TROUBLE & RESCUE IN THE SNOW CLAD HEIGHTS
(Drama in real life)

B.G. Naganath

An adventurer from Bangalore
Call it an experience; call it 'Dare Devilry'
Call it Duty? Call it Sacrifice?
Call it a Nightmare! Or,
Call it by any name or anything -
It was a situation we faced during one of our high adventure expeditions in the Himalayas.

Sitting in the untidy Camp at 17.000' on the glacier in the remote Himalayas, our team felt miserable as we faced the cold gusty winds that dominated the area. As a routine, thick dark clouds were slowly engulfing the Camp site closing down the breath-taking evening view of the soaring snow clad peaks and pinnacles of the majestic mountains that guard the vast open valley.

    No one volunteered to venture out in the stormy weather to work in the small low roofed makeshift kitchen that we had built piling up the boulders around. Instead, we had decided unanimously to skip our dinner and eat only some junk food in the comparatively warmer and spacious Store Tent.

    The weather had remained bad for the past few days with frequent squalls and each batch of low flying clouds continuously sprayed the entire valley with tons of fresh white flakes of snow thus changing the appearance of the surroundings.

    While we had preferred to slip into our sleeping bags, Spalzan was outside in the pitch-dark night to perform the evening prayers to Lord Buddha, before dinner. In fact, we were glued to the small transistor hung at the center of the tent listening to the weather bulletin being aired exclusively for our expedition. We too, were praying for the weather to clear up so that we could move up on the mountain on the morrow to join the advance team that had established a couple of higher Camps on our way to the summit of the mountain.

    It was Madhukar who suddenly sprang up and drew our attention to a shrill sound he heard from outside. But for his sharp ears, perhaps, it would have gone unnoticed by the others. Gradually, the sound turned into a loud cry and we could identify it as the voice of our own member outside. There was definitely, a certain amount of fear and anxiety in the voice as he tried to hurry us shouting "Hey! Come out everybody. Look there!".

    Sensing something was wrong, we jumped out of our sleeping bags and putting on the climbing boots, we rushed out of the tent. At first, we thought, may be he had noticed a huge avalanche coming down, or a new crevasse opened up, or, may be, something else which we had not expected. !

    We ran in the darkness in the direction of the voice shining torches on the wet boulders covered with fresh snow. As we neared the small makeshift temple, in the dim torch light we could see the frenzied face of Spalzan, gazing towards the hanging glacier on the other side of the valley on which our team had opened the route for the higher Camps. He was literally sweating in the biting cold and looked terribly disturbed.

    At first, we could see nothing in the direction. But as we strained our eyes probing through the hazy darkness, we saw a small dark figure moving and trying to approach us. We were puzzled unable to identify the figure, thinking whether it was an animal? Or was it one of our own members from other Camp? Or whether it was a Snowman? Or a G.h.o.s.t !

    We tried to send signals by shining the torches to draw it's attention and though there was no immediate response from the figure except zeroing on us, we heard a soft whistle that merged with the wailing sound of the wind. Little by little, we could see a feeble glow on the head of the figure. Alas, it was from the headlamp that meant someone was trying to reach our Camp. Certainly, such a daring venture in the dark stormy night could mean some emergency. Maybe some important urgent news or something had gone wrong.

    We spent some anxious moments before the figure neared us. But, to our surprise and relief, it turned out to be Kaka Joshi, one of our co-climbers from the higher Camp. He was gasping and looked tired, having descended almost running from the heights. He had brought a message that Jagadish, our porter, had suddenly taken ill and was being evacuated to our Camp. This meant trouble since the evacuation team would have, by now, stuck in the snowstorm!

    At once, we sprang into action. Orders were issued. Instructions were given. There was tremendous excitement as we prepared ourselves for the emergency. While Kaka was advised to rest for a while, some got busy lighting the stove in the kitchen to melt the snow and prepare the hot fluids. The rest of us, Madhukar, Spalzan, Rigzin, Shyam, and I formed the rescue team and prepared hurriedly to go up to help the evacuation team that was bringing Jagadish down.

    It was terribly slippery and dangerous to move fast on the snow covered boulders on the moraine. Visibility was also very poor and our torch lights wouldn't penetrate deep through the thick dark clouds hovering around us. We moved cautiously and with great difficulty reached the tip of the hanging glacier.

    Though we expected the evacuation team at the junction of the moraine and the hanging glacier, there was no sign of anybody. We kept shining our torches all round and whistled at frequent intervals to draw their attention, but in vain. However after some anxious movements, we spotted two faint glows appear on the top of the hanging glacier, which slowly advanced descending towards us. We felt greatly relived having traced our members amidst darkness. It could have been a disaster, if they had gone astray on the deadly crevasse filled glacier and it would have been impossible to track them later.

    Madhukar and Shyam climbed up on the hanging glacier to help and guide the evacuation team while the rest of us stayed close to a nearby huge boulder to form a link between our Camp and others on the Glacier.

      In the next half an hour we witnessed the torch glows coming from the top and those moving gradually from the bottom converge almost halfway on the glacier, indicating the rendezvous of both the teams. Soon all the glows started descending steadily.

    As they neared us, we saw Pasang, our Sherpa, carrying Jagadish on his back on a coiled rope and Ghanshyam, our team Doctor, assisting and escorting them. Jagadish looked pale and dull. Immediately we wrapped him with warm clothing and all of us started moving towards our Camp. Dr. Ghanshyam told briefly the happenings since late afternoon.

    Back at the Camp, Kaka Joshi acted fast to keep everything ready. He had created a mini hospital in the Store Tent by lighting a stove in it to keep it warm and had kept a dry sleeping bag ready, apart from hot water, warm saline, I.V. sets, etc. as per the directions of the Doctor.

    Once, we were at the Camp, we changed the snow soaked cold and wet clothes on Jagadish and he felt comfortable in the warm sleeping bag. Dr. Ghanshyam wasted no time in treating Jagadish and he administered warm I.V. drip and other medicine. Only then, all of us relaxed sipping some hot tea and listened to Dr. Ghanshyam who narrated the entire happenings in the afternoon.

" That morning, Jagadish who was doing one of those routine load ferries between the higher Camps along with others, had suddenly become unwell and since he was feeling very weak, he couldn't keep pace with others. While others returned after dumping the ferry loads, Jagadish felt drowsy and collapsed, unconscious near the higher Camp.

"  Luckily these two Camps being on the same slope, it was possible to keep track of climbers moving in between through the Binacs. Heera and Sonik, the leader and his deputy, who kept a constant vigil from the lower Camp, were shocked to observe Jagadish's suspicious movements near the higher Camp. Sensing danger, they had immediately summoned Dr. Ghanshyam and others to go up with emergency Oxygen and medical kit to treat Jagadish and, if necessary, to evacuate him down.

"  Dr. Ghanshyam, after examining Jagadish at the higher Camp, had preferred an immediate evacuation to lower altitude as Jagadish suffered from Hypothermia, serious dehydration coupled with altitude sickness. But, to their ill luck as they moved down, they were stuck in the snowstorm and hence got delayed in reaching our Camp. In any case, it was inevitable for them to bring Jagadish down to save his life. "

    In the next few hours Jagadish recovered and felt lot better. Later, he thanked us for saving him.  The timely discovery of Jagadish's illness, the swift action initiated to evacuate him daring the stormy weather in the darkness over the hostile terrain and the wholehearted voluntary help in various capabilities extended by the team members, had saved a vital life of a fellow climber.

    But for us, it was a commendable job where the team spirit of the adventure-loving group was markedly visible in the sensational rescue operation against so many odds in the death zone.

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