A close up shot of the gully on a clear day. PC: Rajat Shah
Meanwhile, Arvind and his group had reached the top of the Pass and were waiting for the rest of the team. Situated at 4,600 M, the Rupin Pass marks the highest point of the trek with panoramic views of the Kinner Kailash in the north and the Rupin Valley in the south. This meant the people on the Pass were unshielded from the cold and the winds.
To make things worse, the white out and the frigid temperatures had drained the batteries in the walkie-talkies. So, there was no way for Arvind and Pijush to communicate with each other.
When Pijush and the two participants did not make it to the top of the Pass even after a long time, Arvind knew something wasn’t right. The horizon, on the other side, above Ronti Gad was clearing. But, the weather continued to remain grim in and around the Pass.
So, he asked Rajendra (who had reached the Pass by then) to lead the participants to Ronti Gad while he doubled back to check on Pijush.
It was a fairly straight-forward descent to Ronti Gad and Rajendra knew the trail right down to each stone. Knowing the participants were in safe hands, Arvind retraced his way down the gully.
Back in the gully…
About half-way up the gully, Ved’s body had given up. The snowfall hadn’t. Soft snow fell to the ground and kept piling up beneath their feet while he struggled to take each step.
“I pulled out the oxygen cylinder to give him some oxygen. His AMS was regressing into HAPE as I had expected. Turning back wasn’t an option anymore because Ved wouldn’t have been able to cover the stretch back to the Upper Waterfall Campsite. The only recourse left was to get him to the top of the Pass where I hoped Arvind would be waiting. We could then send help to carry him to Ronti Gad from there.
I was keenly aware of our participants who had to slow down their pace and trudge through the cold for absolutely no fault of theirs. Just as I was pondering over what could be done to make this easier for them, Arvind appeared in view like a godsend!”- Pijush
With Arvind back, they quickly put a new plan to action. Arvind would take the two participants and Ved’s friend to the top of the Pass. Pijush, meanwhile, will walk with Ved.
It continued to snow on and off. The white-out maintained its strong hold on the slopes. Now supporting an exhausted Ved on one side, Pijush took one slow step after another as he watched Arvind disappear ahead with the other three.
“By the time we were within 100 M of the Pass, Ved’s body slumped over completely. No matter how much I urged him to move, he couldn’t take another step forward.
Since roping up was already done in the gully, I quickly set to work to build a Z-pulley rescue system out of the rope, jummar and carabiner that I was carrying. The Z-pulley rescue method is primarily used to pull people out of crevasses. Although there was no crevasse here, it would still be effective to pull Ved to the top.
By the time I had arranged the set-up, Arvind had dropped everyone at the Pass and returned to assist me with Ved. Attaching one end of the rope to Ved and catching hold of the other end (near the top of the Pass), we pulled him up with all the strength we could muster. Ved had stopped trying to move by this point.
Every time we pulled, soft snow on the ground piled up under Ved’s feet obstructing his movement forward. I finally descended down to where Ved was, caught hold of his feet and pushed him up while Arvind pulled from the other end.” - Pijush
It was punishing work, to say the least. The white-out continued to hover all around them. Three people waited at the top of the Pass out of sight from their trek leader. Arvind and Pijush worked on the rope, pulling and pushing in synergy, each not visible to the other in the pallid white-out and relying solely on their voices to guide each other.
Every time Pijush pushed Ved’s feet up, his own sunk deeper into the soft snow beneath him. The snow levels had risen to 3 ft in the last three hours and continued to stack up steadily against the ground.
It took two hours of crushing toil to get Ved to the top of the Pass.
“By the time we reached the top, Ved’s health was in a miserable state. The lower part of his body was completely paralysed from the cold. All of us dug out whatever warm clothes we could find. By the end of it, we had layered him up with two t-shirts, one fleece and one down jacket.”- Pijush
To make matters worse, the temperatures continued to dip steadily. It was half past two in the afternoon. In just three hours, they were going to begin losing sunlight. The campsite, Ronti Gad, was a half a day’s walk away from where they stood. Pijush knew the rest of them still had a chance to make it to Ronti Gad by nightfall. But, Ved was in no state to walk.
“I looked around me and set to work to build a rudimentary rope stretcher we could use to carry Ved. I had barely gotten started when Ved completely passed out. Removing my gloves, I hit his cheeks back and forth until he opened his eyes again.
There was no time to build a stretcher. We had to get down immediately and find some cover. One of the participants caught hold of his bag while the rest of us lifted him up by his hands and feet.
We then began descending. There was a basin (a flat piece of snow field) about five minutes from the Pass. It was less exposed than the top of the pass. If we could get there, then we could maybe wait while Arvind went down to Ronti Gad to get help.” – Pijush
The five minute descent took more than 20 minutes to navigate with the soft snow and the excess weight each person was carrying.
“We made it to the basin at around 3 PM. Ved still needed to lose altitude as soon as possible. He was not yet in the safe zone. After ensuring the others were well, I asked Arvind to hurry down to Ronti Gad and bring some help. Meanwhile I flattened the snow and spread a thick polythene sheet I was carrying on the ground. We placed Ved at the centre of the polythene sheet. Then, we arranged all our trekking bags snugly around him.
Finally, we huddled around the trekking bags and pulled another polythene sheet over us to build up some warmth for Ved inside the structure.”- Pijush
Now, all that was left to do was wait; wait for Arvind to reach Ronti Gad and bring some help. Little did they know that the actual battle had only just begun.
Continue Reading Part II of the story in the link below:
A Night on the Rupin Pass: Part 2
A note to all our Readers:
When we first began work on this story, we wondered if we should publish it. Our concern was that it might come across as one written with ill-will towards Ved (name has been changed in this article). However, nothing could be further from the truth.
We understand why completing a trek is important. We know the priceless feeling that comes with finishing one and earnestly root for every person who embarks on a journey (with us or otherwise) to return with that sense of achievement. That said, reaching a summit should never gain precedence over making it safely back to the base.
So, no matter whom you are trekking with and how fine you think you feel, we urge you to be respectful of the signs the mountains give you. And at a time when you find yourself struggling to do so, we hope this story makes your choice a little easier. And that is our intention behind sharing this article with you.
For every time you wonder if you would have been able to complete the trek had you proceeded ahead, we hope today’s story serves as a reminder to take a step back and ask: But, at what cost?
