EXPLORATION OF DEBSA PASS.

WE THE MEMBERS OF HOWRAH MOUNTAIN LOVERS,WEST BENGAL,INDIA, ORGANISED AN EXPIDITION CUM EXPLORATION FOR SEARCH OF A SUBSTITUTE TREAKING ROUTE WHICH WILL BE EASIER TO TREAK FROM KULU DISTRICT TO KAJA, (SPITI DISTRICT) IN HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA, WHICH SHALL BE AN EASIER WAY TOWARDS SPITI (KAZA) FROM MANIKARAN (KULU), IN THE HIMALAYAS. ALREADY THERE IS A POPULAR PASS NAMED PIN-PARVATI PASS.BUT IT IS A TIME CONSUMING TREK.

THUS WE STARTED OUR JOURNEY ON PRE MONSOON 1992, AT THAT TIME, WE DIDN’T HAVE SUFFICIENT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS ROUTE & OUR HOMEWORK WASN’T UP TO THE MARK. WE ONLY HAD SOME ARTICLES AS REFERENCES IN OUR HAND,THAT WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO EXPLORE A TOTALLY NEW ROUTE OR WAY TO CROSS HIGH RIDGE AT ABOUT 17,000 FEET, ULTIMATELY FROM “KACHH”( FOR THE 3 CONSECUTIVE DAYS) WE TRIED TO FIND OUT A WAY, BUT FAILED. IT WAS ME (P.N.GHOSH) & T.R.THAKUR OF MANALI, WHO REACHED A COL, AT THE HEIGHT OF 17,500 FEETS. AND IT WAS A VERY RISKY ATEMPT BY US, WHICH COULD HAVE RESULTED TO BE FATAL. WE CLIMBED UP A STRAIGHT ROCKY MASS & EVEN CROSSED A WATERFALL ON THAT ROCKY WALL. THE COL WAS NAMED BY ME AS ‘GHOSH’COL. IF WE CLIMB DOWN FROM THE COL, WE HAD TO CLIMB UP AGAIN ANOTHER COL TO REACH WEST DEBSA GLACIER. BUT THAT WAS NOT OUR DESIER GOAL. ON THE FOURTH DAY, I DECIDED TO COME BACK, & CALLED OFF THE EXPIDITON. REFER FIG. 1 & 2

 

THEN &THERE I PROMISED MYSELF TO RETURN AGAIN WITH COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE AREA AND ALSO OUR DESIRED PASS. THEREFORE ON 1993, I VISITED THE MAP SECTION OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY, KOLKATA. AND TRIED TO SKETCH THE CONTOUR MAP OF OUR SPECIFIED AREA, AND FOUND THE EASIER ROUTE. IN POST MONSOON, MYSELF AND T.R.THAKUR & HEM CHAND OF MANALI, STARTED OUR VENTURE FROM DWARI THACH, INSTEAD OF KACHH THACH ON 4^TH OCT. IT WAS ME WHO LED THE TEAM ON THE ROUTE AS PER MY SKETCH, AND WE FOUND THE BEAUTIFUL CAMPING GROUND, ON THE RIGHT HAND RIDGE OF PARBATI RIVER. NEXT DAY, WE CAMPED THERE. ON 6^TH OCT WE WENT TO MY TARGET PEAK, 5,160 METRE WHICH IS OF VERY PROMINENT PINNACLE SHAPE. IN MY MIND AS WELL AS MY SKETCH, I ASSUMED THAT THE ONLY ROUTE SHOULD BE THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS PINNACLE PEAK, & WE SHOULD GO UPWARDS, FOLLOWING THIS ROUTE. SOMETIMES OUR WAY WAS VERY STEEP, WE EXPERIENCED AN ICE FALL THERE, SO WE HAD TO USE CRAMPRON ON OUR CLIMBING BOOTS. AS I WITH MY TWO HAPS HAD CLIMBED ICE WALL MANY TIMES BEFORE, WITHIN FOUR HOURS, WE REACHED THE PASS WITHOUT ROPED-UP. IT WAS AN EXTREME HAPPY FEELING FOR US, BEING ABLE TO EXPLORE A NEW PASS. AND WORSHIPPING GOD, CLICKING PHOTOGRAPHS FOLLOWED OUR ECTASY ON OUR SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT, AND THERE ITSELF, I NAMED IT “DEBSA PASS”. AFTER STAYING THERE FOR HALF AN HOUR, WE CAME BACK TO OUR CAMP 1(ONE) SITE, WITHIN 1 HOUR, & DECLARED THAT WE HAVE EXPLORED THE PASS. I THOUGHT I WILL TAKE ALL THE MEMBERS OF OUR TEAM, TO OUR EXPLORED PASS, THE VERY NEXT DAY. BUT IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, BECAUSE REST OF THE 2 MEMBERS (J. SIRCAR & S. MITRA) OF MY TEAM WORRIED ABOUT THE CONDITION ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PASS, AND DOUBTED WHEATHER, WE WOULD FIND ANY ROUTE TO THWAK DEBSA, OR NOT. I TRIED TO CONVINCE THEM, THAT IT WOULDN’T BE THAT DANGEROUS IF WE ATTEMPTED ONCE,AND GOD FORBID IF CALCULATIONS DIDN’T MATCH THEN WE SHALL RETURN THROUGH THE SAME PASS WE EXPLORED JUST SOME MOMENTS AGO. BUT IT WAS ALL FOR VAIN. T.N.THAKUR INSISTED THAT BOTH OF US SHALL GIVE IT A TRY, I.E. TO CROSS THE PASS WITHOUT THEM. BUT I WAS COMMITED TO MY CLUB, TO CROSS TOGETHER, & NOT WITHOUT THEM. THEREFORE WE RETURNED BACK, THAT YEAR. REFER FIG. 3, 4, 5

AFTER THE PHOTOGRAPHS CLICKED ON THE PASS, WERE WASHED, I SHOWED THEM TO THE MEMBERS OF MY CLUB. AND THEN THEY AGREED THAT THE PASS WAS EXPLORED, BUT AS ON DATE WE DON’T HAVE  ANY INFORMATION ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AFORESAID PASS, WHICH HAPPENED ONLY BECAUSE OF THERE UNJUSTIFIED WISH. I WAS THEN VERY MUCH DISTURBED AS I TRUSTED THEM, AND KEPT MY COMMITMENT TOWARDS THEM, WHEN T.N.THAKUR TRIED TO CONVINCE ME ON CROSSING THE PASS WITHOUT THEM, I TURNED DOWN HIS IDEA, LISTENING TO WHICH WOULD HAVE DONE WONDERS.

IN 1994, MR. AMIT MUKHERJEE, AGREED TO JOIN ME TO GO TO KAZA, WE WENT UPTO GULING, WE ENQUIRED ABOUT THWAK DEBSA, BUT INITIALLY NO ONE WERE AWARE OF IT, WE DECIDED TO COME BACK FROM GULING WITHOUT GETTING ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THAWAK DEBSA, AT THAT TIME A VILLAGER CAME BEFORE US AND INFORMED US THAT THERE IS A VILLAGE NAMED THAWAK DEBSA, ONLY FOUR FAMILIES WERE THERE.

IN 1995, OUR TEAM CONSISTING OF MYSELF, S. MITRA, J. SIRCAR REACHED MANIKARAN ON 14^TH SEPTEMBER. WE STARTED TO TREK IMMIDIATELY REACHING BARSENI BY 4:00 P.M. DURING THE NEXT THREE DAYS, WE PROCEEDED UP THE PARVATI VALLEY IN EASY STAGES MAKING NAKHTAN, TUNDABHUJ & THAKURKUAN. AFTER A DAY’S REST, WE PROCEEDED TO A CAMP SITE AT DWARI THWACH. ON 19^TH SEPTEMBER, WE REACHED CAMP 1 SITE OF 1993. 20^TH SEPTEMBER I MADE THREE PAIRS OF CRAMPRON READY FOR OUR TEAM MEMBERS, ROPE & CARABINNER FOR ICE CLIMBING, AFTER TAKING LUNCH WE THE WHOLE TEAM STARTED TO CROSS THE DEBSA PASS. THAT DAY SANJU AND JOY WERE VERY SLOW, SO WE WERE BOUND TO MAKE ANOTHER CAMP AT A HIGHT OF 16700 FEET. ON 21^ST WE ALL REACHED AT DEBSA PASS AT 4:00 PM, I HAD TO GIVE A TREMENDOUS EFFORT TO MAKE MY CO MEMBERS CLIMB THE PASS, AS THEY WERE UNABLE TO DO SO BY THEMSELVES, & AS T.R.THAKUR DIDN’T AGREE TO PULL THEM UP TO OUR DESIRED POINT. THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY FOR ME; I HAD TO PULL THEM UP BY THE USE OF BELAYING ROPE. AFTER HAVING CROSSED DEBSA WE CAMPED ON WEST DEBSA GLACIER. ON 22^ND WE WERE HOPING TO REACH THWAK DEBSA, BUT AGAIN FOR THEIR INCAPABILITY WE HAD TO CAMP AT 14500 FEET. ON 23^RD WE STARTED OUR TREK AT ABOUT 8:00 AM, ACCORDING TO MAP, AFTER ONE HOUR OF TREKKING WE FOUND THWAK DEBSA, 6135 METRE PEAK, TWO SMALL STREAMS, NEXT BAULI KHAR, AT 3:00 PM WE REACHED WOODEN BRIDGE ON KHAMENGER NALA. HEREAFTER THE ENSUING STREAM IS CALLED PARAHIO.WE PLODDED ON TO THE SMALL HAMLET OF THANGO OPPOSITE THE CONFLUENCE OF THE KILLUNG NALA AND THE PARAHIO. STARTING FROM THANGO AFTER A NIGHT’S REST HERE, BY EVENING WE WALKED INTO GULLING, THE BUS HEAD FOR KAJA. REFER FIG. 6,7,8,9