Stok Kangri - So Near Yet So Far!

Prologue

I am sitting poised at the top of the slope of the ridge, ready to push off. On my left, I see the peak of Stok, raising a couple of hundred meters above me. I see little dots of people on the summit moving around, and I can almost feel their elation at reaching the top. A little way down the slope, I see Mubarak sitting on the snow hugging a rock. He has not moved since a long time. I am not sure if he is tired or hurt or both.

Shimoj, at the ridge

It is 7:30 in the morning, there is still one hour to go before the officially announced turnaround time. But my mind tells me that there is no point in waiting around anymore. I have been sitting here for a hour and a half. The snow which was so hard and rock-solid two hours back that we had a tough time cutting steps in it, has become mushy and crumbly now, and will only become more and more difficult to navigate as the sun climbs higher in the sky. There is not enough time for Sandeep, the trek leader, to bring the first summiters back to the ridge and take the rest of us for another shot at the summit. I see Prakash, the other trek guide, a long way down, moving around in random patterns. I try to shout out to him, but am not able to hear the reply properly. The possibility of Prakash reaching the ridge and guiding me to the summit also looks slim. I am not sure what's going on down there with the rest of my team either. Dr. Raja and Shimoj, who were there at the ridge with me a few moments ago, have already slid down the slope of the ridge in the most dangerous manner. The slide is not easy - Shimoj tumbling head over heels at one point, Dr. Raja’s leg getting buried thigh-deep in the snow at other.

Finally, as I accept the inevitable, as my heart accepts what my mind has been telling me for a long time, my eyes well up. I think of all the elaborate planning and preparation that I had put in before attempting Stok Kangri and my heart sinks into my stomach. ‘You are at 5900 meters above sea level,’ I tell myself dejectedly, ‘and you are not going any higher today.’ At long last, I turn my back at Stok Kangri and I start sliding down the 60 degree incline of the snowy slope. The miles long return journey has begun.

Stok Kangri - As seen from the ridge

The Preparation – Physical Conditioning

I am not a naturally fit person. And the fact that my day job requires me to remain parked in one place for the better part of the day only makes it worse. So a couple of months before the Stok Kangri trek, I started to sweat it out in the gym in a most un-lady-like manner. I started running 5 km on the treadmill every alternate day, which was exhausting initially, but eventually I managed that without ending up dead on my feet at the end of the run. The gym-trainer had no clue why I was running like a maniac each day.

I read up as much as I could on high-altitude trekking on the internet, and found that it was essential to have good haemoglobin content in the blood to sustain high level cardio activity in the oxygen starved air of the higher mountains. So each morning I gulped down a shot of wheat-grass juice (which, by the by, tastes revolting), which is supposed to improve blood-quality tremendously. I ate everything which I suspected was healthy, ditched everything that wasn’t, and climbed every flight of steps that I came across. The last thing I wanted to happen was my body and my stamina letting me down on the mountains. 

(to be continued.... )