Basic Mountaineering Course in Kashmir

Its tough to get 35 days leave from work when you are an Assistant Brand Manager. I had been planning to attend a Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) for some time now and had applied for a seat 8 months in advance to the event. Even with such planning I was not able to negotiate the required leave even though my boss had earlier agreed in principle. Irritated, I decided to move on and quit my job. It was not only the BMC that made me quit but I had travel plans following the BMC which were seeming increasingly unlikely if I was to continue working. There were a lot other factors that led to the resignation, so lets not start this note with a tone of- I quit my job for a BMC.

Out of the various options where I may have attended the BMC, I chose the Jawahar Insititute of Mountainerring. (JIM). My selection of JIM was purely based on the fact that I got a seat to attend the July 2016 course. At the time of my application, all other premier Institutes had a far longer waiting list. Also, I had never visited Kashmir, and this was a decent opportunity to spend a month in Sonamarg- a meadow with a mix of lush green slopes and rugged glacier. 

The July course was to start from the 1st to the 30th of July. I reported to the Sonamarg-Thajiwas camp on the 30th June. JIM also has a few other camps, one at Pahalgam and another at a place named Aru. They have the right to place you in one of these camps. I was lucky to be placed at Sonamarg (you'll see in the photos why). Trvelling to Sonamarg is fairly straightforward. Since at the time I was travelling from Bombay, I flew directly to Srinagar and took a cab (3 hr ride) that dropped me in Sonamarg. The camp is walking distance (about 2km) from the Sonamarg market towards Thajiwas glacier. 

The Sonamarg-Thajiwas camp of JIM on a rainy evening.

View towards the other side from the Camp.

The first day at the camp, there were only a handful of us who had arrived in time and on the desired date  (30th June). We were put in one  temporary tent and got to know each other. The next morning we helped out the staff in sorting track suits that were to be given to the attendees. More people kept on arriving at intervals, and over a span of 24 hours, there were close to 75 people as part of the July batch. The gender ratio was 1 female for 10 males. The same evening, we had a fall-in (assembly of the entire batch on the instructors whistle), and were divided in groups of 16-18 pax to be shifted into our tents. Our home for the next month. We are also told to make a 'Buddy' for the duration of the course. A buddy is your partner through the course, you are to help each other out and go through thick and thin together. A buddy is by default the guy who sleeps next to you in your tent. Some of the things you do along with your buddy are- camp duty (night duty for a period of 1 hour anytime between 10pm-5am), help each other out with any emergency, you are even to accompany your buddy to the toilet at night.

The next morning, there was a loud whistle at 7am for a fall-in, I woke up right at the whistle and was half a sleep in line. after a brief by our lead instructor, Soham Ustad, we had breakfast and started out induction process. After lunch there was a lecture introducing us to mountainerring equipment, both ice and snow equipment included. The days of the course were going to split along the lines of- Early morning Physical Training, breakfast, training (rock craft and ice craft), lunch, rest, lecture, games, rest, dinner. The schedule would start at 6am in the morning with fall-in and end with lights out at 9pm. 

The 30 days were split like this- General induction (introduction to equipment, basic techniques of climbing and bouldering, knots and hitches classes, zipline rescue, equipment care and survival on mountains)- 4 days, Rock Craft- 10 days, Ice craft-10 days, Hiking and Trekking- 2 days, and lastly, Tests- 4 days. After the first 4 days of general induction, the group of 75 was split into 4 groups. Two groups would do Rock craft for the first 14 days, while at the same time the other two would do Ice craft and then switch. This was to manage an equal chance for everyone by lessening the crowd at one particular activity.

Rock craft included, rock climbing, rappelling, pitch climbing and bouldering and its theory. JIM shared the rock craft area with HAWS or High Altitude Warfare School of the Indian Army. It was so motivating for us to train on the HAWS rock craft pitches. HAWS is also in Sonamarg, and our instructors at JIM were all ex-HAWS. Just imagine the physical training they put us through each morning, all of them being from an Army background.

Rock climbing at the HAWS rock craft pitches. Spot three guys, two climbing and one rappelling.

Ice Craft included, 10 point, 2 point, 3 point and 4 point climbing. In addition, it included glacier marching and Crevasse rescue. Ice craft is taught through the method of drills, and our instructors being from HAWS, would included pushups on the Glacier (without gloves) as part of the drills. There are a special kind of shoes to be worn on ice, known as LOWA shoes (named after the company that makes them), they weight around 2kgs each. The glacier being 3 km away, we had to trek up till the glacier from our camp with the shoes on. Life is a little tough on the glacier. But hey, wheres the fun if life a isnt a tad bit tough on the mountains.

The walk towards the glacier for Ice craft.

Ice Craft at the Glacier. You can see the despair in some, haha!

At the end of the course, they would test us on the following- endurance- which would be a a run from the camp to the market and back up (around 7km) with a rucksack and sleeping bag and water bottle. There would in addition, be one written test and one oral test. Marks from all theses tests, plus some chunk of marks dedicated to discipline would be added up and you would be given a grade accordingly. Marks above 70 over 100 will qualify you for an A grade. If you get below an A, you will not be eligible to attend any Advance Mountaineering Course from any of the registered Institutes in the country.

There is a closing ceremony on the last day, where a couple of awards are given out and each attendee is given a small JIM blazer badge. You leave the next day for your homes. There was a tad bit extra adventure (not of the good kind) in our return to our homes. The curfew which extended to just after the Uri attack, had started in the middle of the course. During curfew in Srinagar, all traffic movement to and fro from Srinagar happens only b/w 11pm to 12 midnight. The roads are blocked at all other hours. We proceeded from Sonamarg and had jut manage to make the cut and were let loose at 11:56pm. Thankfully we all managed to reach the airport safe and sound.

In conclusion, the BMC at JIM is highly recommended and is the real deal. If you are looking to attend a laid back course and have fun, dont apply here. I believe there is an Institute in Manali that has a less strenuous course design. Maybe that could be an alternative. The utilities are average, there is electricity each evening between 7-9pm. There are no toilets, you have to descend towards the river and find your spot and claim your right. The food is wholesome. There's chicken or meat twice a week. Its much easier for girls at JIM as there is just one female instructor at camp, and she is a sweetheart as compared to the other male instructors from the Army. She is also an Everester and perhaps the most experienced out of all the instructors. There are JIM track suits issued to you, which is the uniform for the entire course. Wednesday and Saturday are non-uniform days where you may wear clothes from home (the instructors are moderately strict about this....depends on their mood perhaps).