tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19129871345804865122024-03-14T17:49:54.931+05:30c u on top - satyabrata dam Climbing to Living and everything in betweensatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.comBlogger312125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-61903138962980720622023-12-31T19:26:00.000+05:302023-12-31T19:26:12.306+05:30Summing up 2023 and this BLOG Dear readers and friends from around the world, who may or may not
visit this blog, I have come to a conclusion about my life and hereinafter. And
that is to move away from public life altogether as well as from ‘life’ itself
as it is normally perceived. This would be the final and concluding post in
this blog. I will not take it down; it will remain, all my previous posts but
no further satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-52366988197037925532023-08-02T16:13:00.001+05:302023-08-02T16:13:24.414+05:30Alive & Kicking It has been over 6 months since my last post, and if I'm to believe an unfounded hearsay that to many of my friends and followers and fans (if I still have any) my putting up a post at least once in 6 months is a proof of life. It proves that I'm still alive, and adequately dexterous enough in body and mind. So here I am after 6 months and few days. But hang on, how does this post satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-68249788311048612562023-01-29T16:43:00.000+05:302023-01-29T16:43:12.332+05:30Head or Heart While growing
up, my mother had imparted to me one of my life’s foremost lessons. She had
said: son, do listen to your head but always follow your heart. This battle
between heart and head is an ongoing engagement that would never end. And life
would offer you enough dilemmas and doubts to keep feeding this battle. The question
is not who will win, but who out of the two, would you allow tosatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-70720623233378666222023-01-12T12:36:00.000+05:302023-01-12T12:36:27.739+05:30Dreaming Ahead I have been often asked, what exactly I do in between my climbs. Those periods
of lull when I am neither going up or coming down snow covered slopes in some
godforsaken corner of the planet upon a mountain that no one has ever heard of.
My stock answer to that would be nothing much in particular, just my
usual. In this post let’s look at what’s my ‘usual’.
Superficially satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-69227020530719898702023-01-09T19:22:00.001+05:302023-01-09T19:22:30.965+05:30Summing Up 2022 Perhaps with the coming of age or far too many adventures, my memory is
getting foggier day by day or rather year by year. 2022 came and went into and
out of my life just like any of you and though I vaguely recall doing tons of
stuff in 4 continents and around a dozen countries the details escape me. Hence
this would be a very short post, highlighting only the highlights so to speak.
&satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-63376179267331244662022-12-04T17:47:00.005+05:302022-12-04T17:47:34.383+05:30Wild Encounter not so wild The other day while talking to a friend, I am not sure how our
conversation turned to polar bears and Arctic. My friend wanted to know if I had
any close calls with a polar bear, which we often refer as the most dangerous
predator on planet. I have had several, I mumbled, but she insisted if any of
them were funny. I wondered, funny for whom, me or the bear! That’s a million
dollar questionsatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-26767274997171806932022-11-24T21:32:00.002+05:302022-11-24T21:32:53.610+05:30Returning to my DREAMSFifty four years back at the age of 4, standing with my dad beneath a towering deodar, at China Peak (2611m), a well-known view point just above the lacustrine hill town of Nainital, I had seen with my eyes wide open my very first and my biggest dream – to travel the world and climb every mountain. We were there to watch the sun rise from across the Tibetan Plateau. Nothing had changed in 54satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-49472378892618703762022-10-03T14:14:00.000+05:302022-10-03T14:14:28.764+05:30A walk through Central Balkan, Bulgaria I have been
climbing and hiking in Bulgaria for over ten years, but always in the Rila and
Pirin Ranges and sparsely into Rodopi’s too. It’s a country that I love, though
the mountains aren’t high, they are wild and alluring enough for my restless
feet. This year I decided to explore some new areas and chanced upon the
Central Balkan Range, barely 2 hours by road to the east of Sofia. I satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-17919090960617532132022-09-20T16:07:00.002+05:302022-09-23T22:30:59.402+05:30Turkey Lycian Way - 5 days of meandering Tahtali Dagi as viewed from Beycik VillageLycian Way or Trail, as it is commonly referred to, is Turkey’s longest
distance hiking trail of about 540km, beginning at Fethiye and snaking all the way into Antalya. It is
divided into several stages, where you can join in or leave at several points
if you don’t have the time or inclination to do the trail in its entirety. If
you are in good satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-25273016992105104262022-08-31T15:41:00.000+05:302022-08-31T15:41:22.306+05:30Hidden Mountains of Turkey – Kaçkar Dagi Lake DenizConsidering the fact that I travel
around the world, specifically looking for peaks towering above 4000m, I was
pleasantly surprised when I learned that Turkey has an amazing mountain range
near the Black Sea, where the highest summit nearly touches 4000m and is
referred by the locals as the Turkish Switzerland. This happened just the
previous month where I was going to guide an satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-83708237536780845632022-05-15T22:25:00.004+05:302022-05-15T22:25:33.998+05:30What is Your Purpose
I have a friend, who has achieved some of the most coveted landmarks
in the climbing adventure world. He is few years younger than I and
on and off I have been his mental trainer and used to be his mentor
and climbing instructor when he had just started his climbing. Just a
day before, he messaged me and wanted to schedule a one on one mental
training session. It seemed urgent so we met upsatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-27839818723458824232022-05-11T21:27:00.003+05:302022-05-11T21:27:49.742+05:30Focused Persistence
I have often been asked, what is the single most important factor
necessary to summit Mt Everest or any high and difficult mountain for
that matter. All the things like right equipment, training, goal,
experience, etc. are important yet would come to nothing without
perseverance to persist. And I feel this applies to anything in life,
be it in your profession, family, business, ideologies,satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-63082600346994580352022-05-08T03:50:00.001+05:302022-05-08T03:50:08.313+05:30Travelling to every country (except 1) At the tender age of ten and dare I say that being a naive child when
I conjured up my ultimate dream to climb every mountain and to visit
every country in the world (have failed so far on both counts) I had
absolutely no idea how on earth would I fulfil either of these. Soon
I realized that the former was downright impossible and improbable
while the latter was nearly so.
So I took satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-32552156150832896232022-04-12T02:33:00.001+05:302022-04-12T02:33:05.350+05:30What is Passion I was recently interviewed in the USA, where one of the pertinent questions
asked was – how do I define passion.
My single sentence answer was – passion is something that I do purely
for the joy and sake of doing it.
And then I elaborated: when I do something without any ulterior or other
motive, besides that of just doing it, then I am following my passion. In short,
satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-62389653109849385992022-03-31T00:12:00.001+05:302022-03-31T00:12:31.717+05:30Stewart M. Green - the Man, Myth and Magic of climbing Stewart on the summit of South Gateway Rock, Garden of the Gods
The
American icon, Stewart M. Green is synonymous to the challenging
arena of rock climbing for over half a century, especially in and
around Colorado, Utah, and anywhere else that has a vertical piece of
rock. I doubt if there is any rock climber in the US who doesn’t
know this legendary, larger than life individual, or satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-14139257154376277442022-03-18T00:30:00.004+05:302022-03-18T00:30:48.978+05:30Why I climb Free Solo As an individual, I like my own company above all and spend weeks,
months at a stretch away from all human in high mountains and forests. I often
climb big mountains solo, with very little on my back. I also free solo ice
lines, frozen waterfalls, far from any human presence. And I am often asked why
do I do it, since it is also very risky, dangerous and generally not done by
many. Many satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-55374158623858036622022-02-19T18:06:00.007+05:302022-02-19T18:06:52.788+05:30Why Do It
Once in a while, especially when we don’t feel that things are going
our way and we are not finding the spark or excitement in our life and somehow,
despite our best efforts, happiness eludes us; I feel it is important to look
deep within ourselves and ask few pertinent questions. Rather than running out
to a therapist or to a friend. Because as I always insist, no one in this satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-60736762740668213352022-02-11T03:43:00.004+05:302022-02-11T03:43:45.250+05:30Excitement of every day
Few weeks ago, while delivering a corporate talk at Zurich, someone
from the audience asked me, how can we keep our every day exciting
and fresh, since that was one of the key messages of my talk. And I
said that there are many ways of doing it, but one very obvious and
easy method is to always try do something, every day, that you have
never done before. It is obvious because a human satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-5546466749400816312022-02-04T20:55:00.000+05:302022-02-04T20:55:01.172+05:30Feeling Blue You Too!
Though I often talk about happiness and conduct happiness workshops, I do
agree that there are times in all of our lives when the feeling of blue is not
only true but perhaps necessary too.
Now why do we call this feeling of sadness, being under, etc as blue! My
online research threw up lots of different answers to the origin of this
expression, yet there wasn’t a single universalsatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-38928235146055810512022-01-19T14:16:00.003+05:302022-01-19T14:16:25.268+05:30Let Go
As I travel through the world, interacting with hundreds and
thousands of people, often have I been asked the secret to leading a
life full of happiness, excitement and joy. Occasionally some people
(the ones always looking for a short cut universal solution) have
asked one single step / action through which they can achieve this
seemingly blissful life. This post is my viewpoint about satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-27520448198302078722022-01-02T16:35:00.006+05:302022-01-03T19:56:44.993+05:30Fatal Life When
someone refers to an ailment or physical condition as ‘fatal’ it
sets me thinking with a quizzical smile that what is fatal after all.
Dictionary definition says fatal is something that causes death (for
human and animal species that is). But do only the living die or even
the inanimate perish! But let’s not get too philosophical here lest
we become as incomprehensible as the immortalsatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-81519549386673356952021-12-31T16:18:00.000+05:302021-12-31T16:18:02.236+05:30Summing up 2021
As the sun shines brightly into the last afternoon of 2021, and I am
packing my bag to go climbing (for there is no better place to bid
someone goodbye then from the mountains), I am penning this post as
my last one of 2021.
Actually when I woke
up this morning I wondered where did the year go, how did it go, when
did it go. Looking back I realize that I couldn’t even recall the
year satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-50383830566068369292021-11-14T18:20:00.002+05:302021-11-14T18:20:26.675+05:30Does Failing Make us a Failure Right from our childhood, through adolescent into
our adulthood and even into our golden twilight, it is constantly and
consistently drilled within our psyche that it is bad to fail and that we must
not fail. That to fail proves we are worthless. The society, including our
parents, educators, peers, etc forbid us to fail. We are not challenged to
fail. In such a world how can we excel when satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-7580915416026744762021-10-29T21:16:00.002+05:302021-10-29T21:16:42.822+05:30Serpentine Trail to Kundli Pass 4550m
As our last pre-winter Dhauladhar trek of 2021, Ravinder and
I chose the rarely visited high pass of Kundli. At 4550m it is mostly used by
the shepherds returning from Chamba to Kangra during autumn. Seldom by trekkers.
It is a difficult pass with unclear trail marking above Shindi Maata
temple (last camping ground of shepherds) on the Kangra side and hardly any
trail at all on the Chambasatyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1912987134580486512.post-84333896799979050812021-09-22T10:10:00.003+05:302021-09-22T10:10:30.892+05:30Impossible DreamI strongly recommend that you find / discover / create a
truly IMPOSSIBLE dream for yourself. Impossible (yes) but not improbable. An
impossible dream is possible to pursue but impossible to realize and achieve.
While an improbable dream does not have any probability therefore is not even a
source of motivation.
My impossible dream took shape when at the age of 10 I climbed
my first satyabratadamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06979443798593200570noreply@blogger.com0