`Lakshya Achieved', Kedarkantha Peak... Day 4

Alarms started buzzing at 2.00 am from all tents and we all woke up and started wearing our main winter jacket and Gaiters. Wearing gaiters is very important during snow treks as there is a 100% chance of  snow entering your shoes and this can ruin your entire trekking experience. We all were given morning tea and Daliya before we started for our trek. I preferred not to eat anything as I didnt wanted to take any risk of going to toilet at that odd time 😊 I had added some Vitamin C powder in my water bottle so that I don't lose out on essential minerals.

We all 16 trekkers started our trek by 3.20 am alongwith all 3 guides. We were asked to walk in a single line and one of our guide was leading the trek and other was at the back ensuring no one is left behind. Some of the slow trekkers were kept ahead so that they can be motivated and given a psychological push while climbing. Pratik was not carrying his head torch hence I told him to walk ahead of me and I was giving light to him. It was pitch dark and freezing cold atmosphere. We were all cheering ourselves by shouting loudly.. `Hows the Josh - High' and `Bharat Mata Ki... Jai' like slogans to increase the morale of trekkers. After a a climb of around almost half a km one of our fellow trekker faced some problem. I guess she had some problem of muscle stiffness and after few minutes of trying to cure it, she decided to return back to the base camp. Dev our Sr.Guide immediately took the responsibility to take her back to the base camp. Now we were reduced to 15 trekkers and 2 guides. We again resumed our trek and reached our 1st stop - Tea point. Many 1st time trekkers were already feeling drained and decided to relax and have ginger tea and some biscuits. I checked if I can refill some warm water as the temperature was dropping very fast. Pratik returned back saying the tea vendor has just started to boil the water and it will take another 15 to 20 mins. As I didnt wanted to wait much and make my warmed up body cold, we decided to keep moving ahead. I checked with Pratik and few other trekkers and we all decided to resume our trek.

(Zoom in) - Thin line of trekkers climbing Kedarkantha with torch light

As it was pitch dark we were not able to identify whether our guide has already started to climb further. Were searched him at the tea point and assumed that one of the lead guide Ramesh must have gone ahead and we should follow him. Now the climb had further steepened to almost 75 deg climb. Without looking at the top I decided to follow the foot marks and climb without a break. Oxygen levels were dropping and you could suddenly feel the heaviness in your head. We were around 4 to 5 trekkers who were ahead of the group and hence we decided to slow down a little so that the rest can join us. But as it was too cold one cannot stop in between the trek and block the road hence you need to keep walking. After covering a climb of around 1.5 kms i started calling Ramesh who we assumed was ahead of us. We asked that group to stop and ask Ramesh to wait for us till we catch up, to which they shouted and replied that there was no guide called Ramesh with them. For a second it shook me as I was very confident till this time as there was a guide walking ahead of us. We decided to stop immediately  and look down to find our rest of the trekkers. I could only see a tinny line of lights crawling upwards without being able to recognise if they were from our group. Vamshi and Shubham who were with me told to continue climbing and not wait for them as the winds were blowing fast and it wasnt a good idea to wait there too long. Also looking down was as scary as looking upwards to the peak 😌. We started climbing and soon reached a point where we could start seeing some light, also realised that the peak was not too far. Dev had told us that the last 200 meters were very steep and the climb will be tough. We decided to take a support of a rock and asked Vamshi to go ahead so that I give some light to the climbers who were not carrying head torch. Soon all 5 of us reached the rock and we took the support of this to rest for a while. I asked Pratik to take a snap of the scenic view of crawling line of tinny lights coming up, trust me it was a superb shot taken by him. Suddenly we could see a golden line in the sky, it was becoming brighter and the pre sunshine (dawn) period was mesmerising view. We immediately took snaps of this changing sky and started moving up as we didn't wanted to miss the sunrise view. The climb had become tuff and at some points the path was so narrow and risk that if you miss your balance and lost your control, you will straight reach the top without climbing 😝

Golden line - Dawn view

We some how climbed that last 200 mtrs and finally reached the peak of the mountain at around 6.24 am. As soon as we reached the summit we all threw our sticks and bags and started cheering and hugging each other. We had finally accomplished our Lakshya and reached the top before sunrise. The satisfaction of achieving the mission was at the highest levels and cannot be expressed. Entire tiredness was forgotten and I immediately removed our National flag and Pratik waived it with  atmost Pride.

Tri-colour and Me

We all took photos and my Josh was really High after taking the Tri-colour in my hands. Soon all other trekkers came up and we all took group photos till the sunrise. At around 6.5.4 came the bright shinning sun and we all shouted and clapped to welcome him on the top. We had been told that you get Jio connection on the top of the mountain and I decided to call Ashwini and inform her about the achievement. She was very happy to talk to me and know that we all could complete our Summit on time.

Lakshya Achieved....

Soon our guides asked us to start descending as the sun had come up and we had to go down before the snow starts melting in the sun. Our guides informed us that we need to start sliding down instead of walking down as it was impossible to manage our balance on a steep 75 deg to 80 deg slope. Ramesh our guide immediately slept on the slope and within seconds slide down to the first bottom of the mountain. It was in such a fraction of the second that before I could think anything about it I was asked to do the same. I was literally shivering out of fear and suddenly remembered the scene of  Zindagi Na Mile Dobara film in which actor Farhan Akhtar is jumping out of the chopper to do the sky diving stunt. I closed my eyes, took my bag on my chest and raised my hands up and slide down chanting all names of Gods which I could recall to save me 😆. As a snow ball I swing left, right in that sliding track and finally came down at the foot of Ramesh. My face was full of snow and I was happy to know that I was still alive 😝 To my surprise all other trekkers were so joyed to do this activity as if this was the only task they were waiting for and took so much pain to climb the top.

The monster slide experience

We all started walking down and I was praying that there should not be any more such slide but as per Murphy's law, it is always the reverse of what you think. Soon came a new slide and Twinkle who was ahead of me decided to go first after Ramesh. He slide down and before he could reached the bottom with 2 to 3 summer salt flips. The sliding track had become so deep that the speed was uncontrollable and as soon as Twinkle tried to stop himself by slowing down with his crampons he lost his control and flipped and rolled down. With this scene I was about to faint, soon our another guide Mahadev told me to slide from other side and create a new sliding track. For them it was so easy and convenient to advise but for me it was do and die situation 👾 I again decided to let off myself and do as instructed by my guide. I dont recollect who was behind me and I told him `Jinda bache to phir milenge' (We will meet down, if I remain alive). This time the sliding was bit fun and I enjoyed the fall. Soon we all got used to this and were waiting for more such slides so that we reach the base camp without any efforts.

(Zoom in) Trekkers sliding down from the top 

I completed the descend and reached the base camp by around 9.40. This was faster than what was expected and I first met Dev whom we missed a lot during this entire trek. I clicked a photo alongwith him and Mahadev to keep it with me as my wonderful Summit memory. Suddenly there was a weird feeling within me, I felt that the struggle was over, mind was feeling light, body pain was zeroed and heartbeats were normal. This was the last day of the trek and soon we all were going to go back to our routine and begin with the mad rush. And this is what is life.... good and bad, slow and fast, original and artificial. With all this in my mind I removed all my trekking gears and finally fell down in my tent with a heart fully satisfied and rewinding my sweet memories of this entire Summit...