They say that
the mountain climber often climbs the mountain, ‘because it’s there’. But in a
state like Goa, devoid of mountains and challenging landscape along those
lines, inspiring people to take up mountaineering as a hobby may not be the
easiest of feats. Margao’s Rahul Prabhudesai, 24, however, has definitely risen
to the challenge.
Rahul took to trekking when he was in the Himalayas with his
parents, Dilip and Babita, at the young age of 12 years. Speaking on how his
love for mountaineering has grown since then, Rahul says, “I have been to over
five 6,000-metre (more than 21,000 feet) expeditions over the last five years.
Some of them have been in India, such as the Stok Kangri peak in Ladakh, which
I have climbed twice, once as a client, in 2012, with a trekking company, and
once as a guide for the same company, in June-July 2017. I have climbed two
other peaks in Nepal – namely Island Peak in December 2013, and Mera Peak in
May 2017. All these expeditions have been over 6,100 metres (over 20,500 feet).
The expeditions to all the mountains that I’ve climbed have been a part of my
training for an attempt at taking on Mount Everest in March 2018.”
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However, it is his latest expedition that has truly spurred the
momentum when it comes to him, quite literally, making the climb. On September
18, 2017, the International Mountain Guides or IMG (the company that Rahul
climbed with), with its nine climbers and expedition leader Mike Hamil, landed
in the dusty hamlet of Juphal, the entry point into the wild-west of Nepal.
“I was a part of the nine-member American expedition to Putha
Hiunchuli, also known as Dhaulagiri VII, a 7,246 metres (23,805 feet) mountain
that forms the western flank of the majestic yet treacherous Dhaulagiri range.
A peak seldom attempted in the recent years due to its sheer remoteness and the
logistical difficulties of expeditions on the same route, it was IMG’s first
expedition to this remote mountain. We were all assured of a full-blown 30-day
adventure in this pristine yet historically famous region known as the
Dolpo-Shey Phoksumdo National Park. The land of the snow leopard as famously
described in Peter Mathiessen’s national book award winner, ‘Snow Leopard’,
this remote piece of Nepal lived to every bit of our expectation of the
expedition as an adventure.”
The route to Putha Hiunchuli base camp is a 60-mile trek
starting from Juphal at 2,400m above sea level through mesmerising yet
treacherous ravines, along knife-edge ridges, over a never-ending ocean of
loose boulders and scree. The IMG contingent arrived at the base camp (4,950
metres) after nine gruelling days. After some days of rest at the base camp,
the team began the typical acclimatisation rotations up the mountain. With the
summit being in full view from the base camp tent, the mountain literally began
calling out to the climbers, luring them to attempt it. After several days of
moving between camps, the team began to feel a blend of anxiety and excitement
looming over the base camp as they waited for the morning that they would begin
the summit rotation, a single-push for the summit. As the summit night inched
closer, the excitement was palpable, and Rahul barely slept before making a
2:45 am push for the summit, following a quick chaotic preparation for the
surge, under a clear star-studded sky. Rahul was roped in with the expedition
leader and another climber, as they were faster than the rest and at the front.
As the sun broke into the sky, the frigid temperatures improved. However, at
around 9 am, when the team was on the summit ridge, a spindrift picked up,
followed by heavy winds exposing them to vertical drops of over 5,000 feet on
either side. Carefully plodding through knee deep snow and trying to keep the
body weight as much towards the ground as possible to check the winds from
blowing them off the ridge, the first of the group topped out on the summit of
Puthan Hiunchuli at 10 am. The summit was being blasted by 60mph winds, and as
a result, the team had to start their way down shortly thereafter, and made it
back to their base camp the same day itself, after an 18-hour climbing day.
Exhausted by the process, they began their dreaded trek back to Juphal after
two days.
Looking back on his achievement, Rahul says, “Climbing in the
wild-west of Nepal has given me the confidence to attempt Mount Everest in the
spring of 2018 and a successful summit of a 7,000m peak has bolstered my
ambition as well as passion to return to the Himalayas and give my best at
Everest.”
Rahul was initially set to scale the 5,800
metre high Mt Elbrus a couple of months ago. However, owing to inclement
weather, the group he was with was forced to turn back. Mt Elbrus is one of the
seven summits of the world and is part of one of the most-rugged mountain
ranges known as Caucasus Mountains. Had he succeeded in his endeavour, he would
have been the first Goan to have done so. However, his magnum opus of the
mountain climbing world still lies before him, in the form of taking on Mount
Everest, next year. In the meanwhile, Rahul has also begun conducting talks at
colleges and schools in Goa, in the hope of getting more young Goans to take up
mountaineering, so that the community grows
