking rest.

Day 08

13.09.23

Around 0915hours me, Subhendu, Nitai, Sudip Sir, Surajit and Debabrata Giri left basecamp.  Around 1300hours we were in camp 1.  A tent was pitched there and a kitchen tent was setup.  Some rope coils, butane cylinder and a climbing rope was kept there beneath rocks.  While walking towards the camp 1 we can see our Sherpas trying to open the route for camp 2.  They walked over the ridge and then after a while they were coming down from a wall upto the rock area of col.  Then they were sitting on a rock at col.  When we were about to reach the camp 1 they also stood and returned back to camp 1.  After immediately reaching camp 1 we started pitching tents.  One tent was already pitched for Sherpas and then we pitched 3 more tents one for porter and two more for 6 of us. 

 As our tents were getting pitched 3 Sherpas were back from camp 2.  As soon as they returned one of the Sherpa Pasang youngest among them said, "you all have new crampons right, coz the older ones will not work." We said yes we all have new crampons, only Subhendu was having his personal crampon so that was not brand new.  So he started sharpening his crampon with a file. Looking at him the youngest Sherpa Pasang himself asked for the file for sharpening his own crampons.  We prepared some snack with puffed rice and Lila (sherpa) prepared some tea for all of us.  But he was complaining for the stoves leakage.  He said both the stoves are not leaking it's tough to prepare food for so many people.  Though he himself checked those stoves in Manali before packing them for the expedition.  After having snack and tea we went inside the tent.  It was very cold as we pitched our tents on the glacier.  After a while Pasang Sherpa came to us and said he wants to talk to the leader, as he wants to discuss about the route from camp 1 to camp 2.  When we enquired about the condition, he said the ice is hard and there is no snow up there so the snow stacks which we brought with us are useless. Only ice tubular pitons can be used and they are not enough to use upto the summit.  While planning for this expedition Richung suggested 20-22 pitons still we carried 27 pitons with us. Now they were saying that as the snow stacks are useless we have to use ice pitons only.  But again Pasang said with the pitons we have we will open route upto camp 2 or summit camp only.  And another condition was that they will not unscrew the pitons, we have to leave them and started calculating the cost of leaving those pitons.  As per him height from summit camp to summit is 1600m thets why the pitons we have are not enough.  We said how is that possible altitude of summit camp is 5699m and summit altitude is 6318m so where do this 1600m comes from.  He said you won't understand we have our own calculation and by the way we are not supposed to talk to the members we need to talk to the team leader.  Surya Sir our team leader was in basecamp, he was supposed to come next day with remaining members.  We tried to establish connection via walkie talkie but it didn't worked.  There were 3 Sherpas Lila and Richung were senior and all the discussions were done with them only but after coming to the expedition they didn't utter a single word.  This young boy Pasang was their speaker.  He used to speak on behalf of them.  This guy clearly said that "we will fix rope upto summit camp only and whatever pitons we will fix we will not unscrew them so leaving those pitons behind will cost you around 85-90k. "

We were disappointed by their behaviour and negative comments. It was clear that we are not going to attempt the summit. They will help us upto summit camp only.  So we didn't find any sense of staying their and climb upto summit camp.  We decided to return and try some other peak.  Nobody had dinner that day and slept early.  We wanted to return early so that we can reach basecamp before our second team with our team leader starts.

Day 09
14.09.23

We woke up early but the weather outside was not in favour, it was raining and very cloudy so we waited for the weather to clear.  Around 8:30 we started wrapping the camp, unpitched our tents. As we were wrapping Lilarai Sherpa left camp 1 and was descending down, he never spoke a single word to us, we guessed he must be going to basecamp.  I took a small interview of Pasang to record his views about the route.  Pasang was representing them.

While descending down to base camp Shubhendu suggested us that Mt Yunam is very close to this place and number of days we have are enough to attempt this peak.  We were very determined but our main obstacle was permission from our leader and our Secretary.  Shanti sir was not feeling well so he already returned to Manali last day when we left for camp 1.  By the time we returned back to the basecamp our leader Surya Sir, Subrata Sir and Saikat were about to start, we informed him about everything there happened at camp 2, but there was no such response from him, he decided to go there and see the situation himself.  They continued to camp 2 and we settled back in basecamp. We prepared some nice lunch and dinner and had a team meeting for our next move. Our senior members Debasish Sir and Tapas Sir were happy with our decision.  During meeting it was decided that two of us will go upto Darcha to get permission from Shanti sir and will arrange the vehicle for the team to return to Manali.

Day 10
15.09.23

After having breakfast around 0900hrs me and Shubendu left for Darcha. We found a truck who was going towards Darcha, he dropped us.  We offered him some breakfast at Darcha dhaba and helped him in filling diesel in his truck.

  We made some calls to our family members and Shanti sir to inform him about the situation here and get permission for Mt Yunam expedition.  We also talked to Rocky our local transporter and asked him to bring vehicle next day early morning.  We had our lunch and were waiting for some other truck to return to our basecamp.  The dhaba guy suggested us to walk upto the checkpost, every vehicle has to to stop there so there are more possibility of getting vehicles.

  Around 1500hours we found two trucks which were going towards our basecamp.  In an hour we were back to basecamp.  It started raining when we reached.  Around 1730hours our team leader with two of our members returned from camp 1.  We had a team meeting and some snacks in the evening.  We informed our team leader about our next move.  He whole heartedly accepted.  After some warm dinner we all slipped inside our sleeping bags.  It was raining all night even drizzling next morning. 

Day 11
16.09.23

Vehicles were exactly parked at 0800hrs. We started wrapping our tents we prepared our breakfast and then packed some rason for Yunam expedition. 

A very heartbreaking incident happened right there.  As we were preparing for the Yunam Expedition and rest of the team packing to return.  I asked Lila Sherpa for butane cylinders. He said now you are asking for the cylinders everything is packed and loaded on the bus.  I said but we need it come show me where you have loaded I will get it down.  But he was angry with us and was repeating again and again that you should have told early now we can't unpack everything.  I was also repeating show me where you have kept it I will get it.  Right then he opened a drum in front of him and threw a pack on me.  Every one was shocked with his behaviour.  I picked the pack and saw butane cylinders inside.  I said "why are you throwing this, is everything ok?" He started yelling you don't consider us as human beings, always order this or that.  I said we never ordered you, this is your responsibility to take care of all these things and make sure that expedition never fails.  Shubendu joined the argument and said you failed to do your own work and now behaving like this.  Right then Pasang Sherpa entered the argument and started behaving as if we were arguing uselessly.  So I said him, "see boy you are kid please don't enter in this we are talking to Lila and Richung, we have hired them and it's their responsibility to answer us." But Pasang was repeating "don't discuss anything, don't discuss anything".  I also repeated, "lad you pls stay out of this, you are just a lad". Suddenly he reacted pushed me and about to punch me.  I stopped him and right then Richung who was silent all these days he also attacked us and Lila took out ice axe from the drum to attack.  Everyone there came and stopped everyone.  Surya Sir dragged me aside as if I was the one fighting. Tapas sir shouted on Lila, "how dare you take out ice axe for fighting, you are such a senior and this is how you behave". Little hustle bustle and then everyone was silent but that Pasang Sherpa was still yelling, "how dare you call me a lad, m not your lad". I understood the situation that there is no use of argument.  I kept calm. 

     Everyone said let's cancel Yunam expedition and everyone return Manali and let's report this to Shanti Sir and take some action.  But I said I am not going to spoil one complete year for these guys.  Around 1000hrs me, Shubendu, Sudip Sir, Surajit, Nitai and Vijay left for Bharatpur.  In 2 hours we were at Bharatpur.  There are few dhabas at New Bharatpur, Rocky parked our vehicle near one of the dhaba.  We ordered some Alu Parantha for our lunch and borrowed a utensil for preparing tea.

  Post lunch Rocky dropped us near the road head  from where we have to start. Clock was ticking 1310hrs when we start. Walking over the loose rocks we climbed over a spur from there little plain then again continuous elevation.

  After walking for 3 hours around 1615hrs we reached basecamp.  There were many places properly beated for tent pitching and adjacent kitchen tents.  Shubendu and Vijay Walked all around the basecamp and brought some rason left in the kitchens.  Our GPS was reading 5156m and time 1700hrs when we were ready with our tents. It was very windy outside so we all went inside our respective tents.  Around 1830hrs we begin to prepare our summit snack pack and today's dinner.  We already brought some boiled Bengal grams, potato and eggs for our dinner.  We mixed some puffed rice with all these ingredients and had a great meal.  We all slept early as we planned to move at 0400hrs. 

Day 12
17.09.23

The Big Day

It wasn't a smooth sleep that night every hour I used to wakeup and check my watch. Though I fixed an alarm at 0300hrs but body alarm was not allowing me to sleep. At 0300hrs I was out of my sleeping bag.  Vijay start boiling the milk for corn flakes to have a quick breakfast.  I just had some milk without corn flakes. 

 By the time we all were ready it was 0430hrs. Slowly we left basecamp and move towards our goal.  Summit was clearly visible from basecamp and at every step we were moving towards.  Oxygen was very thin it was bit hard to breath.  We all were properly acclimatised so nobody was having problems with altitude.  As the base camp is 5156m and the summit is 6150m, that means 1000m in a day without acclimatising is strictly not recommended. 

 But team was moving smoothly.  Complete stretch is either a scree zone or loose rocks.  Last part of the trail was so boring that we can see the summit flag but still can't reach.  Around 0950hours Vijay and Nitai reached the summit and then followed by Shubendu, Sudip Sir and then me around 1050hours followed by Suraji. 

We spent an hour at summit clicking pics and paid homage to the almighty. As it was Ganesh Chaturthi I brought a small ganesha statue and placed it on the summit.  Around 1400hours we were back to basecamp.  After having some snacks and milk Sudip Sir and Vijay left from basecamp to road head to try our luck for vehicles.  

Rest of us wrapped the camp unpitched our tents and moved to road head. Around 0530hrs we reached by the time we reached there already two cars were parked and Sudip Sir was waiting for us. Those vehicles were returning to Manali so we talked to them and hired them to drop us at Manali.  Around 2230hrs we reached Manali.  Team was desperately waiting for us, everyone came and wished us for our success. Day ended with a nice warm dinner prepared by our team.

Day 13
18.09.23

Day started with a slow morning and then followed by equipments sorting and returned all the boots and equipments which we hired here in Manali. 

Day 14
19.09.23

Dried all the tents and ropes  before packing.  Our reservation from Chandigarh was on 20th. So we spent here in Manali visited Hadimba temple and Vasishta temple.

Day 15

20.09.23

Early morning we were in kitchen preparing our packed dinner.  After breakfast around 1000hrs we left from Manali.  Had our lunch near Kullu and then resumed to Chandigarh.  Traffic was diverted so we have to take a detour of around 50km to reach Sundernagar junction.  From that junction we were on the national highway, from there on journey was smooth.  Around 2230hours we reached Chandigarh.  Unloaded all our sacks and had our dinner.  Train was on time we all boarded and our journey was about to end.

Day 16
21.09.23

On Transit

Day 17
22.09.23

Train was an hour late, we reached Howrah around 0900hrs. I boarded local train from Hwh towards Kharagpur.  A journey of disappointment turned into success was over.  Dusted in Ramjak and Done Yunam.