c u on top - satyabrata dam

  All through my climbing career, one of the most asked questions has been: which are the absolute essential knots and hitches that a climber must know and master.   In the world of climbing (rock, ice, mixed, alpine, high altitude, etc) there are knots and hitches galore as a rope is our essential tool of the trade. And wherever there’s a rope there would be a knot or a hitch. There are literally hundreds of such knots and hitches used widely not only in the fields of climbing and outdoors but also by the seafaring sailors, in the jungles and forests by forest dwellers and shepherds, hunters, and by anglers, even in the villages to tie up domestic animals. I have indulged in a bit of all such occupations, mostly as a climber and a seafarer and often that of a shepherd, very rarely as an angler and never as a hunter except accompanying one on a wild goose chase purely in the role of a dormant observer. If you add jungle-warfare and special-forces (not to mention BDSM) to m...

My foot slips on the thin patch of ice on a ground steeper and smoother than the flanks of Eiffel Tower and as I lose my balance and tumble head down into the abyss below I chide myself lightheartedly: ‘Not again Satya, not again. You are seriously getting senile and imbecile if you already aren’t.’ Humor is the only way to counter the deep constriction, the tightening knot at the pit of your stomach (which we sometimes name as fear) one feels at the time one realizes that all is finally lost and you are well on your way to meet your creator. Plus humor also helps me in seeing the world from an extremely humorous angle. Within the next fraction of a second I am dangling upside down, my head banging against the rock face while my heavy sack is pulling me towards the bottomless void from where chilling breeze is rushing up to meet my unruly hair. I am enjoying the upside view as I can see the dark ominous sky above my feet and wonder why am I still stuck at this impossible angle; wh...

After a series of Kenya posts, I decided to give Kenya a break, though there’s lot more to be written about that wonderful country with all its contrary incomprehensible comprehensiveness. So let’s go back to our favorite arena of the big mountains and look at the question posed above. Actually this is a trick question since it doesn’t really have a definite answer, even I don’t have one that can be universally applied. Though I can certainly tell you when does a climb really ends; and that happens when you return home to your family and friends and regale them with your stories while showing them your pictures over cups of coffee / tea / juice / alcoholic beverages to the accompaniment of delightful savories; I don’t mind a full 14 course dinner either. Many of my vertical community citizens too prescribe to this view. It has often been debated that if a climber dies while on the summit or on his way down and doesn’t return alive then should he be credited with the summit! This is p...

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...

I am often asked the steepest mountain or face I have ever climbed. This post is the answer. I doubt if I would ever climb anything steeper. No, it has nothing to do with my age or fitness level or my desire to stay alive… the reason is much simpler, more rudimentary. There simply is no steeper mountain face in the world than the West face of Mt Thor. It also ranks among my most technical and intrepid climbs, though at the time it did not appear so. More than half of the ascent had to be aided and I was paired with one of the masters of aid climbing. My buddy and partner in several such crimes, the Ukrainian gymnast, Natalia, or Nat as I called her. Watching her zoom up those mindboggling rocks and thin fissures of ice with the grace of a ballerina and strength of a wild beast, while she accomplished smooth gear placements in invisible cracks without missing a breath I have often wondered if she was the cousin of Spider Man. Now read on. Trying to clip the quickdraw through a red color...