Story of Satopanth Peak Climb

When I first heard about Mount Satopanth I was 18. After that this 7075 meter high mountain was my dream as I wish to go on a climbing expedition to mount Satopanth. Finally this dream came true in September 2018. Before I tell my climbing story of Satopanth I wish to tell you my background. I was born and brought up in Mumbai Maharashtra where we live in a Government bungalow as my father was a government servant. Since our residence was away from mountains, my first encounter with a mountain was through television. I remember when I first went to the hills of Sikkim for a family tour I was in 10th standard at that time. Those mountains were so pretty and I fell in love with them. Later I came to know about mountaineering and the Indian Himalaya. Few years later I did my Basic and Advance mountaineering courses from Nehru Institute of mountaineering Uttarkashi. These sources changed my life completely and this was the time when I first heard about a massive mountain in Gangotri area that is Mount Satopanth. When I left Uttarkashi after the Basic course I promised to myself that I will come one day to attempt mount Satopanth and immediately I started planning to go for a climbing expedition in Mount Satopanth.

I started getting the information about Mount Satopanth and checked old reports of the climbing route, Pictures, videos and other information which was available on the internet. I also checked with my friend circle if they have any information about this. Few days later one of my friend gave me the reference of Shikhar Travels who organise fully guided expeditions to mount Satopanth from many years. Without wasting any time I contacted Shikhar Travels and their response was excellent. With no time they replied to all my queries, doubts and guided me about my dream expedition. Shikhar Team was so professional as they assisted me in everything from booking my flight to preparing my stuff/equipment etc. Few days later I booked the expedition with them and now I was waiting for the expedition date.

Finally on 5th of September 2018 I flew from Mumbai to Delhi the same day I met other climbers in New Delhi. Next two days were planned for driving from Delhi to Uttarkashi and spending one night in Rishikesh to break the journey. Upon arrival in Uttarkashi we were joined by Shikhar team which was our host agency Now we were total 13 people Out of 1, five were climbing member and Mr. Sunil Bisht was our expedition leader and 3 high altitude sharpa (HAP) , one cook and his assistant (Pasang Sherpa and Kamal) , one Shikhar escort to organize everything and last but not the least one Doctor. Next day on 08th Sep. we completed the formalities and paper work of the expedition in Uttarkashi and got ready to drive to Gangotri.

Once we arrived at Gangotri our actual expedition started from there we left our vehicle and started our first day of trek to a place called Bhojwasa at the altitude of around 3800 meters. The very next day we trek to Nandanban and the weather was cloudy that day, hence we cannot see Mt. Satopanth. Next morning on 11th Sep. we trek to the base camp of Mount Satopanth which is also called Vasuki tal it is around 4900 meter high from sea level. When I saw Mount Satopanth for the first time from the base camp it was amazing and I started dreaming that one day I will be on the top of the mountain and I was so happy to have a feeling like this. One of our team members was not feeling well as he was having headache and vomiting immediately Shikhar staff came to know about this and he was sent back to Gangotri with one of HAP (Nima Sherpa) to take some rest there and get well acclimatized.

Once we reached the base camp our low altitude porters left us and went back to Gangotri to do their daily routine work. Now we were 11 people in basecamp with the dream of climbing Mount Satopanth in the next few days.

I was aware that climbing Mount Satopanth is not an easy one, This Mountain will test my body, mind, patience, fitness and skill. So I was prepared accordingly as if we will not succeed this time I will definitely come next time as mountains will always be there and we humans have to make our mind that perhaps this is not a right time to climb let’s give up and come next time. I was also happy with myself because I chose one of the best agency for my dream expedition who have the best team of guides and Sherpas and have great experience of climbing.

In the next few days we were in base camp and getting well acclimatized and taking pictures of mount Satopanth and surrounding area and enjoying a great meal of our star cook Pasang Sherpa. We were also discussing the route, climbing difficulty, and plan of climbing with the expedition leader and Sherpa team. Our 5th climbing member was also back to base camp with this supporting HAP which was good news for us. Meanwhile Shikhar’s team were opening the route led by senior expedition leader Sunil Bisht he was assisted by all three high altitude Sherpa’s. They managed to establish camp 1 on 17th of September and continue to open the route for camp 2. Now it was our turn to reach camp 1 which was at the altitude of 5800 meters. We did it with no difficulty. We spent one night before moving back to base camp to load ferry. Till now all 5 members were fit and fine. We were continually communicating with the Base camp team and the route opening team with walkie talkie.

After two days our route was ready till camp 2 as the Shikhar team did a great job although the weather was not good and they had some tough time while opening the route to camp 2. There was snowfall during the day but they managed to open the route to camp 2. I believe it was 20th of September when we started the climb from Camp 1 to climb 2 and we reached there at 3 PM. We also carried our stuff to camp 2 which was at the altitude of 6150 meters. Next 2 days the weather was not pleasant, it was very cold and windy. There was around 1.5 feet of fresh snowfall and we were almost struck there in camp 2. When we were almost thinking of calling off the expedition due to bad weather, surprisingly on 23rd Sep it was a clear sky. We were very happy to see the weather. Later Mr. Bisht called all members and supporting team for a quick discussion about further plans and we discussed and finalized that we will go to camp summit together as we are running out of time and we will start climbing today morning only. With no time we got ready and our leader with Sherpa started opening the route and we followed them. I believe it was around 3:30 PM on 23rd Sep when Mr. Bisht (our leader) shouted and said “we have reached the summit camp and we should stop here and set up our summit camp and spend the night here.” We immediately set up the summit camp. It was around 6400 meter.

Our leader was getting the weather report from base camp via satellite phone as we have satellite phone at the base camp who were getting the weather report from Shikhar office Delhi.  Mr. Bisht called to base camp through walkie-talkie and asked about the weather and he came to know that tomorrow is the only day when we should attempt the peak as day after tomorrow onwards the weather is continuously bad for 4 days. Mr. Bisht shared this information with us and told us that we should leave for the Summit tonight itself. We agreed with Mr. Bisht and catch some rest before getting ready to final push.

There were 6 people including our leader and HAP (High Altitude Porter) who started around 12:30 Am on 24th of September 2018 from summit camp to summit of mount Satopanth. As two of our climbers were so tired that they did not want to continue for the summit hence they stayed in summit camp and one Sherpa was also left behind to take care of them.

Climb from summit camp to summit was challenging for me as I was last to reach the top. One of our members was also not feeling well while climbing and he wanted to return back to summit camp. This happened after 5 hours of climbing hence our expectation leader sent him back with a Sherpa to summit camp to take rest. Now we are 5 members only and still have 30% to climb. We climbed the whole night and until the next morning when I saw Mr. Bisht reach the top around 1150 AM he was waiting for other members to reach there. I think I was 100 meter down from the summit when I was completely tired and exhausted. I couldn’t take it further anymore Hence I told my HAP I want to quit now. He pass this message to Mr. Bisht, Immediately Mr. Bisht came down to me and told me “No problem sir please take a rest it is less than 100 meters now you can do it, Don’t give up”, but I refused. He motivated me again and I started climbing again. I think in the next 20 minutes I was at the top. When I checked my watch it was 1215 PM and finally I had reached the summit and my dream came true. We clicked pictures there and hugged and congratulated each other.

Now it was the time to turn back Mr. Bisht told us that we have made the summit congratulation to all but descending is more difficult than ascending so we have to be very careful so the plan is I will come last and my assistant Nima will lead and all the members will follow him. We started from there around 1238 PM and reached the summit camp at 05:47 PM. In the evening. Since we were so exhausted and tired, we were asleep in no time. After some time our expedition leader came to me and told me that I should have some dinner now, thanks to our Sherpa team who cooked for us. After dinner we go to sleep again.

Next morning on 25th Sep we started to descend back to basecamp today our expedition leader was in the front. We stopped in between for a quick lunch in camp 1 which was prepared by the expedition leader. Our Sherpa team wind up the summit camp and other Camps so they were behind us. We reached the base camp at 5:15 PM and had a warm welcome by the basecamp team. We had tea and snacks followed by an early Dinner. Our Sherpa team will also reach after the base camp by 0730 PM. We shared our climbing story with the base camp team and everybody was so happy to know that. Next day we took a rest in base camp.

Next morning on 27th Sep we were flabbergasted to know that we are going back to Bhojbasa as porters will be at base camp by 11 AM so we packed our stuff and started our trek to Bhojbasa. We met the porter en-route around 4 PM. We reached Bhojbasa and established the camp for overnight stay and we received our bags around 6 PM. In the evening we got delicious food after so many days of climbing.

Next morning on 28th Sep we trek back to Gangotri from where I stop around 30 minutes to call my family and friends to give good news about the expedition’s success. Later we drove from Gangotri to Uttarkashi and spent the night in a resort. Today again we had a great meal and all our team reached Uttarkashi on time and we had a small party followed by cake cutting and Dinner.

Next morning on 29th our expedition was finished and we were on the way back to Delhi We drive from Uttarkashi to Haridwar and then take train to reach Delhi After spending a night in Delhi next morning we went to IMF to met Indian mountaineering foundation official we share our report, pictures and Videos of expedition. They congratulated us for our achievement and we were also very happy to receive the compliments. Same day we had a Lunch party with the Shikhar office team and operation team in New Delhi. We shared the memories of climbing and clicked some beautiful pictures. Finally we thanked all the Shikhar team for making this possible and for their great services. Later in the afternoon I took my flight back to mum Mumbai and started my normal day to day life.