First Successful ascent By Indian on Mt Jogin I & Jogin III

WOMEN POWER

Jogin-I& Jogin-III: Historical  Duet  Climb  by Women Climbers from India.

At the Summit of Jogin I

“Mountaineering inculcates in person courage, comradeship, the capacity to bear hardship and the ability to take deliberate decision which may often entail consequences that may result in death”. 

 

It is true that the courage, comradeship, the capacity to bear hardship, physiological tolerance, mental endurance and the deliberate decision could reach us at the top of Jogin-I (6465m) which has been unclimbed by many expedition teams before us.

9^th June 2008--- was a red letter day, when Simasree Banerjee, Chhanda Gayen, Mita Dhar and Umme Kulsum along with HAPS Chandra Bahadur, Sarban Thapa, Sadan Bom and Bhim Bahadur (cook) reached the summit of Jogin-I (6465m) after negotiating a difficult climb in an adverse weather condition. Consequently, upon completion of the first peak summit, they again climbed Jogin-III (6116m), which turned out to be a historical feat in the scenario of Indian Mountaineering by any team to climb both the peaks on the very same day and that too by the very same members. The other team members were Namita Dutta and Dr. Monoj Kr Das and I had the opportunity to lead the expedition.
 

The team faced tremendous hardship to accumulate fund for the said expedition. Ultimately, the expedition was flagged off by our president Sri Durgadas Saha and many other mountaineers and members of our Institute. Sri Amulya Sen (Adviser, West Bengal Mountaineering and Adventure Sports Foundation, Govt. of West Bengal) was also present at Howrah Station to inspire us.

We reached Uttarkashi on 25^th May 2008. A very heavy downpour of rain had delayed us to disembark from the bus. I along with Simasree and Dr Monoj met Karan of Chandrasang Adventure Foundation to arrange porters which was already informed to them earlier.

Next day we spent at Uttarkashi for hiring equipments from Nehru Institute of Mountaineering and for some official work with DM office, local police station and Forest department.

We started our trekking on 28^th May from Gangotri after offering our homage to the temple of MAA Ganga. Due to Obstructions on part of the forest office Gangotri, our journey got delayed for an hour. The trek was through the gorge of the Kedar Ganga and we kept on climbing 6 kms at a stretch and started ascending gradually towards the slope of Bhuj Kharak where the tree line had ended. There we set-up our transit camp-I at Bhuj Kharak (3990m).

The second day of trekking route passed through beautiful and serene meadow with gorgeous and tantalizing views of high snow clad mountains, till just before the start of the moraine.

Then we came to a place which was the most dangerous on our trekking route. Here, about 500 meters of the path had gone through the scree and boulder fall zone which comes down frequently from the height of 500 to 600 ft. Here, one need to keep watchful eyes and step to avoid accidents. After five hours trek, we established our transit camp-II at the height of 4300m.  

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Our third leg to reach the Base Camp, involved ascending medial moraine of the valley. Though the distance was not much but we enjoyed the trek and reached the Base camp at Kedar Tal at .a height of 4750m.  Kedar Tal --- an ominous and beautiful lake covered by snow bed and surrounded by magnificent and picturesque peak of Thalay Sagar and Bhrigupanth at the south and Jogin –II on the west. Jogin-I & III was not visible from the Base camp.  

According, to our plan we spent next day at Base camp for acclimatization and re-packing the loads for higher camps. We were restricted to establish three camps for attempting the summit of Jogin-I (6465m) which was our first and topmost priority.

1^st June, dawned with dark clouds surrounded us. After two hours the clouds started declining slowly and we .were ready to ferry the loads to camp-I. The route for camp-I followed a ridge of right lateral moraine of kedar Bamak. We ferried the loads for two days as we had to carry a huge quantity of rope and equipments for our further adventures climb.

After ferrying the loads, we decided to send 4 members (Simasree Banerjee, Chhanda Gayen, Mita Dhar & Umme Kulsum) along with 3 HAPS (High Altitude Porters) and a cook. We two (Namita and myself) stayed back at the Base Camp as a support team. They established camp-I at the height of 5050m.The following day, they carried out route recee and ferry the loads for camp-II. From camp-I, they started climbing through rocky zone, gaining height with gradual slope and reached the top of the ridge, where they had to cross fairly flattish glacier so they needed to put on their crampons and cross the ice fall zone with innumerable open and hidden crevasses in quite a few places. After walking an hour, they found a slope of hard ice where they had to fix the rope of as long as 150 ft. As soon as they fix the rope, the avalanche rolled down with the rope. They dumped the load in a safer place and came back to camp-I. Next morning, i.e. on 5^th June, while they reached near the point of fixed rope, they found avalanche had buried their fixed rope. All the loads were retrieved and they established camp-II at the height of 5300m.

Establishing camp-III was more hazardous and difficult. More technical climb was involved in this part. After walking 45 minutes on the glacier, they negotiated 70˚ to 75˚ gradient ice wall where they fix 840 ft rope. Here, they needed front point climbing in some places and used Jumar for safety reasons. While Simasree was climbing, another avalanche rolled down just beside the rope. Thank God she survived! After negotiating the ice wall they climbed 50˚ gradient snow fields and reached the summit camp at the height of 5900m.

 

On 8^th June, the day was schedule for the summit. But since last night the weather was extremely bad. The core idea to attempt the summit had been dropped. The Strategy in mountain climbing resembles that of chess, instant decisions have to be taken and previously made plans often have to be relinquished. At about 12 A.M. the weather was clear a bit and they decided to open the route for the summit. But the clear weather did not longer. They could reach the ridge of Jogin-I and III and came back to the summit camp.

 

The spell of bad weather became longer and continued up to 3-30 A.M. The summit party was fit to move for the summit and they departed from the camp at 5-30 A.M. on 9^th June despite of poor visibility. They had walked very slowly and steadily on the soft snow of 60˚ gradients where they had to negotiate dangerous hidden crevasses. The walk prolonged for 1 hour and 15 minutes and they reached near the ice wall where they needed to fix the rope of 720ft. The weather kept deteriorating. The total area filled with fog, forcing them to stop at the spot for an hour. After weather clearing, they climbed slowly and cautiously up to the saddle of Jogin-I & III. The weather deteriorated further with clouds so thick it became white-out conditions. Visibility was so poor as they even could not see and find each other. They were fully exhausted and almost left hope for the summit. Some of them wanted to come back. But Simasree took time to take decision and waited there for another hour. Meanwhile, HAP Chandra Bahadur could see the west ridge of Jogin-I where they needed to fix the rope on slope of 70˚ to 75˚ gradient up to the peak. Without fixing the rope, climbing .could has been a suicidal attempt. After resting for a while, they fixed the rope of 2 coils (720 ft each) and 2 climbing rope of 120 ft each. Again, it took more than an hour. Finally, they made up their mind for final assault, followed the south west route diagonally and reached the summit at 1-40 P.M. They could not believe themselves that they are on the top of Jogin-I!! They unfurled the National flag and Institute’s flag and paid their homage to the Almighty for his mighty influence to help them to get to the summit of jogin-I. Chhanda clicked some quick photos and Mita used her video camera as photographs and recording are most important and circumstantial evidence of the great success. The view from the summit was disappointing because the peak was deeply enveloped by thick clouds. However, they could find the Thalay Sagar & Bhrigupanth at the east, Gangotri group of peaks at the west. Mt Manda stood at the north. Rudugaira at the north-west, at the south there was khatling glacier. They spent half an hour on the summit.

They were completely exhausted and were in great hurry to return. After eight hours of rigorous battling with bad weather, it was the time to take precaution for descending as most of accidents occur due to fatigue. .Almighty had given them power to handle such a grave situation. They climbed down very cautiously and carefully up to the saddle of Jogin – I& III. After reaching the saddle, the clouds disappeared and Jogin – III was easily visible to them.  While they were preparing to climb down to summit camp, then Chhanda was so enthusiastic that she asked “Can’t we try for Jogin-III”? Chandra Bahadur (HAP) was ready to accompany with Chhanda. They took few minutes to take the decision and ultimately decided to climb Jogin-III (6116m). After catching breath, they started climbing and reached the summit of Jogin-III (6116m) at 3 pm. They had a quick a session of photography with National Flag and Institute’s Flag. Now the weather was very clear and they could see the panoramic surroundings very clearly. After sparing 15 minutes, they started to climb down carefully and return to summit camp at 5-35 pm.

The bad weather not only continued in the higher camps it remained same too in the Base Camp. I was restless at the Base Camp and could not sleep until they return to the Base. I used to send Bhim Bahadur every day at Camp-I. On 10th June, I sent him early morning but he did not returned up to 5 pm. We (Namita and I) got ready and started for camp-I with the torch. After walking an hour, we were taking a rest for a while suddenly I noticed a very small point moving towards the Base Camp. We sat down on a boulder waiting. Bhim Bahadur came running towards us yelling “climb ho gaya”. My first thought was whether they were all well or not. He assured me of their safe return to camp-I. We offered him some biscuits and water, spent some time there and returned to Base camp. We .made arrangements for welcoming them. The summit team returned to Base camp on 11^th June and a very warm reception was given by us.

Thus ends our successful ascent of Jogin-I & III. The climb was remarkable in term of high team spirit and administration coupled with good cooperation and coordination. We felt no problem whatsoever any where except at the Forest Office in Gangotri. Everything was rolled according to our plan.
 

 

I would like to end this write up  by conveying the information that this expedition used 3 coils of fixed rope( 720 ft each), 4 climbing rope, Ice piton-12, Snow Bar-10, Carabiner-34, Jumar, descender, Harness and sling for every member.

Though the fact of making history was not known to us. We only came to know when Sri Kankan Roy (President of West Bengal Mountaineers and Trekkers Confederation) congratulated me and said, “You have made a history in Indian Mountaineering”. I quickly conveyed the message to all members of our Institute and will cherish the moment for ever.

By Arati De

 

 

 

 

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