How I survived deadly high altitude sickness at 20,000 feet all alone - Stok Kangri (6153m) expedition, Ladakh

In every human’s life, there comes a moment that completely changes you as a person. I experienced a similar moment on one of my expeditions recently and things haven’t been the same thereafter.

In July 2017, I decided to go on a solo expedition to a 6000 meter peak in Ladakh, India called Stok Kangri (6153m). I somehow managed to get a solo climbing permit from Indian Mountaineering Foundation’s (IMF) office in Leh city. Solo climbing permit is very rarely issued nowadays as some irresponsible trekkers venture off into the mountains all alone for showing off without having enough knowledge and get themselves killed. So as a precautionary measure, IMF has started to filter out by interviewing the applicant rigorously. After a 2 hours long interview and discussion, I finally got my climbing permit and I was all set to leave the next day!

The trek begins from Stok village, 15 km from Leh city. The trek up to base camp is very straight forward and easy. It takes three days to reach base camp with proper height gains. I had a backpack of 19kg on my back. Slowly and steadily, enjoying my own company, I reached base camp in 3 days. Base camp is located at an altitude of 5200m (16,500 feet).

Just as I reached base camp, it started raining heavily. It was almost as intense as a cloud burst. I somehow managed to set up my tent and settled in. It didn’t seem like the rain was going to stop anytime soon, but it’s the Himalayas, the weather can turn within a blink. If it was raining at base camp, means it must be snowing high up on the mountain. Everyone on base camp cancelled their summit push and were heading back. I had all the time in the world so I decided to wait it out. I used to lay in my sleeping bag all day, with all the uncertainty and doubt in my mind. I knew because of heavy snowfall up on the mountain, the climb is going to be thrice more difficult than what it’s supposed to be. The trail will have to be broken again. As there were no groups on the mountain at that time, it meant there were high chances that I will have to break the trail in snow up there. Everyone I met on base camp advised me to head down but I wanted to give it a shot at least and reach as far as I could. The bad weather lasted for 3 full days.

Suddenly on the evening of third day, the weather opened up! There were no clouds in the sky. The conditions were perfect. I decided that I should head up the mountain tonight. I asked around in base camp. Only 3 people with their guide had decided to head up that day. They offered me to tag along with them and that sounded good.

We left the base camp at 10pm with 5 layers of clothes, climbing boots and ice axe. The conditions were perfect with the night sky shinning a billion stars over our heads. The other people with me got pretty slow once we reached the glacier at 12am. I decided that I should go ahead as walking slow was getting pretty uncomfortable for me. It is very important to maintain a pace you are comfortable with and the whole point of coming solo was so that I could walk at my pace without having anybody to slow me down. I made my own way through the huge glacier and reached the huge slope that takes you to the shoulder. The slope was full of fresh snow and it was very soft and ankle deep. It meant more effort while climbing. There was no route left as such. I could see the shoulder up in the distance and started heading up there. Breaking trail at 18,000 feet is so much more exhausting than one would imagine. But I loved it. The thought of being all alone on the slopes of Stok Kangri, making your own route seemed awesome! I had a slight headache but that is normal at this altitude especially with the effort I was putting in.

Over half way through the slope, at around 2am, I suddenly started feeling too exhausted. I was not able to walk more than 10 steps at a go. I had to sit on my knees after every 10 steps. Something was going very wrong and was happening really fast! I thought it is just exhaustion and I must push through it. The shoulder wasn’t too far. Reaching the shoulder became a goal now! I gave everything I had in the next hour. Just before reaching the shoulder, I started feeling very dizzy and had a terrible headache. I decided to reach shoulder, sit there and have some food and juice, then decide what to do about this. With one step after the other, I somehow managed to reach the shoulder. After reaching the shoulder, I stood there for 5 seconds, got on my knees and fell on my side. I was unconscious at 20,000 feet with no one around me to help! I was completely out for straight 20 minutes. The extreme cold winds woke me up. I tried to sit. I was shivering uncontrollably. I was experiencing a headache like never before. I could feel the blood throbbing in my brain. I could not think straight. I could see my bag just besides me, I wanted water but I could not decide on how to reach the bag. I could see head torches of the people I had left behind. They were at least an hour away. I tried shouting at them for help. The words that came out of my mouth made no sense. I was trying to say the words right but they wouldn’t come out right. I realized what was happening. I was severely hit by AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) and I was in grave danger. I assessed the situation and came to realization that no one is coming to help me. I am on my own today and only way to survive this if I head down without wasting any time! I somehow managed to get up. I took one look at the summit. It was right there, only 100 feet away! I knew if I continued up, I was never going to make it back. I took my ice axe and started heading down the slope. I was barely able to stand. If I took one wrong step, I would go tumbling down the slope. I had to sit after every 5 minutes. I was getting breathless even by walking down the slope. I could see the glacier far below. It seemed like an impossible distance to cover in my condition, let alone reach base camp! My mind was talking to myself like a crazy person and some of those things made no sense. As I was descending, there were clouds coming in on. I knew I had to move quickly because if there is a white out, I won’t be able to find my way through glacier. I started moving faster. I crossed those people. I told them I wasn’t feeling well and I had to head down.

I reached the starting point of glacier at around 4:30am and to the worst of my fears, there was a complete white out condition. I could not see 10 feet away from me. I was certain that I am not going make it back safely and all this was designed by the nature to kill me. All I knew was the direction I need to be heading to. I removed my compass from my bag and set my bearings and started walking. I started having black outs for 2-3 minutes at a go. I could not remember what happened in those 3 minutes and then suddenly used to come out of it and try to think what just happened? It was like falling asleep while walking but being conscious all the time. I just had no memory of what I did in those 3 minutes. It was getting worse. With my eyes on the compass, I was able to cross the glacier in an hour. From the glacier, it’s still a fair distance to the base camp. Most of it was flat walk. I knew I was close and that I need to push for just one more hour. Sun started to some out and it felt good! I decided to sit for a while and eat some food I was carrying. And then something really strange happened. As I was eating my biscuits, I looked at the east face of Stok Kangri and it suddenly started to talk to me and threaten to kill me. I was hallucinating because of the altitude sickness. I got scared seeing the mountain talk; I got up and started walking without looking back. As funny as it might sound now, it scared the shit out of me. I had convinced myself that now I am going to die because the mountain itself told me. But I soon realized that it might all be hallucination after all. The last 30 minutes before I reached base camp really tested my patience. While going up, I crossed this distance so fast that I didn’t realize how long it was. While coming back, it seemed endless! Always thought base camp will be visible right around the corner ahead but the last corner never came.

I was cursing loudly and was almost about to breakdown and then I saw base camp at a distance. I was finally there. Seeing base camp, I realized I might live after all! I moved as quickly as possible and within no time I was at my tent. I removed the layers of clothes, the shoes and drank a lot of water. There is a small canteen at the base camp, I went in, ordered the cup of tea and slept on their warm seats. They had a hard time waking me up. They fed me tea and some food and later did a basic health checkup. As I had descended in time, I was safe. Now all I needed was some sleep.

In the seven years that I have been trekking in the Himalayas, I never even had as little as a headache and because of that I always thought high altitude can never harm me. Maybe there was this ego building up inside me and the mountain God’s thought I needed to be shown my place. After this incident, things got into perspective and I was able to see my significance on a larger scale and made me realize how little and fragile we are in front of nature. In a way I am grateful that this incident happened to me and I came out much wiser from the mountains than I went in. It was a bitter tasting medicine, but I guess I needed it.

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