Siachen Glacier - Through the eyes of a Civilian
Scaling Siachen Glacier has been on my bucket list and I have been applying and trying my luck with the Indian Army for almost 3 years now. Last year, I took yet another chance and decided to apply for the trek once again. I couriered my application along with an indemnity form and a medical certificate. Keeping my fingers crossed, I also included a separate note of why I wanted to visit Siachen.
Siachen Glacier is the highest battlefield in the world where India and Pakistan have fought intermittently since 1984. It sits at a very strategic location with Pakistan on the left and China on the right. It is the World's largest non-polar glacier and thus is sometimes referred to as the third pole. The temperature dips to minus 60 degrees in the winter and 97% casualties in Siachen are due to extreme weather and high altitude, rather than due to actual fighting. In spite of the harsh weather conditions, the word `Siachen` ironically means `the place of wild roses’.
At 21,000 feet above the sea level, India has also built the world`s highest helipad on this glacier at a place called Sonam, to serve the area and ensure that the food supplies and troops are supplied via helicopter support. Army pilots push their helicopters well beyond their optimal performance, to drop supplies at forwarding posts.
The Indian Army decided to allow civilians to trek the glacier since 2007. Every year the Army takes a mixed group of civilians, military cadets, defense personnel, and media to give them a first-hand experience of the inhospitable terrain and weather conditions in which our brave soldiers serve the nation. This is the only chance for a civilian to visit the world’s highest and coldest battlefield.
With a little bit of luck and backed by some of my past achievements, I was amongst the 17 civilians who were selected out of 2300 applications received nationally. I was overjoyed to receive the call that confirmed my selection. After a long gap due to my injury and with just one month before the trek, I started training hard towards the required fitness.
While I was somewhat aware of the training that the Army imparts to get one physically fit and properly acclimatized to climb the glacier, when I started training with the Army there was a huge difference between expectations and reality. Last year during the trek, a lot of trekkers had to quit halfway through the trek due to physical fitness issues and many of them had to be evacuated using a chopper as there is no other way of bringing one down. So this year the training was planned in such a way that if anyone wanted to quit, they should quit during the training itself and not while climbing up, as evacuations by chopper in that zone is always dangerous due to bad weather and remote terrain.
The commando style training that was planned was divided into three stages and tested each one of us physically, mentally and emotionally.
Stage one of the training was in Leh ( located at 11562 Ft), stage 2 at Siachen Base Camp ( located at 12000 Ft) and Stage 3 at North Pullu (an altitude of 15800 Ft.)
Training included acclimatization and learning skills such as snow craft, rock craft, running with loaded rucksacks, walking while tied to a rope with each other ( so one can be pulled up in case of a fall into a crevasse) and other survival techniques . There were regular medical exams. While the blood test, urine test and ECG happened only once during stage one in Leh, our BP, level of oxygen in blood and pulse were being checked every day in the morning and evening. It was very important for us to clear all the medical exams as it formed one of the major selection criteria for moving up to the next stage in the journey.
