Mt. Mana

Mana peak at 7274M, is located in the general area of Badrinath in Uttarakhand. Though, this peak is a bigger challenge in terms of technical climb, but its popularity is shadowed by the more sought after peaks like Kamet and Abi Garmin in its neighbourhood.

It can also be better related as being between Mana and Niti passes, two of the better known passes due to their prominence in the trade routes between India and Tibet. Mana also marks the eastern extremity of the Zanskar ranges of Indian Himalayas.there are two known approaches to Mana peak. The eastern approach is through East Kamet Glacier and the southern approach is through Nagthuni and Banke Kund glaciers.

The peak was first climbed in 1937 by Frank Smythe, a renowned climber of that era.The road head for an expedition to Mana peak is at the famous shrine of Badrinath, where besides settling down in the comfort of established camp, the team has the luxury of hot bath in the ‘Tapt kund’ of the famous Badrinath temple, also invoking the blessings of Lord Vishnu at the temple.

The approach to the mountain is along the eastern bank of the river Saraswati which originates at the Mana pass ( the highest pass linked with road now) and vanishes near Mana village. It is believed to re-emerge only at Sangam / Allahabad where it merges with Ganges. The trek along its eastern bank was relatively easy due to an established mule track used by the troops deployed at Mana pass at that time.

However, at one place we had to cross the river by making a tyrolean traverse due to blockage of track due to a landslide. The route took us to Ghastoli and then took a steep turn to the east before heading to Base Camp. Base camp is reached after two days walk and was established at the base of the Nagthuni Gad at around 4300 M.The climb to the peak involved establishing three camps before attempting the peak.

Camp I at 5426 M was reached after a long slog over terminal moraine and criss-crossing numerous crevasses. The camp lies in the vicinity of ‘Gupt Khal’ which can only be seen on reaching the camp location.Camp II at 6035M was reached after a long day over glaciers strewn with crevasses and icy surfaces.

The Camp was located at the base of a steep slope leading to a razor sharp ridge running north to south and also marked the way to the summit of the peak.Camp III at 6706 M was located on a small patch of snow clad, dome shaped feature on the razor sharp longitudinal ridge leading to the peak. The climb to this camp was over a steep slope which was glaciated and crevassed.

At stages, it also involved fixing ropes for the safety of the members. The interesting part of this camp was the constant strong and icy winds and blizzard like conditions and being exposed on the icy ridge. What more can one expect on a challenging mountaineering expedition.This expedition was also selection camp for the forthcoming Everest expedition hence to test the endurance and technical acumen of the climbers, we were made to do load ferries between all the camps several times. This added to the charm of the climb on this mountain. Many of us were nearly done with these load ferries and surprisingly the charm of summit attempt had lost its importance and we all were so tired that going back was a better choice than going ahead just to bag yet another summit.

However, we continued further to weather the challenges of even more severe technical climb ahead. The route beyond Camp III was over a razor sharp ridge, exposed to the elements of weather mainly winds and snow and had steep fall on both sides. We were told this is nothing as compared to what we are likely to face during Everest climb. This definitely was morale boosting during the summit attempt but the immensity of its implication sank in only after the return from the climb.

The last 500 metres of the climb to the summit along the ridge line was on hard ice which necessitated extra care and technical skills in negotiating the slippery hard ice on slopes. We were tired but the tell-tale marks of the previous expeditions raised our hopes and morale as they served as route markers.

The last 50 odd metres was even more challenging as the slopes towards the peak became more steep and slippery with ice. Patience and faith persevered and we were fortunate to reach the top in moderately bad weather conditions.