Young Margao based mountaineer Rahul Prabhudesai successfully summitted the Mt Mera peak (21,500 feet) in the Nepal Himalayas on May 2. Rahul was guided on his summit attempt by the experienced Phurba Sherpa, an Everest summiteer. This is his story
Karsten Miranda
There are some, who follow their dreams and do not let anything get in their way. They have so much passion, that the famous Adidas catchphrase “impossible is nothing” can aptly describe their drive.
Meet 23-year-old, Rahul Prabhudesai. While his home is in Margao, his heart is set on the mountains.
In 2012, he climbed StokKangri (6,157m), the highest trekking peak of India. In the winter of 2013, Rahul summitted Island Peak, a 20,305 feet high peak in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal. In 2014, he was a part of a 5-member team that attempted Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of Europe. In 2015, he completed a 190-km winter circuit of the famous Chadar River in Ladakh, in temperatures consistently minus 25 degree Celsius.
On May 2, 2017, Rahul successfully summited the Mt Mera peak ( 6476m) in the Nepal Himalayas. That’s 21,500 feet! And considerably above the extreme altitude mark of 6,000m.
“It was exactly a month before the start date of the expedition that I decided to attempt Mera Peak, a 21,500 feet high mountain in the Makalu-Barun national park in Nepal. With only a month to go, and having not climbed for over 2 years, I must admit that I was apprehensive about my performance high up in the mountain,” said Rahul.
The son of Margao municipality chairperson, Dr Babita Angle and electrical engineer Dilip Prabhudesai, Rahul underwent a strenuous cardiovascular training to prepare himself for the mountaineering expedition. This is required to build up the body’s capacity to consume oxygen at high-altitudes generally above 5,000m (16,000 feet) particularly when a normal day involves trekking and climbing for over 6 hours with a load of 20-25 pounds on the back. Moreover, building upper body strength with focus on core and back muscles is crucial for the long and repetitive days of climbing in the mountains.
On April 22, Rahul who has represented Goa at the Swimming national games began his quest. His team comprised a Sherpa, two porters and an American, and they left from Kathmandu to Lukla by a helicopter amidst bad weather, the starting point of the 17-day journey. The expedition to Mera Peak starts from the famous Lukla airport in the Solu-khumbu region of Nepal. The 8-day trek to the last village of Khare at 4,900m, followed a long trail from the grand Rhododendron forests of the lower hills through the rocky mist-filled mountains of the Hinku valley to the snow-capped upper ranges of the Nepal Himalayas. The idea behind stretching the trek to even 10 days is to allow the body ample time for acclimatization, the most crucial aspect of safety and health at high altitude,said Rahul. The trek also involved crossing a number of low-lying hills with steep ascents followed by immediate descents only to climb another hill. “Every village that we stayed in was a beautiful experience. The gradual transition of the landscape from lush green forests to frozen mountain slopes unfolded as we trekked to Khare,” added Rahul.
Unfortunately at this stage, the American in their team had to be evacuated due to altitude sickness. This was just the start of their troubles. A day before heading up, the weather forecast showed a gale on the upper reaches of the mountain, a grim scenario compounded by heavy snowfall that had covered the valley and enveloped the mountain right from the glacier leading up to its base.
“As mountaineering pioneers have said, success on the mountain is a correct calculation of the odds that may also include turning back to safety if the weather does not permit the climber to go any further,” quipped Rahul.
They then decided to attempt and reach Mera Peak high camp by skipping the base camp in order to make the summit attempt in the worsening weather; as they felt this was the quickest way to reach the summit and return to Khare safely, before the weather completely blocks any approach to and from the mountain.
From Khare (4,900m), the 2-member team comprising his Sherpa (Phurba Sherpa) an Everest summiteer, and Rahul moved towards the Mera High camp despite weather forecast spelling gales in excess of 80km/hr and heavy snow that had been falling for the previous two days. It took them in excess of six hours to reach the high camp perched at the edge of a large glacier on the shoulder of Mera Peak. With strong winds blowing snow on their faces, their plodded through 2-feet deep fresh snow, but this only served to slow down their progress. While they made it to the camp safely, later that night, a gale was blowing, forcing Rahul to stay awake as the doors of their tent weathered the storm. The summit began the next day at 3.45 am, a delayed start due to persisting high winds. As the smallest team out of the 5 teams that left for the summit, they tried and moved fast in a roped-up fashion for safety. Plodding in 2-3 feet of powder snow, the tiring but enthralling climb riddled with deep hidden crevasses requiring constant trail-breaking, lasted for 6 hours and at 9 am. Phurba Sherpa and Rahul then stood atop Mera Peak. “The weather was clear with the sun blazing over the surrounding myriad peaks including Everest and Makalu. A Japanese and another Indian team made it in the next one hour as we started our descent back to safety. The summit is only half of the way!,” added Rahul.
The descent proved tiring with melting snow sinking every step on the snowfields. “Jumping across smaller crevasses and moving tired legs over deep snow for another four hours brought us back to Khare by 3 pm,” Rahul further stated, while adding that this was followed by a long 4-day trek.
Looking forward, Rahul who holds a Masters degree in sports management from Loughborough University, UK is now thinking about the long road to Mount Everest in 2018. But before that, Rahul will attempt PuthaHiunchuli (Dhaulagiri VI) a peak of height 7246m (23,776ft) in western Nepal in September, this year. Located in the extremely remote region of the Dhaulagiri range, Dhaulagiri VI is a technically and objectively safe peak to attempt as a part of the training programme for Everest. “I aim to summit this peak that almost touches the death-zone. The 24,000 feet mark in altitude is considered as the beginning of the ‘death-zone’, the region where human body is unable to acclimatize and starts deteriorating physiologically,” said Rahul.
