Death March

Noted mountaineer and friend, Debasish Biswas  (you can google about him) has recently written an article in the Bengali Indian Express on the series of deaths in the Himalayas this year, with specific focus on the death of two Bengali mountaineers on Kanchenjungha. It was published on the anniversary of the first successful summit of Mt Everest done by Hilary and Tenzin. 29th May to be precise.

This article is very different in that it addresses the real issue without mincing any word. It's high time someone said what he said. I am sure this will invite the wrath of a lot of so called mountaineers in Bengal but what he says is worth a listen.

Here is a translation of the original write up that was published in Bengali. For the original write up in Bengali click here

This write up is not to point fingers at anyone. Rather it will be proper to treat this as self-criticism. Perhaps then can we find a way to stop this death march of mountaineers. Mountaineering is a risky business. We cannot deny that. But we cannot accept meaningless, avoidable deaths. A death brings a certain emptiness in the hearts of parents, wives, children and friends. This can never be undone in any way.

So far we have got news of some 19 deaths in the various 8000 meter plus peaks of Nepal. Allan Arnette has written, “sadly all of these incidents suggest a level of inexperience and inadequate support”.

Adrian Ballinger has said, “many clients were not receiving sufficient support or training to take on the highest mountain.” Since there is no specific law in Nepal to restrict climbing, Adrian says, “because of lack of government regulations, specially on the Nepal side, we are going to continue to see this type of accidents.” This is why we think it’s time for the Nepal government to spend some more thoughts on climbing of the 8000 meter peaks.

Morning 10.30. Mingma is calling me on my phone. “Their bodies have arrived. They are at the Teaching Hospital. Please go there.” Mingma is the head of Kathmandu’s famous Seven Summits Treks. He is the first Nepali who has climbed all the 14 8000 meter peaks. I ran towards the Teaching Hospital of Tribhuban University. With me are Malay, Ananta-da (da, meaning elder brother, is an honorific for elders), Ramesh, Rudra and Kuntal’s relative Srirup. Kuntal and Biplab’s dead bodies have just reached there.

Went straight to the hospital mortuary. Two persons were standing with masks over their face. Seeing me one of them came running towards me, taking the mask off from his face. I couldn’t recognize him due to the mask. He is Umesh Jipre. Leader of Pune’s Giripremi mountaineering club.

He knows me. He held my hands and broke down crying. “Stop these people. Don’t let them come to commit suicide like this.”

Then he started relating his long list of complaints about the Bengali team to Kanchenjungha this year. We spoke for a long time. His point was these climbers had no proper idea about the difficulty and dangers of the route to the Kanchenjungha peak. On top of that they hardly had any physical training.

Umesh’s words have a lot of weight and he has to be taken seriously. I know how they trained for their previous expeditions to Evererst or Makalu. They make a team about a year in advance and train like in a residential school. They stay together, eat together, train together in one place. When they head out for the expedition they are at the peak of their physical and mental condition. That’s why they have such an envious success rate.

According to him, “all five of these from Bengal had no right to go to Kanchenjungha. Kuntal and Biplab could not come back. Rudra and Ramesh came back due to sheer luck.” I asked “what about Sahabuddin. He was apparently fit”? “Yes he was fit but he is dangerous as a team man. He continuously quarreled with the other four of the team.”

I felt really ashamed. Perhaps because he knew me so well, Umesh poured out all his inner frustrations and pain. Then he said, “a total 68 people climbed Kanchenjungha this year. Record number that has never been achieved before. No one had any problem except the team from Bengal. Why?”

Sixty eight summiteers !!! In the 55 years between the first ascent of the mountain in 1955 and when we summited it in 2011, the total number of summiteers as far as I know was 150. Here in one season alone 68 summiteers! On the summit day the weather wasn’t too bad either. Yet such a major accident. Then where is the problem? If we analyse the ground realities, we will probably be able to avoid such accidents. In all sports and games there is a concept of screening or a benchmark. In athletics it is about time, long jump, high jump, swimming, badminton, table tennis any sport has a benchmark. If you surpass that then only you qualify to compete at the highest level.

In mountaineering there is no such thing. In India at least there are some basic rules. Indian Mountaineering Foundation checks certain papers and gives you permission to climb. In Nepal there is no such restriction. If you deposit the permit fee you can climb any peak. There are innumerable agencies in Kathmandu who will do the entire paperwork if you pay them.

So those who opt to climb don’t have to go through any system that checks his ability to climb. Only the climber himself is responsible. If the climber himself fails to judge his own abilities, then there is a high risk of accident.

If someone comes back from a successful summit, we make a big hero out of him and put him on a pedestal. If there is news of any accident, we immediately need a villain – either the Sherpa or bad weather or oxygen malfunction or the agency. We need to blame someone. For example, this time it is being said, they were using refilled oxygen cylinders and that’s why their oxygen got exhausted and hence the accidents. I have been climbing 8000 meter peaks since 2010 without a single gap year in between. Every year I see every one using refilled cylinders. This year all the other successful Kanchenjungha summiteers used refilled cylinders. Then why did they not have any similar problem?

As far as I heard they took a long time to come down to Camp 4 and it was late night. Naturally oxygen had exhausted. You have to keep in mind the total time being spent. It’s being said the Sherpas deserted them. I am not giving any clean chit to the Sherpas but if a mountaineer tears off his oxygen mask and throws it away and tells the Sherpa I will not go any more, then what on earth is the poor Sherpa supposed to do in that Death Zone? He is human. He has got to come back alive.

According to the agency, Biplab’s problem started when he was climbing down. He had breathing problem. In climbing parlance, it is called High Altitude Pulmonary Edema. The region above 8000 meters is a death zone. There is less oxygen in the atmosphere so if anyone stays at that kind of high altitude for a long time, oxygen in his body is supposed to come down. Fluid starts accumulating in the lungs further aggravating the problem. Movement becomes a problem now. He feels sleepy. He starts thinking “if I rest a while I will feel better”. He does not realise this is going to be his last sleep. He will never wake up. The only thing to do in such a situation is to bring him down.

But then 8000 meters is a different world altogether. Every step is dangerous there. To climb down with a critically ill person in that zone is next to impossible. We have to remember the rescuer is also another member of the team. He is also equally tired. It is to be noted that not just Bengalis have died this year. So far in this spring season 19 people have perished in the 8000 meter plus peaks of Nepal. Annapurna, Lohtse and Cho Yu has each seen one death. Four on Makalu, three on Kanchenjungha and nine on Everest.

This year I was in Cho Yu from the Tibet side. One Sherpa died there. Here also it was entirely his fault.

Due to tremendous high wind, all the loose and soft snow above Camp One had blown off exposing the hard blue ice underneath. Blue Ice is extremely slippery and dangerous. The Sherpa was going on this blue ice without rope. Usually in such situations other Sherpas belay each other with rope. He didn’t listen to anyone and went ahead without any rope. Suddenly he slipped and fell down in the gorge meeting instant death. Who is responsible for this? Blue ice or his own adventurist decision? Immediately after this a team of 15 abandoned the expedition and went back leaving six of us to climb. Three Sherpas and three climbers.

We have lost Chhanda Gayen in the past due to her lack of ability to understand her own limitations and the dangers of the mountain. This year I saw a similar obstinacy and adventurism in Piyali Basak. Her experience so far includes just climbing Manaslu. With that experience she went to climb Everest and Lhotse in one go and that too without oxygen. This is not courage. This is senseless obstinacy. I don’t know how many 6000 and 7000 meter peaks Piyali climbed before attempting 8000 meter peaks.

Till last information I am told Piyali has abandoned her expedition and coming back now. She is extremely lucky not to have faced any major danger. I hope good sense will prevail. If she wants to prove herself as a mountaineer she will climb a few 6000 meter peaks, improve her experience and then attempt an 8000 meter peak like Everest. Probably then the regrets and wailings of people like Umesh will reduce.