How mother nature made me push to my ultimate limits- Stok Kangri (6153m) expedition

It was 2013. I had just started with my college. Simultaneously I was falling madly in love with trekking and outdoors. Almost every weekend I used to travel back home 600km for a 2 day trek. I had done a couple of Himalayan treks by then and I was looking for a ‘great adventure’. That’s when I stumbled upon the peak Stok Kangri, one of the highest trekkable summits in the world.

That caught my attention and since then, it became almost like an obsession. In college I didn’t have the resources to fund my expedition so I had no choice but to wait until I was earning or figured something out. Towards the end of my college, I started working for an adventure company and suddenly this dream of mine seemed like a possibility! It is a very long and an interesting story on how I went about planning and preparing for this expedition and everything that went around it, but it is for another blog. For now I will skip directly to the expedition.

I had joined a trekking company and I was accompanying 25 fellow trekkers (nightmare) who had the same dream as I did, reaching to the summit of Stok Kangri peak! The trek up to base camp is a pretty straight forward three day hike. Upon reaching the base camp which is at an altitude of 5200m (16,400ft), we rest and acclimatize for two days.

On the second night at around 10pm, we left for our summit attempt. As the night progressed, out of 25 people, one by one started to give up and head down for various reasons like exhaustion, sleep deprivation, cold and symptoms of high altitude sickness. People who I thought would definitely make it to the top were turning around and that scared me. But I was not focusing on it and was rather focusing on the climb ahead. As I was getting higher, I was feeling stronger and more confident about my chances of making to the top. This was the first time I was exposed to such high altitudes and my body was adapting to it like fish adapts to water and I was loving it.

We had been climbing slowly and steadily all night now and we were just on the very steep slope that leads to the shoulder below the summit. The dawn had just cracked in the horizon. When my tired eyes saw first rays lighting up the Himalayan Mountains around me, I was awestruck by the beauty and got energized at the same time. To capture this amazing moment, I took out my DSLR camera and took a few shots.

Just as I was keeping my camera inside, the snow below my feet gave away and I went down tumbling, sliding and bashing on the snow slopes. I lost the trekking poles that I had in my hand, my gloves came off and camera was sliding down the slope with me. I tried to stop myself but I was just too fast. I thought in my mind its over today! But that was not my time to die and luck was on my side. There was a guide right below where I was falling and he heroically stopped my fall and saved me. There was a huge rock just 10 feet away from where he stopped me. If he was even 1 second late, I would have bashed into the rocks at a lightning speed. He held my head and tried to make eye contact. I was dizzy and out of breath. I told him I am alright and he sat down next me and gave me water. I got my breath in control and thought about what just happened! I fell for 300 feet down a bloody mountain and I am unhurt. I have no idea what got in my head at that moment but I started laughing at the situation. The guide thought I have lost it for sure and told me to head down to base camp and that my summit attempt was over. The laughter suddenly stopped. These were the words I never wanted to hear. I was finally on the slopes of a mountain I had been obsessing over since last 4 years. I told him NO! And as long as we don’t cross our turnaround time, I am going to move forward and head up because I had waited too long to be up here and I was willing to give all I had to make it!. I was physically completely fine; though mentally I was very shaken up, I didn’t show it on my face. After a long argument, he agreed with me and I slowly started to head up again.

I had lost all confidence in that fall and in the back of my mind I was very unsure about the climb now. Suddenly I felt very exhausted and started getting out of breath very soon. My speed got very slow. I had to move quickly to make it before turnaround time. My hands had gone numb because I had no gloves now! I sat down and gave up twice between the shoulder and the top. The summit appeared so close but I was not able to reach it and the distance didn’t seem to get any shorter. I was cursing on the situation and myself. Turning around seemed a lot more easier.This is not how I had imagined this climb to go but that’s how it was! When I reached the final summit ridge, I could see the prayer flags on the top and I realized I will make it. Slowly and steadily I climbed up the summit slope and made it to the top! I had tears in my eyes and was over joyed. I knelt down on the summit and when I got up, I saw the view that I was longing to see from a long time, a view that I had only seen in pictures. All that trouble seemed absolutely worth it and I would go through it again if I have to.

For many, such an incident would stop them from trekking or climbing and it would be logical to do that. But it did the opposite to me. I realized that I am capable of pushing myself to my absolute limits when the time comes and if a near death experience didn’t shatter my belief in me, nothing ever will!

Stok Kangri hasn't been a very kind mountain to me. I attempted this peak solo this year and I came back with a story to tell. Here is link to the blog I wrote about it.
https://steemit.com/travel/@itsparthhi/how-i-survived-deadly-high-altitude-sickness-at-20-000-feet-all-alone-stok-kangri-6153m-expedition-ladakh

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