05/08/2026
On July 31, 2026, the mountaineering world lost the entire 10-member team including NIMSDAI to the devastating avalanche on Broad Peak (8047m) in Pakistan's Karakoram. May their souls rest in peace. Om Shanti !
Now, you may think why would I post this on the page dedicated to Video related work !
If you remember, in my very first letter I had mentioned... Sometimes, I may go off-track a little.
So, today is that Off-Track Day ;-)
I'm equally passionate about Trekking-Writing/Blogging as I'm passionate about Video Making and Editing.
In fact, my interest in all 3 - Trekking, Writing & Videos grew around the same time.
So, today is the time to get familiar with my Trekking-Writing side with a passage from my blog posted on Aug 1, 2016 (10 years ago)
The moment described in this passage was a very defining moment of my trekking life !
So here it is...
Oct 9, 2015 - The day when we crossed over the high altitude 'Rupin Pass'
Today, is the 6th and most important day of our entire trek. The day, when we cross over the highest point of our trek - 4,650 mtrs i.e. 15,256 feet. It would be the topmost altitude that I may have reached till date.
Last night, our camp was at 14,000 feet above sea level. It was a bit up and ahead from 'Rati Pheri' - the usual campsite of Rupin Pass trek. Around 1900 IST, the thermometer in my watch was displaying a temperature of 1.5 degrees. I am sure, it may have dropped even further in the night.
Today, I was the last one to leave the campsite - Around 0700 IST. After walking for about an hour, we reached the base of the pass. From the base, it was a steep ascent angled at about 50 degrees. At this height every step was perilous for me due to the altitude.
I continued slowly but steadily with only one thought in my mind that I need to cross this pass no matter what ! I had cramps in my stomach, cramps in my chest. Never had I felt this way ever in my entire life. They were completely new to me, but the target was in sight... just 100 feet above and that was it !
I was pretty focussed to reach the highest point and cross over Rupin Pass, but these sudden cramps, uh ! Each determined step was taking me closer towards my goal. For last half an hour, I was moving forward and upward taking a bit of rest in between to catch my breath.
In last two days, I had realised that my fitness level was not upto the mark even though I was happy for the fact that I had succeeded in keeping any health issue at bay. For almost an hour last night, I was shivering due to the cold but thankfully did not catch any fever. Apart from my broken knee, rest everything was ok.
While all these thoughts were going in my mind, I heard our guide, Narendra warning "Sir, ruko mat ! Chalo" (Sir, don't stop. Keep walking) I was kind of angry on him, as I was trying my absolute best to move ahead, but these sudden cramps were killing me inside. I looked at him and said, "Bas do minutes" (Just two minutes). He understood and continued moving towards the pass.
I was praying hard for these sudden cramps to go away and not stop me completely in the path. By this time, everyone else from my team had already reached the pass. It was just 10 feet away. Yes, it was that close but I still needed some more time to catch my breath - the cold and the altitude had its effect on me.
After about 8 more steps, suddenly I found myself in the arms of Wayne, who was encouraging me from up there and couldn't hold himself for a little more time. He just came forward and hugged me tight with the joy of me finally reaching the pass.
At that moment, I realised, oh my God, I have done it. I did reach the pass. He had hugged me so tight that I could not tell him, how difficult it was for me to even breathe at that moment. And once he let go, I took a long breath and after about a minute or so, he again came and hugged me and the rest of the team followed.
The first thing, I did, was to look at my watch. It was showing 0857 IST and the altimeter was showing 14,700 feet. I was a bit disappointed, as some of the well known sites had mentioned the height to be around 15,256 feet. I had calibrated my watch from Mumbai itself to ensure I get the proper altitude readings and I had reconfirmed the altitude at Sankri by checking at the forest department board.
From 0 feet to 14,700 feet (15,256 feet as per the documented data) in 8 days. This is the first time ever, I had reached this height, so the moment was really precious !
After couple of gulps of Glucon-D, I looked around and found the mountains were covered with snow. It could have been my first sight of snow clad mountains in such a close proximity, only if I wouldn't have seen them on previous visits to the state of Himachal Pradesh.
I had not fully recovered from my cramps, so asked Wayne to video shoot the pass. It was 9 in the morning. With absolutely no clouds and clear sunny sky, the pass was very much windy and all of us were shivering even with the two layers or clothing.
By the time I heard, "Let's go down and have our breakfast", all my cramps were completely gone. A quick group photo at the pass followed. Soon, we found ourselves descending rapidly. We all knew, as we descend, more oxygen will fill our lungs, which meant less exertion.
Within just 10 minutes, we descended about 400 feet, where our packed breakfast was awaiting us. That's when we realised, we had forgotten something very important ! Something that me and Wayne had dreamt all the time - 'To hoist the Indian flag on the pass'. It was the only thing, which didn't go as planned ! Never mind, there will always be a next Himalayan Adventure...
('Rupin pass trek' lies on a traditional shepherd and hiking route, which starts from Dhaula in Uttarakhand and ends in Sangla in Himachal Pradesh. The path itself is located across mostly uninhabited areas in the Himalayan ranges at an elevation of 15,256 ft (4,650M) above sea level.)
That's all for today !
Next week, we will be back with recent numbers from MadszE page.
Keep reading these letters and keep following...
love always
- Madsz
Letter # 18
