Someday in 1993....
The ridge of Mt Shivling was less difficult, than I had imagined. There are few tough patches, where I have to struggle and my friends Philip , Paul and John help me ascend the critical pitches.
The high winds chill my bones but the Goretex suit attempts to cocoon me.
The goal to climb the mountain in a day, seems close, as we climb up the Hanging glacier to the summit slope with a gradient of 50 degrees.
Finally, one by one each of us stand on the fairytale summit that has place for only 2 men.
With the ascent over, we focus our energy on a safe descent. My energy sapped during the climb to the summit and I have little left. The snow gets thin and my crampons slip on blue ice. I slip down the ice slope. Paul has a tight belay on me and he arrests the fall. I am out of breath to apologise for the inconvenience. My knees get wobbly and fear rules over me.
We have not fixed any ropes; the other climbers are top niche and I am the weakest link in the chain. Yet, they try to share the burden of getting their Liaison officer safe. We reach the rock ridge and the Camp1 site. Another 3 hours and we are back on the Meru glacier.
It is the biggest achievement of my life. A dream climb which I long to share with my friends.
As I travel in Pune, I ring up Prasad and Morya. No Response! I go to Morya’s apartment and see him in a intense talk with Prasad. I cannot hear them.
I yell!.Guys! Shivling is climbed!
They do not even feel my presence. What is wrong?
Early morning, ~4AM, someday in 1993, I wake up and realize; it is just a dream!
I have not climbed anything at all. I feel dismal.
But it was so real!
I could bet ; I had been on Shivling. Does the dream mean I will climb it sometime soon?
Me climbing with the guys from Meru expedition? I had almost lost touch.
Phil died in a climbing accident almost a year ago, but he was on the dream climb with me.
It is difficult for me to ignore the dream.
I recollected this dream today and tried to reason, if there is a connection of the dream, to what happened on Mt Tinchenkhang? Was I not, as good as, declared dead?
If I indeed had met with an accident, would I try to reach my friends to share my success?
Mangesh died on the mountain after a successful ascent.
He would surely want to share his bit of success.
Is my dream a reality, for him?
It is about time I wrote this down!
Parag
11April, 2011
The ridge of Mt Shivling was less difficult, than I had imagined. There are few tough patches, where I have to struggle and my friends Philip , Paul and John help me ascend the critical pitches.
The high winds chill my bones but the Goretex suit attempts to cocoon me.
The goal to climb the mountain in a day, seems close, as we climb up the Hanging glacier to the summit slope with a gradient of 50 degrees.
Finally, one by one each of us stand on the fairytale summit that has place for only 2 men.
With the ascent over, we focus our energy on a safe descent. My energy sapped during the climb to the summit and I have little left. The snow gets thin and my crampons slip on blue ice. I slip down the ice slope. Paul has a tight belay on me and he arrests the fall. I am out of breath to apologise for the inconvenience. My knees get wobbly and fear rules over me.
We have not fixed any ropes; the other climbers are top niche and I am the weakest link in the chain. Yet, they try to share the burden of getting their Liaison officer safe. We reach the rock ridge and the Camp1 site. Another 3 hours and we are back on the Meru glacier.
It is the biggest achievement of my life. A dream climb which I long to share with my friends.
As I travel in Pune, I ring up Prasad and Morya. No Response! I go to Morya’s apartment and see him in a intense talk with Prasad. I cannot hear them.
I yell!.Guys! Shivling is climbed!
They do not even feel my presence. What is wrong?
Early morning, ~4AM, someday in 1993, I wake up and realize; it is just a dream!
I have not climbed anything at all. I feel dismal.
But it was so real!
I could bet ; I had been on Shivling. Does the dream mean I will climb it sometime soon?
Me climbing with the guys from Meru expedition? I had almost lost touch.
Phil died in a climbing accident almost a year ago, but he was on the dream climb with me.
It is difficult for me to ignore the dream.
I recollected this dream today and tried to reason, if there is a connection of the dream, to what happened on Mt Tinchenkhang? Was I not, as good as, declared dead?
If I indeed had met with an accident, would I try to reach my friends to share my success?
Mangesh died on the mountain after a successful ascent.
He would surely want to share his bit of success.
Is my dream a reality, for him?
It is about time I wrote this down!
Parag
11April, 2011
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