NEC Ecological & Mountaineering Expedition
to
Mt. Menthosa


It was the maiden expedition organized by NEC in the mighty Himalayas to Mt. Menthosa (6444 Mts.) which had two major objectives; to scale the mountain and to survey the impact of mountaineering expeditions over the years on the local flora and fauna. The team comprised of Mr. T.S Siddalinga Swamy, Dr. B.K. Chakrapani, Mr. N. Srinivasan, Mr. O.C. Naveein and Mr. A.S. Ravindra, and led by Mr. K.V. Mohan (leader) and Mrs. Usha Ramaiah (deputy leader). The Expedition received overwhelming support from the fellow mountaineers and clubs in Bangalore, relatives and friends.

The journey started on 10 July 1994 from Bangalore and on 13th, reached Manali. Here, Mr. Vijay Kumar Ghale and Mr. Moti Jung Ghale joined the team as High Altitude Porters (HAPs). Landslides prolonged the team's stay at Manali till the 16th evening where after the vehicles were allowed to move. This time was usefully spent by the members in activities like bird watching, study of waste management at Manali and expedition related local purchases.

In Manali it was found that municipal waste (from the town was segregated into metal, plastic and glass wastes and sent out from the town. It is felt that Manali being a tourist spot, the waste generation would only increase day by day. A waste management plan for Manali would be worth while idea.

The team reached Udaipur on 17th, the last town on the way to Mt. Menthosa by traveling in a hired vehicle. Inside the vehicle the team members and their baggage could not be told apart.  The roads being bumpy and rough the members would have certainly got thrown off many a time but for their abilities to find hand and other holds! The team rested for the day in a Dharmashala. On the 18th by engaging a hired mini-truck, the team reached the last roadbed just 2 kms behind 'Karpat' village. The fine weather and the beauty of Miyar valley was breathtaking, but it took  almost an hour to reach the last roadbed since the quality of the road was poor, and the team had to resort to a little repair work in order to make the road motorable.

Negotiations were made with a local at Udaipur to make arrangements for porters and mules from the Karpat village. By the time the team reached Karpat village and finished lunch the porters and mules had arrived. The team was forced to manage the expedition with less number of porters and mules, since they  did not want to loose a day at Karpat.

The trek began as a pleasant evening walk along the left bank of the Miyar Nala around 4:30 p.m. The team continued trekking for about an hour, avoiding the bridge across the Miyar Nala leading to Karpat village, until they reached the next village, Churpat. After a brief rest here, another one and a half-hour trek continued, till they reached Thingrat village. Here the team spent the night in  a school that had an irrigation canal/stream flowing in front of it.  It was learnt that the earlier camping site at the Urgus village, a little away, had come under irrigation.

The trek, on 19th morning, began around 9:00 a.m. after distributing luggage among 26 porters. Chakrapani was down with fever and stayed back in order to recuperate. While Mohan and Vijay,  went ahead, the other team members started a little later. After Thingrat Village, the trek was by the side of a Gompa and crossed the Urgus Nala. The members then climbed a steep slope, and followed a small channel used for irrigation.  The weather had, by now, turned bad and become cloudy. It took an hour before the team came across a small snow patch, a snow bridge and then the glacier moraine. The first sight of Mt. Menthosa through the clouds was a thrilling moment for the members just before they climbed on to the ridge. To the left of the steadily rising ridge was a glacier originating from the higher reaches and to the right was a green valley with flowers. 

After a steady climb for three hours and then a descent, the team members reached Base Camp (BC) by noon. Mohan, Vijay and Moti had pitched the tents and were preparing tea from the fresh stream water flowing nearby which was the source of water supply. Luckily it started drizzling only after the kitchen and the mess tent were erected.

On 20th the team rested for the day and planned their movements for the ascent. They segregated the mountaineering gear, tried on our climbing boots, fixed crampons to them and prepared the load for Camp I (C-I). Usha volunteered to be the Base Camp manager. After performing pooja at the small temple (built by Ravi and Vijay) Mohan, Vijay, Ravi, Moti, Srini and Swamy left the BC to recce and ferry to C-I. They climbed the same ridge that led us first to a snowfield, less than mid way between the BC and C-I. This snowfield had a large boulder and a rocky patch that eventually became a Dumping Point (DP). Mohan, Vijay and Moti continued the trek on the snowfield while Srini and Swamy dumped their load at the DP, covered it with a bivouac sheet and returned. A further climb showed up two glaciers, one originating between Menthosa East and the main peak; the other towards its right. The trek continued along the second glacier that had knee deep snow and a number of snow- covered crevasses.

A rocky ridge was selected as the site for C-I. It was reached by climbing the glacier and then a steep slope turning to it's left on to another large snowfield. There was a rocky knob and ice wall to the right a few hundred feet above it. It took almost 4 to 5 hours to reach C-I but only an hour and a half to return to the BC. The C-I site was very scenic, beside a beautiful glacial lake surrounded by hard ice covered with snow, overlooking the Pangi valley.


On 22nd Mohan, Vijay, Moti and Naveein left for C-I. While Naveein stayed back at the rocky patch in the steep slope, others continued and dumped the luggage at C-I and together they returned to the BC. In the mean time, Pani accompanied by Dillip Singh, a local porter, joined the team at BC. Pani had stayed back at Thingrat to recuperate from his illness. He informed that but for the initial drizzle and rains, he had a pleasant trek and had made some observations regarding flowering plants and nature in general on his way up. Plans were made for the next day and all required equipment's, ration and other necessary items required for the higher camps were packed.

Next day Mohan, Vijay and Moti occupied C.I, while others did some ferries.  Mohan was asked to proceed further and carry on with the summit plans.

On 24th, Vijay and Moti fixed a rope to the ice wall, while Mohan was busy establishing C.I.   They could fix up to 250 m only and had to return due to bad weather. Naveein and Pani carried more loads to C.I and returned to BC. 

On 25th the occupants of C-I continued their efforts to recce and reach the C-II site. They reached the fixed rope stretch and found a rope fixed to the ice wall probably by a Japanese team; but did not dare to use it,  being unsure of its anchor. They began fixing the rope beyond the previous day's point and reached the top of the ridge. Just across the ridge was a wide crevasse and they made a firm anchor with ice axes. Vijay climbed down the crevasse and then Mohan followed him. After this, they avoided climbing the fixed rope on the other side of the crevasse since Mohan thought that it would be rather time consuming and would not be able to find C-II site. They kept to the left of the crevasse and climbed on the ridge. After this they made a path and roped up, to negotiate a number of crevasses to the right to reach a flat place. Dumping their loads there, they  tried to locate a site for C-II and returned to C-I. By now Naveein, Swamy and Ravi had completed a ferry to C-I.

On 25th, the members at BC discussed regarding occupation of C-I and other objectives. Some of the members left to occupy C-I. Usha managed the BC. Srini and Pani collected snow samples from 'pink snow' patches on the snowfields. In addition, they sampled glacier, plankton, water and soil near the DP and from a pond nearby. They could see movements of the two parties; one proceeding towards C-I and the other three on the ice wall above C-I. It was perhaps the busiest day for all.

The next day was a clear, cloudless and perhaps the best day of the crucial mountain days. The advance party of Mohan, Vijay and Moti left to occupy C-II. Enjoying the weather and scenario of many unidentifiable peaks, they started with the fixed rope climb and reached C-II site. After a break, Vijay and Mohan recced the route ahead. Keeping to the left of a huge crevasse, they reached a snowfield from where a beautiful view of Pangi valley and numerous peaks to the right were visible. In front was the majestic peak of Mt. Menthosa.

27th July.  This was 'The Day'. Sleep was limited. Mohan was tensed. All of them woke up by 4 a.m. and it was very cold. Having had tea, they were highly relieved to notice a very clear morning with negligible clouds seen far away. They left C-II at 5.30 a.m. Worries and tensions being high Mohan had left behind his camera. Vijay had moved ahead, and after informing him, Mohan turned back for the camera and thus chanced upon a rare sight at that height, "a beautiful sunrise". He soon rejoined Vijay and Moti. They then changed the route up the steep slope and decided to move roped up.

The steep snow slope had many crevasses, while negotiating, them they came across a huge crevasse. Moving towards the right of the steep ridge and finding it dangerous without fixed rope, returned, traversed to the left moving on the edge of the crevasse. At the end of this they crossed over carefully onto a steep slope and continued the climb in a single file. Ahead of them was a huge bulge and above it the top of a ridge. While getting over the bulge they probably saw the summit or a high point to the left. At the top there was another crevasse running along the ridge, which they crossed  and reached the top of the ridge. From here the summit could be seen to the left. In front and all around them was a huge panorama of nothing but peaks and more peaks; a fascinating sight. The summit was just 10 minutes away from them now. Mohan  was tired and crawled towards the summit being very careful not to step on the peak. All of them stopped just about 10 feet below the summit, as a mark of respect. The great moment had come at 9.52 a.m. They placed photographs of Gods given by Ravi, offered  chocolates and dry fruits to the almighty and thanked for their success and prayed for safe return. After unfurling the National Flag and the NEC banner high, they took some photographs of the summit and its surroundings. They spent 45 minutes on the summit and after seeing the clouds moving in from far away, and  decided to climb down fast.

They rappelled down at difficult points. The last climber was coming down with belay after tying the released rope onto himself. Six rappels and all of them were below the slope. C-II was reached by noon. They made some tea, packed the equipment - tents, cleaned the area, collected the wastes and left for C-I. It was 3.00 p.m. and as they climbed down the fixed rope.  Members from C-I had moved up to greet them. Ravi, Naveein and then Swamy, greeted with cups of hot tea. They were all happy to be together at the success of NEC's maiden Himalayan mountain venture.

Meanwhile, the weather was getting bad. By evening, Pani also reached C-I from BC. On his way he noticed that the crevasses at the beginning of the first snowfield had widened due to clear weather in the last 2-3 days. The safety rope left anchored across these crevasses had also come off. This was refitted with the marker flags. Pani reached C-I as Ravi guided him for the last 150 - 200 Mts. All were extremely happy that 8 of the team of 10, could assemble at C-I on the summit day. A second or subsequent attempt by others had to be put off due to bad weather and to keep to the expedition schedule.

On the 28th, Vijay and Moti left early in the morning to retrieve fixed rope from the ice wall and other equipment's. Bits and pieces of ropes left by earlier expeditions were also cleaned up. The same day, Ravi and Swamy left for BC with some loads as C-I was beginning to be wound up.

The rest of them wound up C-I on the 29th. They also cleaned the entire campsite, mostly waste material left behind by other previous expedition teams. Some wastes like tin, plastics etc., were packed and carried down. Others were burnt or buried. Pani and Naveein followed a little later collecting more samples on the way. The weather turning bad, it was virtually a race towards the BC. The BC was wound up on the 31st and the team moved down to Thingrat. The Wastes at the BC were also packed up or handled suitably with burning and burial. Packed wastes were carried for disposal at Manali.

The team reached Manali, safely on the 3rd of August and then reached Bangalore on the 10th.

For NEC, a young organization, this maiden venture to Mt. Menthosa was a great success to boost the morale of every climber. Simultaneously, it was also a great experience to the members, who went on to study the Eco-balance of the region which is full of surprises in the areas of flora, fauna and culture of the people of these highlands.

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