Avalanche,falling rocks didn’t deter Everest conquerors

Looking at adverse weather conditions,Zirpe took the tough decision not to summit Everest and return to the base camp instead to manage the team and supplies in case of emergency. The decision proved vital when two team members,Bhushan Harshe and Sachin Deng,fell ill and had to be brought to the base camp for treatment.

On April 27,Zirpe,Chetan Ketkar,Rupesh Khopde and Kami Sherpa were heading from base camp 2 to base camp 3. “We saw a huge mass of ice coming down from Nuptse Peak ahead of us. Initially,we thought of taking a picture but within a few minutes,we realised that the avalanche was heading towards us,” said Chetan.

“Rupesh removed his haversack and lay flat against it. Umesh and Chetan too removed their haversacks,embraced each other and lay flat against an ice-wall. Huge rocks had started falling a few metres ahead of us. We were fortunate to escape with just a layer of powdered snow on us,” said Zirpe.

This was followed by heavy rockfall in the first week of May,also between base camp 2 and 3. “We had to look up all the time and dodge the falling rocks to avoid injuries,” said Anand Mali,one of the teammates. Bhushan Harshe’s helmet cracked when a rock fell on his head,injuring him on his forehead. Another team member,Ganesh More’s jacket tore because of the rockfall. “We had to take a longer route,which increased our climb by an hour,” Zirpe said.

The final climb to the peak seemed almost impossible with no weather clearance. “There was a thin line between deciding to quit or taking the risk of going ahead with it. Medha Khole of Indian Meteorological Department in Pune helped in weather forecast of the Everest South Col route from May 17 to May 21,after which I decided to go ahead,” Zirpe said.

Lastly,after Tekraj Adhikari (Kancha,as he is fondly called),informed Zirpe,who was at base camp that he and Krishna Dhokle had reached the peak on the morning of May 19,communication with the base camp was broken until late in the night. “There were rumours of casualties and it was extremely difficult to spend those 14 hours. We paid $400 to a satellite phone company that had its set-up at base camp to communicate with those who had summitted the peak,” Zirpe said.

After the team returned to Pune,a procession was taken out on Sunday from J M Road to Garware College,where they were felicitated.

The team members were Zirpe,Avinash Faujdar,Rupesh Khopade,Anand Mali,Tekraj Adhikari,Rahul Yelange,Bhushan Harshe,Ganesh More,Chetan Ketkar,Ashish Mane,Avinash Kandekar,Sanjay Doiphode,Mahesh Kalbhor,Paresh Naik,Ajit Tate,Prasad Joshi,Sachin Deng and Surendra Jalihal and Milind Bhanage as filmographer.