Kangyatse - Learning the Ropes - 3

Anshu was the official team leader, but her presence was more like a guiding member. Bhargab and Tapas, our instructors from HMI, were managing the affairs. They were the ones who arranged the expedition right from the application stage at IMF till the finalization of porters at Chokh Doh. All the purchasing of ration, logistics, and equipment was led by Tapas and supported by his fellow climbers from Bengal.

Despite knowing the fact, both instructors were acting as if the idea was unclear as to who would take decisions on the expedition. On enquiring from them as to what plans were made for the coming days, a silly reply could be heard each time that the question needs to be asked to the expedition leader i.e. Anshu. Such an attitude created a sense of frustration and anger in us.

All the team was busy with last-minute shopping at Leh. This included buying clothes, renting gear, and purchasing important accessories such as headlamps, water bottles, and eatables.

Leh is a popular destination for climbing and you can find a few good shops selling mountaineering gear. The stuff is mostly first copy and also affordable compared to the original products. Leh is a small town and hence you find everything close by. The stuff you get is also of good quality so you can think of investing in good-quality equipment. However, technical equipment should better be bought from the original stores back in metropolitan cities. India has not flourished in the field of Mountaineering along the lines of Nepal. In Nepal, you can find stores of top brands such as North Face even in remote places like Namche Bazaar.

For the Indian Mountaineering community, the best bet is to own their own gear and then maintain it. The second-best bet is to borrow it from your mountaineering circle or rent equipment from IMF. IMF is the Apex body of India to promote and regulate the sport of mountaineering in India. They have good quality equipment in their store which they rent out at affordable prices. It makes sense for beginners to rent them out if the expedition is not long. The trick is to learn the trade before investing in highly technical and expensive equipment.

The newbies of the team had done the same and had rented most of the equipment from IMF and the rest from Leh itself. Renting shops at Leh charge exorbitantly and almost 3 times the rents of the IMF. The regular climbers of the team had their own equipment and carried their duffle bags to be given for offload to porters at Chokh Doh.

A night before the departure the instructors had decided to hold a meeting for pre-expedition discussions and guidance. However, no meeting happened and the members just gathered to offload their equipment in the central equipment bags. There were no instructions and the message was just to stay ready at 6:30 A.M. in the morning for departure to Chokh Doh. It was disappointing as the beginners felt that no briefing was given about the challenge ahead. The regional group-ism in the initial days had already sealed the fate of the expedition.

Three of us had stayed in a separate guest house, a little distance from the team's homestay. We woke up early in the morning and packed our bags to leave on time. Packing the rucksack is a herculean task. We lost sleeping hours and also a lot of energy just packing the stuff for our expedition. The problem with rucksacks is that you need to unpack them and then pack them every day as the things are used on daily basis.

We left the rooms at 6:30 a.m. and went to the pick-up point. We purchased the famous Kashmiri Roti from the bakery shops near Masjid in the main Leh market. The street is famous as Kashmiri Bakers Street where they make Rotis, Kulchas, and bakery products early in the morning and throughout the day. The rotis are plain and simple and better to be had fresh. We went to the nearby Cafe that had just opened and were the day's first customers. We grabbed coffee and had our little breakfast in the form of Rotis and almond cake.

Kashmiri Bakers street near Masjid, Leh market

Disha and Manmeet relish coffee and light breakfast before onboarding the Bus

Bus packed with team, equipment and ration on the way to Chokh Doh, Hemis National Park

 Meanwhile the team started in a rented bus and they quickly reached our spot. We had to rush through the coffee as they arrived sooner than expected. We jumped inside the bus and felt excited to be part of the first leg of our expedition. The bus was full of central equipment and our Rucksacks. The central equipment along with ration was to be offloaded as such to porters at Chokh Doh.