/b/ - Random

>>164947(OP)

my father and mother were professional mountaineers, but then you have to settle down for your family.

>>165021

no, they're not near the himalayas. Not to doxx myself, they're not pahari either.

>>165051

so, some background on this: to lead an expedition you need to have qualifications from a mountaineering institute. There are basic courses, after which there are advanced courses, and then can you lead an expedition. My father had passed the advanced courses with flying colours(the highest possible grade), and recommendations written on his grades were 'suitable to lead an expedition' and 'liaison for foreign expeditions'.

So, just a short time after this he went on his first himalayan expedition.

Some details on it: it was supposed to be 30-35 days-ish long and they were supposed to climb an unnamed peak roughly 5,700 metres tall in garhwal himalayas(if you are asking me, how can a peak be recorded and yet be unnamed? there are a lot such peaks, it might have a generic name and designation but no official one). The expedition had him, a guide and a lot of budhaus, among which there was a middle-aged women named (lets call her) divya. They travelled from Delhi to haridwar to gangotri and flagged off the expedition in the train. From Gangotri, they went to gaumukh and from gaumukh they set up camp at raktavarna glacier. (Interesting thing about Gangotri, many people think that's where Ganga originates from -- it even has a famous temple -- but its actually Gaumukh that can truly be called the place where Ganga originates.)

Now, in raktavarna, they're about 8-9 hours away from nearest human settlement and the unfortunate occurs, a complete whiteout. They try to weather the storm for 3 days but it shows no sign of stopping. The guide decides to go ahead with the expedition regardless, but who is willing? the budhaus are tired and wish to return by this point. Then he points toward my father, 'He'll do well' and my father and the guide set off to climb the peak. Halfway across climbing the peak, my father cannot see anything due to the whiteout, so he takes the decision to take off his goggles. Now, at high altitude, UV rays are far more prevalent and can cause a type of temporary loss of vision known as 'snow blindness'. After ditching the goggles he can see more clearly and summits the peak. They return back to base camp and call it a night.

The next morning, he finds that he cannot open his eyes -- well he can, but they burn terribly if he does. He had been snow blinded. They had to return to gangotri and take a bus from there to go back. He tells the guide that he cannot do this because his eyes burn. He then has to traverse down raktavarna and in between gangotri and gaumukh he finds a group of fellow mountaineers who administer him eye drops. He sleeps and finds himself in much better shape the next day. Realising that he cannot stay here for long, he books it to Gangotri(taking about 6-7 hours , and sleeping at some buddhist monastery in the night) ditching the expedition behind .

Via Gangotri he takes a bus and returns home through the usual route, and one would think the story ends here, but there was a name I mentioned earlier, 'Divya', yes! What is her significance to this story? now, this divya knows a guy who works in the local newspaper back at home and she tells him about the expedition, and he promptly drafts a news article about it. Now, my father reads this newspaper back home and is absolutely shocked, why? well not because there was a story about it but because, the story said that Divya had summited the peak, and his name was nowhere even mentioned! even though he(and the guide) was the only one in the party who did!

So, well, this was his first expedition, and I'm omitting a very key detail here: expeditions have leaders, so who was the leader for this one?

My father was the leader. He was only 19 at the time.

>>165126

bumpies for better reach

>>165180

other members of the expedition, 2-3+ times my fathers age. Thats why he called them budhaus

>>165210

not really, its a temporary thing sirs, as for what he's doing now? the usual 9-5 office.

>>165226

first to summit? don't know about that sirs, maybe there was someone else that summited the peak before them, even in the records, nor do I know whether her claim was countered. What I do know is that she wasn't invited next expedition.

>>165239

none of these are the mountain, then what is the mountain? well they are supposed to name it after summitting but they didn't recommend a name. It was unnamed peak xxx something. He doesn't remember it.

>>165250

no problemo, he has tons more.