ASIAN ALPINE E-NEWS
Issue No 98 - April 2022

Blue lake and unclimbed 6,000 meters peaks immediate west of Lhasa, Tibet

Contents

The Himalayan News 9 March 2022

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Page 2 ~ 24

The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan News
March 2022

The Himalayan

A Newsletter of The Himalayan

MARCH 2022 NO 9
A JOURNEY TO KAILASH
Romesh Bhattacharji

AVALANCHE ESCAPE ON
KOTESHWAR
AVM (Retd) Apurba Kumar
Bhattacharyya

LIFE IN THE HIGHHIMALAYATHE PRELUDE – A PHOTO
ESSAY
Somenath Sen & Sesha
Mukherjee

BOUQUETS & BRICKBATS

Bhanu Banerjee

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Dear Readers,
We welcome you to the ninth issue of The Himalayan News.
As we write this editorial, the third wave of covid which swept across both India and Nepal has now
receded. Life is slowly returning to normal and mountaineers and trekkers alike are looking forward
to the upcoming spring season.
Last week we learnt that Antarctica had record high temperatures for the month of March, morethan thirty degrees above normal. Elsewhere in the Himalaya glaciers have been receding at a rapid
rate and we seem to be reaching a situation which is looking irreversible.
In this our ninth issue, noted author Romesh Bhattacharji narrates his journey to the holy mountain,
Kailash. AVM (Retd) Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya pens the chilling tale of a miraculous avalanche
escape on Koteshwar in the Garhwal Himalaya. Somenath Sen and Sesha Mukherjee give us anenticing entry into the world of watching birds mostly around the foothills of the Himalaya withsome wonderful images. The late Bhanu Banerjee writes about Life in the High Himalaya when hehad accompanied Sir Edmund Hillary to Nepal on the schoolhouse and yeti expeditions in 1961-1963.
2022 is also a hundred years since the first expedition was launched to climb Mount Everest after
the successful reconnaissance expedition in 1921.
We do hope to survive through all kinds of calamities without losing our rational reasoning.
Happy reading!

Sujoy Das
Rupamanjari Biswas
Editors

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A JOURNEY TO KAILASH
Romesh Bhattacharji

Baldak Grazing ground

KAILASH-MANASAROVAR in the Autumn of 1981
“There is no place on earth like the Himalaya, for in them are found Kailash-Manasarovar.
As the morning sun dries up the dew so are the sins of man dried at the sight of KailashManasarovar.” So runs a moving passage in the Upanishads. The sage goes on to add 'Not in ahundred ages of the gods can I sing to thee of the glories of Himalaya'. He was writing from personal
experience, but my sins remained. My eyes, heart and mind were so overwhelmed with the majesty
of nature around me that there was no time to think about my sins!
From the late 1950s this apex of the Hindu
cosmos- Kailash, the lotus of the worldPushkar, the centre of the earth- Meru, Kang
Rimpoche, was closed to pilgrims from India
and Nepal. In 1979 it was opened to the
Nepalis and in September 1981 to the Indians.
I jumped at the opportunity and got a place inthe last group to visit Kailash in late autumn ofthat year.

Ours was a Government-managed exercise
complete with an Under Secretary from the
Ministry of External Affairs accompanying us
on duty. We signed along the dotted line, paid
up enough money to go on four such trips,
and we were off in a luxury bus. The physicaleffort fortunately was still mine.

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To make it tougher I carried a rucksack of mypersonal stuff weighing 30 kg. It had a heavy
sleeping bag, a light sleeping bag, a three mantent with two awnings, two jackets, twochanges of clothing, sixty film rolls, threecameras and lenses. My 25 kg of freeallowance was used up entirely by food.
We had gun-toting soldiers and wireless sets
dogging our footsteps in India. We had
doctors, who were constantly declaring manyof the pilgrims unfit for altitude and yet all ofthem made it. We had horrible unvarying
badly cooked food provided by the Kumaon
Vikas Mandal, but this was compensated forby the cheap mutton-on-hoof (Rs 80 per
sheep) that villagers cooked for us in the
Indian villages. Juicy red apples were a rupee
a kilo. Years ago, numerous humble souls
used to undertake this yatra without fuss.
Tawaghat, the road-head, is 257 km from
Tanakpur, the rail-head.
The forest road to Tanakpur from Haldwani
goes through the most dense and picturesquebroad leafed sal-forested foothills that I haveseen in north India. To the south of the roadare agricultural fields in the plains separated
from the former by a double line of mostly sal,
neem and jungle jalebi trees. From the left of
the road immediately rise closely packed saltrees.
About ten kilometers before Tanakpur starts
the ancient, magnificent and majestic Sharda
forest. The sal trees here have an averagegirth of 30 ft. Driving through this forest overa very rough road on a motorcycle, in 1971, I
first startled a herd of barking deer and
immediately afterwards was myself startled tofind a herd of elephants crossing the road lessthan 20 m ahead.
Soon after Tanakpur the road rises steeply
through many twists to 5100 ft to Sukhidang
from where forests, parts of Nepal and theplains lie spread at your feet. Thence another
50 km to Champawat and 12 more to

Lohaghat, where you have very gentle rollingcountry dotted with clumps of fir and pine
woods. The entire vista is dominated byPancha Chuli and the Api-Nampa peaks. After
another climb of 15 km to Abbot’s Mount(6892 ft) another remarkable view point, theroad falls to Ghat (2000 ft) crosses the Sharda
river, and after another rise of 3200 ft brings
you to Pithoragarh. This large village town isin a vast pleasing green bowl dominated byPancha Chuli's needle-sharp main peak 22,652
ft. Closer to the town hover the ruins of an old
Gurkha fort. From the road, before and after
Pithoragarh, can be seen fleeting glimpses ofpeaks from Trisul, Nanda Devi and Pancha
Chuli to Saipal in Nepal. There are many pinetrees here.
A gradual descent to Joljibi where the Gorimeets the Kali and then, trapped in a narrowgorge comes Dharchula (3300 ft). Nepal isacross the bridge here. Across the Indian
Dharchula is the Nepalese Dharchula and themost prominent place, surrounded byteeming bazars, is the ancient high walled jailstill intact and in use! The road, along theright bank of the Kali, ends at Tawaghat (3327ft). From here we walk.
Tawaghat is at the meeting of the foamingwaters of Kali and the Darma. The distancesfrom Tawaghat above the Kali are :Sirkha - 17 km
Jipti - 34 km
Malpa - 42 km
Bundi - 51 km
Garbyang - 60 km
Gunji - 68 km - from here a track leads along
the Kuti Yangti via Kuti and
Joling-kong villages on way to Lampiya dhura&Mangshan passes (38 km)
Kalapani - 76 km
Sangcham - 86 km
Lipu Lekh - 92.5 km
From Joljibi till Kalapani, Nepal is always
across the river Kali, oftentimes a half-hearted
stone's throw away. For a more adventurous

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trek one can take a shorter but more risky
track from Tawaghat along the Kali river to
Jipti. The distance is 22 km instead of the 34
km along the present route.
The distances from Tawaghat up the Darma
valley to Lowe Dhura (108 km away) on theborder are:
Chirkila- 6 kms
Nyu- 16 kms
Bogling- 25 kms
Sela- 33 kms
Nagling- 38 kms
Baling- 43 kms
Dugti- 49 kms
Gow- 52 kms
Rama- 59 kms
Dedang- 63 kms
Dawe- 80 kms
and on to Lowe Dhura (18,510 ft)
From Tawaghat (3327 ft) the way seems toclimb straight up to heaven. It is up and up all
the steep way to Thanedhar (6370 ft) in aseries of zigzagging pakhdandis crowded withflocks of goats and sheep returning fromhigher pastures. This face being on thewindward side is bereft of trees. After
Thanedhar comes the first Bhotia village ofPangu, which has the biggest oak trees I haveseen in Kumaon and Garhwal. A gradualdescent to a stream spreading over a wide
field and thence a steep rise through a dense
jungle of small Kumaoni oak to Sosha (8052 ft)
which is just after an ancient Bhotia shrine.
There is a yet another climb to Tithila pass
(9100 ft) and then down through pretty hillcountry to Sridang (8118 ft), Sirkha (7920 ft),
Simri (7810 ft) villages. From here you have an
excellent view of Api-Nampa peaks. Except fora day's march between Binda Koti (7800 ft)
and Lamari (7800 ft) these stirring peaks arealways visible along the track. In early October
the weather is usually clear to appreciatethese stunning snow views to our hearts’content.
Beyond Simri the path turns into a lush anddense forest of oak, maple and fir trees. Nearsome old ruins, is a beautiful waterfall. You
climb higher, till near the Jungleghati (8800 ft)
at a picturesque tea shop you pause for rest.
Resuming your walk over a cobble-stone pathto Rungling Top (9863 ft) then throughanother dense fir forest, with beard like ages
old fungii and parasitical growth hanging fromthe fir trees, to Simkhola (8100 ft) by the Simkhola stream. Here you enter a very barren
stretch. There is a gentle ascent to Gala (8600ft). Here start the gorges and a somewhat
precarious path. It becomes worse as you goalong. There is no water beyond this point.
From here look back and you will be stunnedby the Kali's gorge - 3000 ft of barren hillsideplummeting sharply down to the Kali. Above
the left bank is Nepal with forests and a hugewaterfall. Near Jipti (8200 ft) is Binda Koti resthouse (7800 ft) where you halt for the second
day's rest.

One precipitous stretch of several in India
Now starts the most trying passage of themarch. There is always a 500-1500 ft drop justa misplaced foot away. At one place there are

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644 steps (the sign there wrongly says 764
steps) like that in a staircase but much more
steeply arranged. At places there is the
comfort of a protecting wall. On the stretch
there is only one resting stop under a rockoverhang called Khan ka Dera. This entire
stretch was known as Kirpani (without water)
but there is a trickle at this spot. There areother difficult stretches, like the one known as
Chatta falls, where to cross a short slide, we
had to ascend 800 ft and descend 1100 ft. At
Nejang gad there is an impressively roaring
500 megawatt size cataract, the spray ofwhich has a rainbow as long as the sun is out.
Do not miss, which you are bound to if thewaterfall holds your attention, the striking
rock peak known as Ladjekut, above it. A
climb again to 8200 ft and a descent under awaterfall to Malpa (6800 ft). The next stage isa dream walk. There is another waterfall Takti - under which we pass. It is so high thatyou only get the spray, but do not open yourumbrella for it might be blown away. Then
comes a hamlet of three houses called Lamari(7800 ft) which is so close to Nepal that snow
avalanche spray from that country settles
over it in winter. Another ascent and after
crossing the Budhi river you arrive at Budhi(9400 ft) from where is a fine view of two
peaks (18,910 ft and 19,980 ft) of the Byas
Rikh Himal. Thus ends the fourth day’s march.
Budhi is a picturesque village, and its
residents also own land in Nepal across a
shaky bridge. There is a steep climb overclayish soil to Chai-Lek (11,900 ft), and insteadof a decline on the other side, it has a wide,
wide alp. There are numerous langurs here,
and some of them are bold enough to posefor close-ups, but be careful, as some might
not take kindly to your aiming a camera atthem. At this spot, while taking pictures, I
heard a rhythmic ting ting ting. Round a bendcame a figure from the 19th C. A dak runnercarrying a sack of letters and parcels. He had abell-crowned spear which he would hit the
ground at every second step. That was towarn dangerous animals away that a humanbeing was coming closer.

From here the Nampa (22,162 ft) is close athand, across the river's divide, and to thenorth is the village of Garbyang (10,300 ft)
and nearby to the east is the Tinker river andTinker peak in Nepal. Garbyang, the last
inhabited village on this path, is at the centre
of a vast panorama of cliffs, gendarmes,
needles, slashed hill sides, snow, ice, forests
and rivers. There are a few blue pines here.
The generally verdant fields of Garbyang are
an unexpected eye-opener. Yet, as this village
is sinking, the government instead ofencouraging the inhabitants to settle nearby,
is giving them land at faraway Haldwani in the
Terai- a brainless scheme according to theresidents! This village has a number of
traders, engineers, and civil servants serving
all over the country. With many houses
abandoned, some leaning drunkenly, andsome others shuttered, Garbyang is a ghost
town. Across the river is the Nepali village
and temple of Changru presiding over thesangam of Tinker and Kali rivers. This Nepali
village has closer links with India than with therest of Nepal. Charles J. Sherring, D.C. Almora
in 1905, visited a cave 1500 ft above thevillage where he found it filled with the bodies
of men, women and children. Some wereremarkably well preserved.

Waterfall, the Kali river and a village

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Now begins one of the most enticing stretches
in Kumaon Himalaya. For a while you skirt
steep gorges on a precipitous track, which in
the olden days used to be shunned in favourof a track in opposite Nepal. Then just 6 km
from Gunji the valley opens up, dominated in
the north by Sangthang (21,262 ft) and in thesouth by the Nampa massif. Gunji (11,000 ft)
is where the Kuti Yangti meets the Kali, andalong the former is the route to Lampiya
Dhura pass (18,150 ft). Here too, across theKali, is a chor rasta along which people
continue to tend their field and herds in
Nepal. We are now in the Byas valley. An
extremely beautiful valley with rugged
mountains at the base of which is a pretty
forest which dwindles as you go ahead. It is
more so in October, when the trees andbushes before donning their winter cloak go
through an extremely colourful change ofapparel. Red, yellow, mauve and brown. Gunji
is the last village, but not inhabited. Ahead are
merely grazing grounds. Then the valley
narrows down to a gorge. In this area are amyriad attractive rock-faces and ice climbs. In
fact a very challenging traverse could be of
the ridge around 19,000 ft to 20,000 ft from
Gunji to Shimkhola, by-passing Garbyang andBudhi. It will take about 3 weeks I expect.
Kalapani. What a fitting name for a desolate
post!
It is really the back of beyond. Here we haveour frontier warders in full strength. Many
tree stumps testify to their need for fire
wood. There is a fascinating triangular-shapedvertical, sheer granite face of more than
19,000 ft dominating Kalapani's narrowconfines. Kalapani still has the ruins of adharamshala and of a market, which may yet
be used again. Over Kalapani tower a coupleof striking peaks of Nepal. Nearby merge
three streams, from Lipu Lekh comes the Kali,
one from the north of the ridge behind Kuti
village, and another from the abovementioned peaks of Nepal. Just before
Kalapani there is a small spring called Kali,where a new temple has been built replacing

an ancient one. The river gets its name fromthis spring, though this is not the main source,which is below Lipu Lekh. At Kalapani you
have crossed the great Himalayan crest, andwithout crossing a pass entered the Zanskar
range. This phenomenon I have noticed onlyat three other places. The Akpa-Spilu stretch
in Kinnaur, where also you cross the Himalaya
along the Sutlej's gorge, at Phuti Run (splitrock) in Lahul and near Malari-Geldhung in
Garhwal.
Now an arid area begins. There are no trees,
only stunted bushes. The prospect is desolate
but delightful. Fantastic patterns of rock,scree and shade, bordered by snow and ice on
serrated ridges bristling with pointed peaks.
We are in a wide barren valley where man
looks small. Preparing for Tibet's massive
spaces. Soon we have even left the juniper
bushes behind.
Next camp, our 7th, is at Sangchum (14,620
ft). While coming here we passed ruins ofshelters, sheep pens, stables, dharamshalasand cairns for pilgrims and traders at Krim
Kang, Nag Dang, Dong Gang, Nabi Dang andChil where there's water. Sangchum is a wide
oval- shaped ground near the fledgling Kalistream before it gets its first tributary from
Nepal a little below Chil. The view is rough,bleak, stark and attractive. There is scree allover but the track ahead is good provided it is
not covered with snow and we had snow. At
Sangchum I had my first uncomfortable nighton account of lack of acclimatization. I think
this problem hits one here suddenly only after
Kalapani (11,900 ft) as you are deprived all at
once of trees.

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Kargil in Ladakh, ends.

Peak to the south of Lipu Lekh
Next day's march to Lipu Lekh pass, 16,750 ft
and not - definitely not -17,800 ft as is given insome maps, was done in 1 hr 45 minutes.
There is a point to the left of the pass from
where can be seen Kailash and Manasarovar. I
didn't get very far on account of an
unexpectedly chilly wind for which I was
unprepared as I had left my jacket in myrucksack on the pass. Saw the incredible bulkof Gurla Mandhata (25,350 ft) which the
Tibetans call Memo-Nami meaning the 'Name
for God'. Tibetan names I found more apt forgiving a distinct idea of the feature so named.
Gurla's white summit ridge has a broad baseof yellow and brown, and rises straight above
the plain. It has no peer in these parts.
Lipu Lekh pass has a rocky outcrop in its
middle. This pass is near the tri-junction ofIndia, Nepal and China. Somewhere in thisknot the Zanskar range, starting from near

By the time the Chinese came to the pass tocollect us, the porters and pilgrims were
huddled next to the luggage, each other androcks, trying to shelter from the raging windwhich was hurling spindrifts into our faces.
The sky was clear and the sun shone brightly
on our discomfort. It could have been aclimber's challenge. Here were the uninitiatedmuttering to their individual deities for relief. I
had found a very comfortable niche about 500
ft above the pass from which I could view
Gurla and the scene of misery below at thepass. As soon as the Tibetans were greeted by
our Jawans with hot tea I shouldered my packand rushed down, down, down. Didn't stop till
I had cleared the last tongue of snow. We
were in a U-shaped valley. Already, theferocious jagged ridges were petering out,
giving place to smooth rounded sides. You
could see this age-old process taking place infront of you. Half the ridge was sharp toothed
and the rest gentle. To the south, east andwest were perpetual snow-covered ridges,
but in the centre of this valley floor, though
there was a river bed, there was no water. I
was very thirsty now. Where was the water?
Water was 6 km down near Palla. It camegushing out of the bed like a spring. But thiswas no spring. It was just the entire riveremerging from its subterranean passage. Thisis - I believe - the done thing for rivers in
Tibet. The Sutlej does it1. The Dung Lung riveron the west of Kailash does it. Some streams
off Gurla's flanks do it. There are many more
like that. They just go underground andemerge later.
(to be continued in The Himalayan News 10)-------------------------------------------------------[1]See 'Attempt to climb Gurla Mandhata’ by
T. G. Longstaff in "Western Tibet and British
Borderlands', p. 213.

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MIRACULOUS ESCAPE ON KOTESHWAR
AVM (Retd) Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya

Representative sketch of the avalanche on Koteshwar, 1977 (above). Team was on the trail indicatedby upward arrows beyond the rocky crop all the way up to the 1st fracture line of the ridge.
It may be relevant to put forth some basic
concepts of avalanche for the readers before I
delve into the narrative of a lucky escape fromthe deadly clutches of one.
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow or ice
down a mountain slope. It can be set-off
spontaneously by increased precipitation,
weakening of snowpack or by humans andearthquakes. Large avalanches can move ice
mass, rocks, trees and even entire sections offorest areas. Avalanche occurs in two generalforms. Loose snow avalanche comprise loose
snow while slab avalanches consist of tightly
packed snow. Slab avalanches are triggered bycollapse of an underlying weak snow layer or
may be due to layers in vice versa state. Afterbeing set off, avalanches accelerate rapidly
and grow in mass and volume as they collect
more snow. If an avalanche moves fastenough, snow mixes with air forming
devastating powder snow avalanches.
Slab avalanches form frequently from snow,
which are either deposited or re-deposited bysnowfall or by wind-drifted snow on a ridge oron a slope. They have the characteristic
appearance of a block (slab) of snow cut out
from its surroundings by fractures. Elementsof slab avalanches include a crown fracture at
the top of the start zone, flank fractures on
the sides of the start zone and a fracture at
the bottom. The crown and flank fracturesdevelop vertically in the snow delineating thesnow that moves with the avalanche
sweeping the existing snow on the slope.
Slabs can vary in thickness from a few
centimeters to two - three meters. In the
narrative presented below, I estimated thesnow re-deposition of approximately 45 cm
due to incessant snowfall. Slab avalanches

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account for most of the avalanche-related
fatalities in the mountains. Recently, between
4–6 February 2022, 100 avalanches swept
down in Tyrol region of the Austrian and Swiss
Alps. Nine lives were lost including skiers andmountain guides in Austria and Switzerland
reported two deaths. Austria declared theseavalanches as unprecedented in their history(https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe60287621).
I am lucky to have survived an avalanche andnarrate the personal experience after nearly
44 years.
In 1975, I went on deputation from Indian Air
Force to Nehru Institute of Mountaineering(NIM), Uttarkashi as Vice Principal. I was incharge of the training curriculum for thecourses offered at NIM. The Institute’s policy
encouraged attempts to scale mountain peaks
above 6000 meter during advanced
mountaineering course to offer trainees arigorous exposure to mountain climbing in the
Himalaya.
In the summer of 1977, I focused on the
Gangotri glacier region and selected
Koteshwar peak (6000 meter+),
approximately 1.5 km east of Sudarsan Parvat,& north of Raktavarn glacier for our men’s
advanced mountaineering course. Although
above 6000 m, Koteshwar peak is nottechnically challenging. From base camp at
Gaumukh, we went up the Raktavarn glacierand established summit camp beyond thegully and close to the CWM at 5500 m. The
weather deteriorated and it snowed
incessantly for next three days confining us
inside our tents. Once the weather cleared,
the instructors as well as the trainees, tired ofconfinement in their small tents, were excited
and wanted to make an attempt on thesummit. However, I was apprehensive about
going up the slope leading to the ridge, as
snow condition did not appear suitable forclimbing since it was fresh and soft after theheavy snowfall. I was reluctant to go ahead &tried to convince the team about the unstablecondition of the mountain slope along with its
long ridge and the inherent danger of packed
snow crumbling. However, seeing the brightand perfect weather, the instructors
requested me to let the trainees try andattempt the summit. Ultimately, I relented
but with a sense of reservation. I asked thetrainees to remove their ropes, and follow thebulging slope at the end of the ridge on ourright in a single file maintaining adequate
distance in between.
Instructor Topkey, the Tiger Badge holder,
was climbing with me and a little later, hecomplained that his toes were cold and numb.
Topkey removed his boots and I rubbed his
toeless cold feet until they were slightly
warm. Topkey told me that he lost his ten
toes during the Everest expedition in 1962
when he was only 17 years old and he faced
the problem of cold feet in extreme cold
condition. I advised him to return to the camp
but he refused and wanted to go up with me. I
gave him a pair of woolen stockings. Topkey
donned his boots wearing the spare pair ofstockings and we started climbing again.
Snow was soft and knee deep. When we wereabout to reach the top of the ridge, there wasa cracking sound, and I saw two or three
instructors flung in the air, somersaulting, andcrashing down on the slope. About 100 ft ofthe long ridge on the right end broke awaytriggering an avalanche. As the slab cracked
on the ridge, the central and the extreme left
portion of the ridge too gave away and theavalanche swept the whole ridge. It was a
typical surface slab avalanche triggered by ourclimbing movement. The moment I felt thesliding movement of the snow under my feet,
I initiated the motion of backstroke, and theavalanche swept me down. I had read thebook titled Avalanche Enigma by Schlesinger,
where he suggested backstroke on soft snow
avalanche, which might help a person breathe
when caught in an avalanche. I thought ofapplying Schlesinger’s theory to real life
emergency. The backstroke motion did help
me breathe for few seconds when suddenly, a10The Himalayan NewsThe Himalayan

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chunk of solid ice hit the back of my neck. I
fell tumbling forward with my face down, andlegs up the slope and kept sliding down buried
under the mass of snow. The avalanche ofsnow and ice was flowing fast over my body,
dragging me along, and I could feel theincreasing weight of snow and ice above me. I
thought that I was going to be buried alive
under the heavy pressure of snow crushing
my body. The avalanche slide stopped after aminute or so and I was suffocating undersnow. Desperately, I tried to move my limbs
and only my right hand, close to my shoulder,
moved a bit. I tried my best to scrape snow
from near my mouth to get some breathing
space in front of my nose, and continued
probing with my fingers to create spacearound my nose and mouth. Suddenly by
God’s providence, I felt cold air, which filled
my lungs and I had a new lease of life.
Fortunately, there was no hard ice over myhead or face, which made my scooping ofsnow possible. With the sling of the ice axe
still wrapped on my wrist, I could slowly clear
little more snow and ice from above my body.
I tried in vain shouting for help as my energy
was sapping. Knocking at the door of death, I
was about to give up, thinking and praying for
my family and the little child, when what
seemed like an eternity, someone came up
looking for me. Seeing my crumpled bamboo
hat nearby, instructors Harbans Singh andNirmal Singh frantically dug snow and ice fromabove my body and pulled me out of my snow
burial.

Lt. Yashpal being rescued by team members
I stood dazed for few moments on the debris.
Once I gained a footing, my first concern was

the safety of trainees and instructors. Looking
around, my wandering eyes failed to locate
most of the team members who remained
under the debris of snow and ice. Crampons,
ice axes, sunglasses, caps, etc., were scatteredon the debris. With the help of the senior
instructor and few other instructors wholuckily wriggled out, I started extricating theburied members. Scrambling and shovelingthrough the snow, we started rescuing themembers one by one. Every minute counted
and each rescued member participated in the
search of others without wasting any time. At
over 19000 ft, it was a herculean effort.
Physically and mentally numb after theexperience of being buried under theavalanche debris, the only thought of saving
the lives still buried under snow was ofparamount importance at that moment. In
less than half an hour, we were able toretrieve all the team members. By God’s
grace, all 29 of us survived mostly with minor
injuries. Students were physically andmentally shattered, traumatized without
knowing what hit them.
Fortunately, instructors were remarkably alertin pulling out the trainees buried under massof snow and ice. They showed their
exceptional professional commitment insaving the lives of these inexperienced
trainees, what otherwise would have been
the worst avalanche disaster in the history ofmountaineering training and a permanentscar on NIM and my personal life.
The avalanche had swept us down almost 200
m from its origin at the ridge, through its
transition on the slope and deposited its
debris near the mouth of the gully. The
nursing assistant gave first aid to all the
injured and we found one Lt. Yashpal
struggling to breath with a gurgling sound. His
tongue was retracting inside his throat and hevirtually swallowed his own tongue and wason the verge of suffocation. I rushed to him
and pulling his tongue out, held it stretched,
allowing him to breath. Ultimately, we laid
him on his belly in prone position on a mess

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tent bag and kept his head on one side where
his tongue was somewhat steady. Assessing
the seriousness of Lt. Yashpal’s condition, I
dispatched instructor Nirmal Singh, theNational ski champion, to rush to Gangotriwith a request for helicopter rescue of thearmy officer.
Then we embarked upon the rescue effort.
First, we brought him down sliding on thesnow slope in the same prone position on themess tent bag. Then, taking turns, we carriedhim on an improvised stretcher for a five
hours arduous walk over the rough moraineof Raktavan glacier to ultimately reach
Gaumukh by late evening. We kept vigil on
him through the night. In the absence of theinstitute’s doctor who was away with thebasic course, I spent the whole night with
Yashpal to ensure that he did not swallow his
tongue in his sleep. I had to pull his tongue
out whenever he made groaning sound whiledozing off. Nirmal returned from Gangotri justbefore dawn with a message that thehelicopter would arrive in the morning. The
chopper arrived on time and after spendingan anxiously sleepless night, we placed Lt.
Yashpal inside the chopper to take him to
Bareilly Military Hospital for treatment.
Hindustan Times newspaper published theavalanche narrative of the NIM Advanced
Mountaineering Course the next day.

Airlift at Gaumukh
Morning weather was fine and the students
were just about recovering from thetraumatic experience of the previous day.
They were basking in the sun drying up
clothes and boots. Farooque, a trainee from

Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department,
dipped his feet in the river and apparently
enjoyed the sun. There was a small snow slide
on a rock gully across the river, which rolled
down and stopped shortly afterwards. I
noticed Farooque bleeding through his nose
looking at that small avalanche. I checkedwith nursing assistant if he had any problem
on the previous day and he confirmed that
Farooque was bleeding through his nose
when we rescued him from the avalanche
debris. I advised Farooque that he should
avoid looking up the mountain faces sincesuch small avalanches keep rolling down
throughout the day and he should preferably
spend the rest of the day inside his tent. His
bleeding stopped after first aid.
Before our return from Gaumukh, as I was
mentally very disturbed, I decided to meet
Mata Krishna Bharati who had relocatedherself at the base of Manda Parvat opposite
Chirbas and across the river. I went down thesteep slope near Chirbas and crossed theturbulent Bhagirathi River balancing on myfour limbs on a narrow log of a tree trunk
bridging the two banks. Mataji kept watching
my efforts in crossing the river. I stood on my
two feet only after reaching the opposite
bank. Mataji welcomed me with a big smile onher face. I had met her for the first time at
Gangotri where she lived in a small hut on ahump on the east bank of the river close to
Gauri Kund. She was from Bengal and could
speak fluent Bengali, Hindi, English, andFrench. She was in her late 30s or early 40s
and refused to talk about her past life. She
stayed in an ashram in Rishikesh before
moving to Gangotri. She was in her whitedhoti and tonsured head with big bright eyes
like Swami Vivekananda. She guided me toher small hut, which was barely 20–30 ft fromthe riverbank. She unrolled a mat and asked
me to sit. I took out dry fruits, juice, cans ofcondensed milk and some dry rations andcondiments from my knapsack and handed
over to her. She accepted these items without
hesitation and acknowledged that NIM always
helped her ever since she moved to Gangotri

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and NIM porters had laid the log bridge forher to cross the river.
I narrated our miraculous escape from thedisastrous avalanche to her, and could notcontrol my emotion and started sobbing.
Mataji comforted me by keeping her hand on
my head and said that I was a blessed person
and God would always help me in crisis. She
presented me a small book on Swami
Vivekananda’s views on Karma Yoga and abrass oil-lamp stand. On the inner cover of thebook, she wrote her blessings and few nicewords about me. She fed me rice andvegetables like a caring mother. After themeal, I took leave and requested her to visit
us at NIM whenever she passed throughUttarkasi. She nodded in affirmative andwaited near the log bridge until I crossed over
the river safely. The visit to Mataji had acalming effect on me and I felt a sense ofrelief from my terrible anxiety due to theavalanche. I returned to Gaumukh camp in
the evening. Mata Krishna Bharati visited us at
NIM few months later and obliged by sharinga meal with us. Mata Krishna Bharati blessed
my wife and our two-year old son before
leaving. I never met her again. However, I
remembered her kind thoughts, the brass
lamp stand, and Swami Vivekananda’s bookon Karma Yoga with which she blessed me.
After the graduation ceremony of the course,
instructors and trainees admitted that theyshould have followed my advice and avoided
an attempt on the mountain immediately
after the heavy snowfall. I told them that it
was a providential escape for us and weshould thank God and our stars for being
alive. I felt that removing the ropes before theascent helped us from getting entangled andsustaining serious crampon injuries during theavalanche.

to collect his baggage. He walked into thelibrary when the trainees of girls’ course werewatching a film on Everest and he joined us at
the film show. The film had a shot of anavalanche and suddenly we heard a groaningsound and Lt. Yashpal was choking again withhis tongue slipping into his throat at the sightof the avalanche in the film! Fortunately,
Capt. Shabhlok, the NIM doctor was on the
spot and treated him in the medical room of
the hostel. After stabilizing Lt. Yashpal, Capt.
Shabhlok advised him not to venture on themountain again without doctor’s advice.
Years later, I narrated this story to my son, Dr.
Arnab Bhattacharya, who is a Senior
Psychiatrist in TATA Motors Hospital.
According to him, both these cases of Lt.
Yashpal and Farooque are flash backphenomenon in Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and required psychologicaltherapy for recovery.
We learned a lot from the experience ofsurviving the avalanche. It reinstated the needto respect nature and understand theobjective hazards it poses. All nature lovers
and adventurers need to learn the science ofsuch hazards and take necessary measures
without being over ambitious. Despite thephysical wounds and psychological trauma, animmense sense of gratitude prevails among
the survivors of this avalanche for being
granted a second chance in life.

The girls’ course followed the advanced
course and we were busy with training
schedule again. Meanwhile, Lt. Yashpal, whosustained serious injuries from the avalanche,came back to NIM from Bareilly Military
Hospital after a month, apparently recovered

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THE PRELUDE
Photos: Somenath Sen Text: Sesha Mukherjee
While exploring the grasslands of Assam andscreening the landscape for a fleeting glimpse of atiger amidst the tall elephant grass, we discovered a
new passion in life.
We could not initially fathom what the driver cum
guide was searching for in the treetops with hisbinoculars while certainly there are very rare
chances of a tiger climbing a tree. While we watchedin amazement, he caught a glimpse of the Greyheaded Fish Eagle and passed on his binoculars tome with a child-like happy smile on his face. With
the binoculars I could barely fathom a grey outline of
the eagle’s head. As I put down the binoculars, hepulled out a book and pointed out the picture of theEagle in the book. Seeing the picture on a printed
page opened a whole new dimension to the story.
Now I was the one who pulled the binoculars andwanted to match the features of the bird which was
no longer a ‘grey head’ only and which certainly had its own points of interest. That was
only the prelude. The whole safari was an eye-opener to a different world that was hitherto
unknown.
Bablu Saikia of Kaziranga National Park had not only introduced us to the world ofOrnithology but also introduced us to the bible of this world- The Book of Indian Birds by
Salim Ali. We later came to know that chance has brought us in contact with a person who
was really learned in this field. Saikia has in fact cleared some examinations/quizzes throughwhich he has won his set of binoculars as well.

Asian Barred Owlet
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Once smitten, we would only start as avid
followers of this new found passion. We havenever had the chance to meet Saikia again,
but what he had given us in the three hours
safari of Kaziranga is something that we willcherish for the rest of our lives.
What followed was on ongoing journey into
the world of avifauna and its charismaticcharacters. The purchase of books and guides
and gradually enlarging our scope from theHimalayan avifauna to water and desert birds
as well.
Here’s a walkthrough of some of theHimalayan birds that we managed to capture
on our various trips thereafter to the
Himalayan foothills:

Great Hornbill

Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler

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Chestnut-crowned Laughing thrush

Chesnut tailed Minla

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Red-faced Liocichla

Puff throated Babbler

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Common Rosefinch

Spot bellied Eagle-Owl

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Wallcreeper

Kalij Pheasant

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Mountain Imperial Pigeon

Streaked Spiderhunter
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Rufous Necked Hornbill

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LIFE IN THE HIGH HIMALAYA
Bhanu Banerjee(Ref. : WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA, YEAR BOOK- 1962.
By : LAWRENCE SWAN, SAN FRANSISCO COLLEGE.)
The Himalaya holds a great fascination forbiologists as well as for mountaineers. New
associations of plants and animals can befound in every valley and atop each mountain.
The biological programme of our expedition ,however, had to limit itself to four categories :1) investigation of high altitude ecology, thestudy of the interrelation of living things andtheir environments; 2) studies on the
distribution of animals ( zoo-geography); 3)
general observations; 4) investigations into
the biological status of the Yeti.
The Himalaya harbour living things at thehighest altitudes on earth . Dry conditions andthe intensity of the sun along Nepal’s elevatedTibetan frontier permit snowless zones toextend far above 20,000 ft. A few grasses,
sedges, cushion-like sandwarts, fluffy
Saussureas and other hardy plants cling to therocky, desolate slopes above 17,000 ft. The
decaying roots of such plants provide food forspringtails; and these simple insects in turnare food for small spiders. Even at altitudes
above plant life the springtails manage tosubsist on wind-blown organic debris such aspollen.
These simple food chains were repeated by anumber of other plants, insects andARACHNIDS (spider and mites) high on therocks beside RIPIMU glacier. The glacier fleas
were perhaps the most remarkable creatures
there. They lived on the incredibly hostilebarren SCREE or rocky rubble that covered theglacier ice. These insects, dark colored
relatives of Silverfish, had nothing else to liveon but wind-blown debris . There were noother sign of any living thing.

But at lower levels, between 16,000 to
18,000 ft a wide variety of birds and mammals
thrived. Many mammals such as mice , foxes,
wolves and snow Leopards were nocturnal.
During the day , however, unusually tame,small grey PIKAS, or rock rabbits scampered
about.
Vultures, Lammergeyers, Choughs and ravens– all competent, winged scavengers –patrolled the skies. The crow-like Choughs are
the standard camp robbers on Himalayan
expeditions. But in the Rolwaling valley a pairof Tibetan ravens took over the garbage
watch.
In the Himalaya, the distribution ofamphibians and reptiles shows zoogeographic
patterns clearly. Eighteen different species
were collected , a most important
contribution to Nepali HERPETOLOGY, thestudy of reptiles and amphibians. Large
number of insects , especially butterflies weregathered from previously untapped areas of
Nepal.
Among our general observations were twoitems of biological interest : leeches andagriculture. The notorious , bloodsucking,terrestrial leeches of the wet Himalaya
presented something of an enigma. They
appear to have no parasites or predators.
Thus their population is enormous.
Intensive agriculture is rapidly altering theface of Nepal. Nepal’s population surge exerts
an undeniable demand to cultivate more
fields and destroy more forests. And, in lightof this irreversible demand for land, the workof our expedition has taken on even greater
importance.

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BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS
Bill Aitkin, 9/5/21: Thanks for the brave issue in these difficult times. The night sky photographs aresuperb. From Kausani to Mussoorie the hills are reeling under viral fever caused by a weird weather
pattern of grilling morning sun followed by demented hailstorms every evening. Prior to thecriminally irresponsible folly of the Kumbh Mela Uttarakhand was comparatively free of Covid but
now the bug is spreading exponentially. Stay safe. Bill
Shirish Yande,9/5/21 : Extremely exciting Newsletter. I need to read all these books.Thanks forsharing.
Tom Nakamura, 9/5/21: I wish to publish The Himalayan News 8-Final on our forthcoming Asian
Alpine E-News. If you have any objection, kindly advise thereof by return email. Thanks in advance.
All good wishes,
Apurba Bhattacharyya, 11/5/21: Another excellent Newsletter by the TH. The obituary on late
Bhanu Banerjee was very well written by KumKumdi. While Jim Wilson was good as ever. After Dusk
by Sujoy was simply breathtaking & possibly beyond the reach of COVID-19.
Keep it up & refresh us this way during the Pandemic. My respect & compliment.
Dhrubabrata Chakraborty, 12/5/21: Thank you very much for sharing the newsletter with me. I
enjoyed reading the article on ascent to Tawache Peak. Spectacular night photographs of theHimalayan landscapes by Mr.Sujoy Das fill the heart with joy. Information about new books on the
Himalayas is praiseworthy. Once again thank you.
Peter Hillary, 12/5/21 : Thanks for the link to the Himalayan News. I am so touched by the piece
about Bhanu. What a special man and one who played a fine role in my family's history. It was
especially moving for me to be reunited with Bhanu and Chandrima at the centenary event in
Kolkata. Lovely to see his warmth and welcome again. Nothing is more important than the way we
all treat each other - it is what makes for a better world - and Bhanu did that. He is part of our Hillaryfamily story. Priydarshi, I look forward to seeing you before too long. I hope the pandemic thatafflicts us all moves away from Bengal soon. Our best wishes.

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