| 17 Jan 07 |
| This is it. It seems so surreal - sitting in the comfort of a centrally heated hotel room, surrounded by spectacular views, enjoying a hot meal without the effort of breaking and melting ice, and writing the tale of our adventure to the South Pole. What an infinite distance seems to separate that region from these surroundings! And yet, it has only been two weeks since us mavericks were standing proudly at 90º South.
It had been my dream to be at the Gographic Poles one day. Yet, the possibility of the dream turning into a reality! I had brushed that aside with an incredulous look. But everything is possible when you belong to the elite Indian Navy. Opportunites knock the doors regularly, as it did for ten of us. After the successful ascent of Mt. Everest from the North Face in 2004, the Navy was on the lookout for an even tougher challenge. This time we wanted to accomplish that which would place India on the map of extreme sports. A ski tarverse to the Geograpic South Pole seemed to satiate that requirement! One circumstance followed on the heels of another, and everything has turned out so entirely different from what I had imagined.
December 28, 2006, nine naval personnel stood at the bottom of the Earth, unfurled the Indian Flag and then stood tall, acknowledging the success of our mission. The First Indian team to have skiied to the South Pole had arrived, setting many national and International records in the process. What we had been training for, that which we were until now only imagining came alive, realisation hit hard and we were stumped.
Being the expedition leader, I was entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the right men for the task. And what a team we were! While the accepted norm for polar skiing requires focussed training for atleast 2-3 years, we had barely a year in hand. The fact that cross country skiing, while pulling heavily laden pulk sleds, as required for skiing to the poles, is a non existing sport in India, made our expedition that much more difficult to set off.
Apart from physical toughness; mental grit, determination, steely nerves and a killer instinct to succeed were the more crucial factors. That was simple! Scouting for personnel with these attributes in the Navy was not difficult. The Indian Navy Adventure Cell was inundated with volunteer requests, all aspiring for the ultimate glory. After a preliminary screening, 11 volunteers were selected to undergo an intensive physical conditioning camp in Delhi, followed by a 30 day long training expedition into the Arctic region of Greenland icecap in July. That was the real test. Only the best would go further, while one person would have to hang his cap and return homewards.
Training alongside the finest, most experienced Nordic skiing instructors, we were under constant observation. Our training required skiing over 500 km, while manually pulling sleds through isolated terrains in the Arctic. The intense cold, roaring blizzards and the steady uphill gradient made the going tough. But we did not disappoint. We had got our basics right and the instructors were compelled to compliment the team on its performance.
Despite the new found expertise in polar skiing, there was still requirement for us to undergo acclimatisation. This was so since South Pole lies at an effective altitude of 12,000 ft and we would also be exposed to the effects of high altitude. A gruelling 3 week long expedition in the high Himalaya followed, just before our departure. This fit the bill completely and we were ready to go!
Our journey to Antarctica followed the extremely long route via Paris, New York, Lima, Santiago and Punta Arenas. We must have set some long distance flying records, I am certain. The adventure began enroute to New York when Surgeon Lt Ajay Sharma and Rakesh Kumar delivered a baby girl onboard the flight, at 30,000 ft, just two hours short of landing at Paris. An agonizing week long wait in Punta Arenas, waiting for the weather window to open, we could barely sit tight in out seats. Having reached till here, we were raring to go. Finally, we boarded the IL 76 Russian aircraft from Punta Arenas on 12 Dec, taking the final leap into the unknown.
Four and half hour later, we landed on the blue ice runway at the Patriot Hill base camp in Antarctica. The signboard read 80º South. We were now at 80 deg South Latitude. It was our last stop before heading south to Antarctica, where I would lead an expedition attempting to become the first Indian team to reach the South Pole. The temperatures hovered around 12 deg below zero. The Base Camp resembled a tiny township. A melting pot of sorts, with people from various nations, conjoined in their dream to do the seemingly impossible. Some were headed to Mt. Vinson, others like us, were gearing to ski to the South Pole.
Within few hours of setting up our tents the infamous Antarctica weather hit us in full fury. The air became white, temperature plunged to 20 below zero and the blizzard threatened to uproot our tents. Over the next couple of days the storm raged and setting off was not a possibility. After a few days of confinement, on 16 Dec, the twin otter aircraft was finally airborne and from here, there was no turning back. We disembarked amidst huge sastrugis, the uneven surface threatening to give away! 88 deg South around the 086 W meridian was the starting point of our ski traverse. 2º, 250 km and 14 days separated us from our destination. A 40 knot wind howled with the temp hovering around 30 deg C below. The air was riddled with fine snow dust. Our intention was to ski 8 hr each day in periods of 1 hr at one go with 10 min breaks in between each hour. An average of 25km every day was quintessential for us to meet our deadline, without catering for any days lost due to bad weather, injuries or accidents. Skiing was laborious through the soft powdery snow and the sastrugi waves. Utmost attention to techniques and mental grit, kept us on course. Speed variations are common, with fatigue playing havoc in the later days. Additionally, we were ten members as against the usual 4-5 member team. This meant larger cache of food, equipment, tent, fuel, etc that had to be pulled alongwith.
A monotonous landscape, resembling a desert of ice spread around us. Our polkas and tents often added the only hint of color to the barren landscape. It is not a place meant for human beings and nature does its best each day, to assert its dominance. Gone were the airs, the layers of superficiality. What lay bare was the real us. With high spirits and buoyant hopes, we mentally ticked off each day as we began skiing and focused only on our objective. We pulled heavy sleds uphill, following the needle of the compass and the shadow of the sun, heading due south. While we skied no one spoke. With heads bowed, lost in introspection, we watched only the footsteps of the man ahead. As men in uniform, coping with harsh conditions was as natural as sleeping. No one questioned, no whining, we were prepared for this. It is but obvious that each of us, at some point, contemplated our reasons for doing this, but the answer was self evident. All was going on schedule and motivation levels were high. Then, on the 5th day, Lt. Cdr Balaji –Expedition Deputy Leader had to be evacuated and fast. He was rapidly exhibiting symptoms of high altitude pulmonary oedema. Time was of the essence and speedy airlifting ensured that o harm came his way. We lost one more day due to heavy storm. The ice played tricks with our eyes and we observed strange phenomena, shapes materialized out of nowhere, mirages popped out every now and then.
Perihelion, the round circle with four bright spots around the sun, was an amazing sight. The sun always remained above our horizon, relentless, harsh, unforgiving and surprisingly cold. No matter how much we covered up we were perpetually cold. The arid freezing air burnt our lungs. Taking off our ski goggles was not an option for fear of becoming blind due to the glare of the ice.
There was a sense of urgency in our steps. We skied as if chased by death itself. What became crucial was to get this over with quickly. Our average increased and so did the distance covered each day. Even our guides felt that we needed to go slower. But my team pulled on regardless.
This primitive continent has remained unchanged for millions of years and still holds unimaginable number of mysteries that man has only just begun to unravel. There was always a sense of the unknown and the unexpected. For the first time, we truly began to appreciate the struggle of the early explorers. We ourselves often felt like the early explorers in quest of a strange and unknown land. Anything could happen. Even as I looked up at the sky and marvelled at the stark deep blue above, I also knew that we were walking under the larges ozone hole in the world and our skins were being bombarded by countless number of extremely dangerous u/v light rays.
Finally on 27 Dec, Raj Kumar who was leading the last 1 hr stretch suddenly pointed his ski to the horizon and gave a joyful cry. Lo and behold, a tiny white dome sprouted from where he pointed. It was the satellite communication dome of the South Pole Station. 22 kms separated us from the pole. We barely slept that night, the excitement of reaching the pole next day kept us awake, full of anticipation. Next day we were up earlier and started skiing with renewed gusto. The distance was deceptive. Even after several hours of skiing, the dome and the structures barely increased in size. The horizon seemed to be receding. The ice stretched endlessly wherever we looked. We were now at around 12,000 ft and we had to go slow.
Eventually the distant shapes started taking definite forms and colour. At exactly 0200 hrs on 28 Dec 2006, we proudly unfurled the national flag at the South Pole and it fluttered magnificently in the morning breeze. The pole station follows New Zealand time hence it was around 10 am local time. This was our moment, for India, a moment frozen (literally) in time. The national anthem was sung and hailed the Indian Navy. Zillions of pictures were clicked. As we overcame our initial euphoria and my members walked away to pitch tents, I wondered if our journey and our dream had really concluded or was it only half done.
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| 10 Dec 06 |
| Finally the waiting period seems to be getting shorter. The previously delayed flight took off today morning. Though I have been on so many wild adventures and high peaks all through my life, I find the prospect of reaching Antarctica absolutely exciting. I am feeling restless like a kid. As far back I can recall, Antarctica has always been an integral part of my wildest dreams. Antarctic exploration is less than 100 yrs old and most of the 14.5 million sq km of the continent is still shrouded in mystery and speculation. Ground breaking scientific research work is happening around the South Pole. To understand our future we are delving deep into our past, into the ice core several km deep under in the Antarctica ice shelf. I have read about many of these mega projects… among them the neutrino detector seems to be the most fascinating. Our expedition is not only about pulling insanely heavy sleds over some of the most hostile and unpardonable terrains on our planet, but it is also a voyage of discovery of self, of each other and of mankind. Why we are what we are and how did we happen to be here!
It is a great feeling to be right here, right now, when man is poised at the brink of a revolution not only in matters of how we understand nature and the universe but also to use that knowledge to create a future better than our past. And we are venturing into this arena, this amphitheater where the world´s finest brains are working day and night to give shape to our dreams. All my team members are equally charged up. Though the times have progressed and technology has changed many of the ways of polar travel and survival, what it hasn´t changed and will never change are the harsh environment and the human frailty to face it. Therefore caution is paramount and we would tread each ski-step carefully.
We carry the dreams of an entire nation as much as our own since we are undertaking this journey not only for each one of you, but also for ourselves. Words cannot express my feelings when I see our website flooded with wishes and solidarity from an amazing panorama of individuals, encompassing all possible parts of the globe. Many of you are unknown to us, but I hope that you all know us little better through the website, and am fully sure that you would be with us in spirit all through our expedition and your combined prayers would pave the way for us.
Though the sun will never set across our horizon, let me assure you that there would not be any dark moments within any of us since our self belief has been raised to unimaginable heights by the collective belief of the greatest nation in the world… our mother India. Signing off for now… JAI HIND!
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| 06 Dec 06 |
| It has been long two years of endless paperwork, training and lots of support from all concerned not only within the Navy but also from outside, that has brought us here in Chile on our final leg of the ski traverse to the geographical South Pole or Polo Sur, as they call it in local parlance.
As I look back in time, it all started way back in 2004, immediately on our return from the successful ascent of Mt Everest. Navy had its binoculars focused on the next big adventure that would be a befitting sequel to reaching the top of the world. Since the highest point had been visited, we thought of going for the furthest and the remotest point on Earth, the geographical South Pole. Little did we know at that time that the preparation for this expedition would literally drive us to the extremes of our resources just to reach where we are today, right at the bottom of South America, Punta Arenas. I only wonder what lies ahead of us as we would finally depart for the frozen continent in about 72 hrs from now.
Besides the pride of being at the head of the first Indian expedition team to Antarctica, I am proud of my team and their immense abilities to stand up under any conditions of physical or mental challenges. Each one of them is hand picked and trained for the task at hand. It is a dream team and I am privileged to be the leader of such a fine band of young men. I know for sure that the onus of bringing glory to the country and to the Navy rests on able shoulders. For we dared to dream together and now we are about to fulfill it together.
Chile is an enchanted land with amazing landscapes and fun loving people. Though we grope every now and then with our broken and non-existent Spanish, the smiles do the talking. We all have picked up sign language and a smattering of Spanish to wish anyone good morning… even then there are those days when we order something at a restaurant and when we begin to eat, we wonder if that was what we had asked for. Life is fun when it is unpredictable and full of surprises… so on the hindsight we are actually having fun. We put in extended hours of physical exercises. Take long walks with weights along the sea front and watch the horizon turn crimson and then dark as the sun dips so slightly beyond the hills. Seagulls and albatrosses keep us company on our daily meanderings and we also catch once in a while a napping sea lion under the bright sun. We are also reading a lot, to keep our minds agile and robust. Travelogues, biographies, physical science, etc are some of the popular topical books we like to sink into.
I must make a special mention about Avinash, who is making sure, through sleepless nights, that we keep updated and connected to the rest of the world through our website. It was his creation, conception and execution. He is our in house webmaster and a traveling one at that. I still don´t know how he does it all by himself, though he tried real hard to explain the intricacies to me one evening. Though as you must have noticed we have not been so swift in posting our latest pictures from Chile and that is all because of the heavy picture files that we are unable to downsize readily. But we would get there soon. Now I am waiting to see how our wonder boy computer wiz-kid is going to keep the site running from Antarctica. But knowing his and our team´s motto of ´we do the difficult immediately and the impossible takes a little time´, I am sure he would do it somehow. Ajay, our jobless doctor since no one is falling ill, earned us our first laurels when he along with Rakesh, delivered an airborne baby within the airspace of one of the most romantic cities in the world, Paris. It is by now a world wide news, so I will not dwell much on it or the details therein, except reiterate at the end that it is always a matter of time and space, who was where, that either makes us or breaks us and also that God works in mysterious ways. We were not even supposed to be on that flight. But Air India cancelled three of our earlier flights to put us on this one and we realized the justice of the Providence only when Ajay and Rakesh held that beaming bundle of joy.
Rakesh and Vikas are the work horses and I know that when the chips are down, we all would be relying heavily on their ability to stretch their limits beyond imagination. They say little but prove every day that action speaks louder than words. Both are Everest summiteers, and are poised to join an extremely elite group of people on Earth who have been to the top and the bottom of the world. B Singh is the official physical coach for the team and his enthusiasm for his job is really unbound for he takes it very seriously. He devices new exercises each day and makes us run, huff and puff, and bend our bodies at all sorts of impossible angles. I personally creak at places and more than huff at times though. Chirpy Sonam, the bright boy from Ladakh, who was born at around an elevation of 12000 ft, is our cheerleader with his endless supply of sparkling songs and that million dollar smile. Manoj keeps his head down and goes around doing the things that he is meant to.
Two people of our team deserve special mention. I would begin with Raj Kumar. Besides the things that are mentioned in his profile, Raj embodies a never-say-die spirit and I doubt at times, if he has ever heard of the word called impossible. Though I have known him for almost 12 years now, I still have no idea about his resources, but if given a task he gets it done and I never asked him how. He is the bonding glue for the team and his initiative, drive and energy is as infectious as his cheerful self. Finally it is the deputy leader and my second in command, Balaji the quiet and pensive mountaineer, who helps me in every situation and through every scenario with his sound judgments and analytical abilities. I have known him since the days he joined the Navy and I am proud to say that he was my cadet in the Naval academy.
And I would be unjust if I did not mention Gaurav Pande who is not here with us physically, owing to circumstances beyond his control, but certainly in spirit. He was and is a part of this Indian Navy Antarctica Team. We miss him, I do… and we wish him all the best in his present and future endeavors, for success and failures are but the two sides of the same coin. What matters is your unwavering spirit and courage to face life afresh and to embark on another voyage with renewed zeal.
Nothing is complete about the members if we do not highlight the contributions and support of their families, since it is they who suffer in silence, putting up a brave smile and send us their unconditional love and blessings. We are on a dangerous expedition where things can and may go wrong, very wrong, but when I spoke to each one them, they were full of pride for what we were doing and of course with justified anxiety but what touched me most as the leader, was their faith and trust in my abilities to take care of the team. I personally owe them all my thanks for their trust in me, in us and the Indian Navy. I know you all are rooting for this Team India, and let me assure you that we shall succeed. Signing off for now and sending you all lots of warmth and sunshine all the way from the bottom of the world. Take care.
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