The Abode of Snow

Painting by Nicholas Roerich.

“Tse –tso , Tse-tso”, the old Sherpa chief chanted, throwing rice in the air. Then, he managed to light incense or juniper leaves as an offering to the sacred mountain.

“tse-tso, tse-tso”.

In Tibetan, the chant meant “long life, long life.” This served as a prayer ritual to the mother goddess. Rightly so, the treasure of the five mountains- the Kanchendzonga was the guardian deity of the local inhabitants of Kumsa.

At an altitude of about 14,000 ft, the local residents of the village always started their day by offering prayers to the sacred mountain .the Kanchendzonga basked a golden hue in the rays of the rising sun which seemed to gently kiss the mountain top.

Thondup, a nineteen-year-old boy, after having served hot butter tea to his grandparents, prepared to start his day. Thondup was a young man, fair in complexion and physically fit. His jet-black eyes and a slightly arched nose sat in perfect unison with his other facial features. His bulky frame was supported by his ‘mountain bred muscles. He lived in one of the cottages with his old grandparents. His father, the great Pemba Sherpa had been a great mountaineer until two years ago when he had a fall while trying to climb the Chomolungma (Mt. Everest). Pemba had slipped into a coma and had died after a month. Thondup’s mother had left him with his grandparents after her husband’s demise. She had not returned since then. Thus, the entire responsibility of sustaining the family fell upon Thondup who was the sole ‘breadwinner of the family. Primarily, he travelled to and fro between Kumsa and Phalla, transporting goods but he always dreamt of accompanying mountain expeditions, just like his father. His dream was about to turn into reality, for he had received a letter two days ago. Thondup had been requested to guide the expedition team along the route to the summit. Thanks to his father, Thondup knew the route too well. His late father had drawn and plotted several route maps at home.

“Good boy Thangu,” Thondup said, caressing the rough coat of their pet Tibetan mastiff. The furry coat of the animal emitted a foul odour as a result of not having taken a bath for a long time. After having put on his warm inners and a wind-cheater, Thondup called out to his Grandparents.

“Grandpa and Grandma, I’m going over to meet the new team of mountaineers who have arrived in our village yesterday. ”

“And who are those people?” grandpa asked, sipping his warm butter tea.

“Actually, they are a team from Darjeeling,” Thondup replied.

“When will they begin their climb?”Grandma asked, peering through her spectacles.

“I will be accompanying them tomorrow” Thondup replied.

“But why? They will take you as a porter and they will even mistreat you. Why didn’t you tell us?” Grandpa asked in a concerned tone.

“I’m not going along as a porter but as a guide and they won’t ill-treat me, after all, I am the son of the great Pemba Sherpa.” Thondup shot back.

“But..the last time…”, Thondup interrupted “No, no. I know what I’m doing.”

Saying this, Thondup stormed out of his cottage, the icy wind greeting his angry face.

Deep within her heart, Grandma felt a chill. She did not want to lose another son again. Her face bore a  sad look as she clutched her prayer beads, in prayer.

by Nicholas Roerich

Kumsa was an idyllic village set at the foot of the Kanchendzonga, a mere six kilometres away from the advance base camp. It housed a meagre population of over sixty people who resided in wooden cottages. The barren land yielded nothing, therefore the villagers owed their sustenance to the numerous mountaineering expeditions that would arrive every summer to scale the summit. A neat row of wooden cottages lined the kutcha road over the barren hillside. Phalla, the nearest settlement was a day’s journey from there and the only means of transport was yaks. Cut off from the rest of the world, the people of Kumsa used their ingenuity to survive in this replicated ‘hell of ice’.The prayer flags or dhwajas fluttered in the air as icy winds lashed against them. Thondup walked along the path and stopped before an old and dilapidated wooden cottage.

“Is anybody there?” Thondup knocked at the door.

After a while, a huge man opened the door.

“Who are you?” the huge man demanded.

“I’m Thondup, your expedition guide,” he replied trying to sound firm.

“Please come in Thondup,” the man said as he called Thondup inside.

The room was pitch dark, except for a small solar-powered lantern that was lit at a distance.

“Hello, I’m Palden, the head of this expedition and I hope that you received my letter last week.” The man said as he held Thondup’s gloved hand in a firm handshake.

“Yes, I did receive your letter. So, where are the other team members?’Thondup asked.

“They are resting inside. They are tired.”Palden said as he motioned to the adjoining room.

Palden was a giant. His towering figure of 6ft 6 complemented his muscular build. Aged about thirty-five, he was one of the instructors at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute at Darjeeling. Apart from being a distinguished mountaineer, he was also a strict disciplinarian.

“The weather gods have been favourable enough, so I think that we can proceed to base camp tomorrow,” Thondup said.

“And….. what about the cost?” Palden asked hesitatingly.

“We will discuss that along the way tomorrow,” Thondup replied.

“Fine then, see you tomorrow.”

Thondup could not sleep. He twisted and turned in a desperate bid to sleep. His excitement got the better of him as he sat up and stared out of the window. It was pitch dark outside- very much like the uncertain future that awaited him. He put on some warm clothes and slung a rucksack over his shoulder. Before leaving, he tip-toed into his grandparent’s room and kissed them on their foreheads, careful not to wake them up. At the door Thangu, his faithful friend awaited him, wagging its tail.

“You cannot come along today,” Thondup told his furry friend. Thangu whimpered, as if in protest.

The road outside his house was completely deserted except for some yaks who were asleep on the roadside. One of the yaks got up to look at Thondup as he passed by but went back to sleep- uninterested. Thondup assembled the porters and their yaks. They were soon joined by Palden and the others.

The fifteen member expedition left for base camp at 4 am. They braved through the howling winds and walked towards the base camp, mounted on their yaks. After a long journey of twelve hours, they reached the base camp. At base camp, they had a short briefing session. Palden took out a map and laid it out on the table.

“Attention everybody,” Palden commanded.

"We will divide our route into four parts. The first camp will be at 12,000ft, our second camp will be at 13,100ft, our third camp will be at 13,600ft. and our last stop will be at 13,900ft”.

“And,” Thondup continued “We will follow the southern route along the less steep slope.”Thondup drew a line on the map.

Weeks after the entire team had completed practice climbs, everybody had acclimatized to the prevalent weather conditions. The entire team set a date for the climb. Equipped with the necessary equipment, the team left base camp at 5:00am the next morning. Thondup led the group up to camp-I which was situated at an altitude of 12,000ft above sea level. They pitched their tents on a relatively lower slope on the ice. They assembled in Palden’s tent. Laying out a vast array of climbing equipment, Palden spoke up, "At seven tomorrow we will move to camp-II. The journey is short but challenging. There are a lot of vertical blocks of ice.”

“Our real challenge lies there” Norbu, the equipment specialist spoke up "the lead climber has to make small incisions on the ice and secure safety knots. The others will have to belay our members to the top.”

by Nicholas Roerich

The rock face was quite steep. Palden was upfront, anxious to take his first step. He looked up at his formidable opponent. The gigantic ice block seemed to rise up to fifty meters and there was very little margin for error. The skies were clear and the sun was overhead. Palden struck his pickaxe on the ice. Then bit by bit he got a steady foothold on the wall of ice. He tied safety knots after every ten metres and belayed his fellow teammates along. Thondup heaved a sigh of relief as he belayed the last member to the top.

The vast plain of ice stretched out far and wide. The peak seemed quite far away and many dangerous crevasses lined the ice floor.

“Congratulations, team for the successful climb. Welcome to camp-II.”Palden said. The team pitched their tents on a stable spot. The icy winds seemed unbearable so the entire team kept indoors in the evening. Their small tents shook convulsively as the howling winds battered them.

Palden addressed the team through his walkie-talkie “Tomorrow is the most challenging day of our climb. Once we cross the fifty-meter barrier, there is no turning back. It is either do or die. The winds are far too fierce up there and there are a lot of crevasses and unstable ice. ”

The light of day dawned over the mountains as the team members prepared to leave. They were fully clothed in mountaineering apparel and they also carried a rope along with their cylinders. Palden and six other climbers roped themselves along and approached the steep ice wall. The vertical wall rose about fifty metres. After Palden’s group climbed over, Thondup and the rest followed the suit.

Thondup could now see the face of the Kanchendzonga. All the other mountaineers gasped as they beheld this marvellous sight. It was almost afternoon and the winds were beginning to gather speed.

‘I’m almost here’ Palden thought as he looked up at the mountain. His childhood dream of conquering the mountain was about to turn into reality. Then suddenly the unpredictable mountain weather took a drastic turn and reduced visibility.

“Quick, come here.” Palden chattered in his talkie. “take cover here, “Thondup also instructed from far.

Just as he said this, the earth shook violently and a large mass of ice fell upon them with a deafening noise. An avalanche. Half of the team members were swept off their feet and two of them had been killed instantly. Their blood imparted a crimson colour on the ice. As realization dawned, Palden got up and tugged onto the string attached to his waist. To his utter horror, it had snapped like a thread. His fellow members had been stranded.

“Hello, it's Palden, is anybody here?” Palden chattered in his talkie. Fearing everyone was dead, Palden moved around and saw a hand sticking out from the ice. He helped the fellow mountaineer come out. Together they rescued four other mountaineers who were buried in the ice. Unfortunately, Thondup was not amongst them. Palden walked around to examine the extent of the avalanche. It was then that it dawned upon him that a small chunk of ice had broken off the tip of the mountain and triggered the avalanche. The avalanche had created a huge crack on the ice floor between where Thondup was previously standing.

Thondup got up and looked around. There was nobody.

Furthermore, his oxygen cylinders had stopped working. He took a whiff of the rarefied air. To his utter horror, he saw a mountaineer stuck in ice. A boulder had crashed on his leg. Thondup went to the mountaineer and rescued him.

Thondup was breathing the thin air. He was unaware of the danger of breathing this air. He could very well undergo a condition called HACO, Wherein fluids could get trapped in the lungs, causing death. As the dense fog cleared, Thondup could see a red figure in the distance. He strode forward and in a desperate attempt to rescue his colleague, little did he know about the gaping crevasse that lied close by. Just as Thondup approached the body, his feet sank and he fell into the bottomless crevasse.

He could feel a searing pain down his back as his bones crushed over the bare ice.

As he lay on the ice, he could see a familiar figure draped in crimson, approaching him. He had a serene look on his face. A Moses – like beard flowed from his chin. It was Pemba Sherpa, Thondup’s dead father.

“Appa”, Thondup said as he held out his hand.

“Join me”, Pemba Sherpa said as he held his son’s hand. Thondup joined his father among the many valiant martyrs who had sacrificed their lives for others.

Back in the village, the day had just begun but for Thondup, his earthly life had just ended in the very place where he was born and brought up – in the icy lap of Mother Nature.

by Nicholas Roerich

The Abode of Snow was written in the year 2014, while I was in school. This story was sent as an entry for the Short Story Writing Competition organised by Good News Magazine Sikkim and was adjudged as the best story.