c u on top - satyabrata dam

Normally at this time of the year I am away from civilization and any gadgets opting to stay away from hullaballoo of celebration and inebriated minds. This year is different. I am a student at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad and no amount of wishing is going to whisk me away from this place into my snow covered summits. As an alternative my mind tried to grasp at how or where did the year go? This is a summary. I am also aware as I jot down my thoughts that perhaps none of you have any interest in the content of this post even then, as my social media friends say that a blog is your own diary. Anyone else reading it is incidental and someone finding it even remotely likeable and readable is intensely rewarding and fulfilling. At IIM, we are told almost every day that ‘we must believe only in numbers’ so a play with numbers first. Among 31536000 seconds that 2009 has (every year except a leap year has the same) or had I spent 10368000 on expeditions that included two major an...

Continuing with climbing jargons: Mantel: A technique wherein a climber grasps a hold waist-level and powers the body upward with minimal assistance from the feet. Match: To grasp a hold with both hands, or to place the feet side by side on the rock. Mixed Climbing: Ascending a route by a combination of methods, e.g. mixed free and aid climbing; also, ascending a route wherein both rock and ice, and sometimes snow, are encountered. Moraine: An accumulation of stones and various debris pushed into a large pile by a glacier. Multi-Pitch Climb: A climb that is longer than a single rope length, necessitating the setting of anchors at progressively higher belay stations as the climbers ascend. Munter Hitch: A belay knot through which the rope slides when pulled in one direction and brakes when pulled in the other. Nailing a route: A descriptive term that refers to aid climbing with pitons, which are hammered into a wall's cracks to provide protection. Névê: Permanent granular snow forme...

Like any other sport or field of science, climbing and mountaineering is replete with jargons or terminologies that we often use to indicate objects, climbing scenarios etc. It is imperative to understand these terminologies without ambiguity or confusion for you to climb or to read climbing technical books. In my blog I use these terms frequently. Many of you have asked me to put down a climbing lexicon for common usage. Here is the first part. If there are any climbing jargon you have come across or heard and I have not covered in this list (including in part 2) then do leave a comment on that and I will explain it later. Unless you are a regular climber and climb often with people from different nationalities, memorizing these jargons are not necessary though a general understanding will help you to grasp and enjoy the climbing nuances. Here they are alphabetically: - Abseil: German term (also employed by the British) for rappel; a method for descending a fixed rope by means of sl...

Dear Friends, if you are a regular visitor to my blog then it is safe to presume that you do have some amount of interest in venturing into the outdoors and wilderness; cerebrally perhaps if not always physically. You might also be venturing into the real outdoors where survival might often be a direct outcome of your own actions and the gear that you carry with you. Far from civilization or any mortal help it is wise to be prepared for the unknown, for that uncertain factor that even the best laid plans cannot rule out. I always have a ready backpack in my home along with a ready survival pouch. I just replenish the contents as and when they get consumed or else expire due to shelf life. But never would you find even a single content missing from my packs, even when I am at home. Well, I am an extreme outdoor person and I always expect and am ready for a disaster. Like I often say that with me around, you are safe from any kind of disaster including nuclear fallout. I do exaggerate ab...

This is the jolly festive season of Christmas and all things good so let me today tell you how and where I met the grand man in red suit and what happened thereafter. To begin with, I have three distinct links to Santa Claus: (a) Our first names start with identical alphabet (b) Quite like him most of my life I have spent in extreme cold and snow laden places and in Polar Regions (c) We both travel the world spreading joy and cheer and smiles at strange and dark places. To my knowledge he never went to South Pole and here I actually outpace him. All this definitely makes me Santa’s country-cousin if not a direct descendent. Just like any of you, especially when you were a child (and I hope you still are), I have always wondered about the things that Santa is known for. His red suit, elves and reindeers, his gifts, why does he come through the chimney, did he ever fight with his wife, why does he go Ho Ho etc, and above all why is he so fat. So I always knew that if I ever met him I am ...

Genesis of this post lies in an evening several years back in Mumbai. I had just delivered a talk on my climbs and as I came down from the stage a group of people surrounded me with their smiles and greetings. Once the crowd thinned marginally I noticed a young couple, shy and hesitant, hovering at the periphery looking at me expectantly. The beautiful lady was visibly pregnant. Our eyes met and I smiled back and they stepped forward. While shaking my hand, she asked, ‘Can I go to the mountains?’ And the husband mumbled, ‘You know…’ I nodded knowingly. But in reality, ‘I did not know, I still do not know.’ I have no idea if a pregnant lady can go to the mountains. I have no recollection now of what I had said then but what I do remember was my complete amazement at the lady’s desire and spirit and her husband’s willingness to share her dreams. At a time when most women would stay put at home surrounded by near and dear ones opting to be pampered this woman here actually wanted to visit...

For me a mention of South America always conjures up visions of some of the finest mountains and glaciers in the world. It is my single most favorite continent on Earth and if not an Indian I would have definitely wished to be a South American; a Peruvian or an Argentinean to be more specific. The largest and most voluminous natural feature of South America is certainly the Andes range of mountains. The Andes run almost the entire length of the continent’s western edge starting from Venezuela to Chile and Argentina passing through Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. It is nearly 7500 km long and averaging around 250 km at its widest. Towards the south it is often referred as the Patagonia sub-range. During my several journeys to the continent I have covered quite a bit of this massive mountain range, which is home to some of the finest and most technical mountains on Earth. Topographically the longest mountain range in the world can be divided into Northern, Central and Southern parts...