Over the Top

The mountain-bug bit Pettigrew young. As a 11-year-old studying at Nottingham High School, Pettigrew took advantage of the well-stocked library by reading whatever mountaineering literature he could lay his hands on. 8220;Well! I spent more time in the library than in the classroom,8221; he recalls. Prof Finch8217;s Making of a Mountaineer and Jacques Boell8217;s High Heaven became his Bible. 8220;There were these lines from High Heaven which I have never forgotten: 8220;Every man must realise that mountaineering for some is a passion and like Peter Pan, some boys never grow up.8221;

And if growing up means fading of passions, then Pettigrew never grew up. 8220;I might not be so strong now, but my spirit still is. Even now I climb,8221; says Pettigrew, better known in the hills as Pahari Pettigrew Sahib8217;. He scaled Mt. Blanc when he was just 17! At 16,787 feet, the peak may not be one of the highest in the world, but freak weather and sudden downpours makes it one of the most dangerous.

After school, he joined the army in the days of conscription. Posted with the Royal Air Force mountain rescue team, it gave Pettigrew an opportunity to explore the Arctic region of Norway and many virgin peaks. 8220;Of all the sports in the world, the richest and the most detailed is mountaineering,8221; he informs. 8220;It8217;s a whole wide world out there.8221;

In fact, he8217;s perhaps the best person to discern the difference in Kullu over the years. 8220;There are a lot many tourists now and with that there has come deterioration. Look at Everest. There have even been suggestions to close it for five years. Drugs and poaching have also increased in the hills,8221; he says.

But how come he hasn8217;t explored other Indian peaks? 8220;Well! Initially, it was because permission for foreigners was hard to come by. So, I was confined to the Kullu area but it was a beautiful prison,8221; says the mountaineer, who has scaled Deo Tibba, Indrasan, Hanuman Tibba, Kullu Pumori, Dharamsura and Papsura peaks, and has made the first recorded crossing of the pass between the Upper Tos and the Chandra Valley.

It was also in these ranges that Pettigrew had a serious accident in 1967, while climbing Papsura. 8220;I fell 700 metres and suffered a severe injury. I was carried on a stretcher for 15 days before we reached the Lady Wellington Mission Hospital, Manali,8221; he recalls. Four months after the accident, the mountaineer returned to the ranges. And in recognition of the Sikh doctor, Manmohan Singh, who saved his life, he took to wearing a kada.

But what is it that makes mountaineers court danger and climb peaks that elude them time and again? 8220;I think everybody has this feeling of immortality,8221;he explains. Then there is the meeting of unknown friends and friendships forged in dangerous mountains that remain a strong pull.

When it8217;s not the music of the mountains that lures him, it8217;s Western classical music for Pettigrew. And in music too, his favourite is a haunting and evocative Song Of India sung by an Indian merchant in Russia which he bought recently in Vienna. 8220;When I won8217;t be able to come to India, at least I8217;ll be able to hear the song,8221; says Pettigrew as he prepares to return to England.