For as long as I can remember, I have felt out-of-place inside cities. This towering concrete jungle is a very antagonistic environment for me to raise myself in. This feeling is not just limited to cities; it extends to other physical places as well. Cities are where this feeling manifests itself in its worst form.
It was 6th Jan, 2025 and I was talking to a friend about going on the Basic Mountaineering Course and plans further on. We both agreed that I would not want to return to civilization after the course. Moreover, I was already planning some solo hikes to complete after the course was over. So he suggested that I should think of joining him for the Manaslu Circuit in May. This was just an idea at that point as he didn't even have a team and absolutely nothing was planned. I said yes and that was that.
This turned out to be one of the most exciting things I have ever said yes to. We recruited other members and soon we had a team of 6. I had a LOT of fun talking to our Sherpa in Nepal. This is the first time I am doing something like this and it is extremely fun. Since Manaslu Circuit falls in the Manaslu Circuit Restricted Area, we have to have a guide with us. This made things slightly more expensive, but overall the costs are still lower as we are sharing the fixed costs between the 6 of us. The trail is about 170km which generally takes about 14 days to walk. We made minor changes to the trail which I shall write about once I get back from the trail.
A list of all the tools that I use to play with maps and gpx files. This assumes that you are familiar with OpenStreetMaps.
Some of these tools are proprietary and some are FOSS. I generally prefer to use FOSS tools whenever I can.
Here is a bunch of neat little tricks that you can do with bash
message if $VAR is not definedThis section will cover the final days of the course, the graduation ceremony, and my reflections on completing the BMC.
I will also include thoughts on future plans and advice for prospective students.
This section will focus on the ice craft training and the height gain exercises.
I will share my experiences learning to use crampons and ice axes, practicing self-arrest, and ascending to higher altitudes.
This section will describe the hike from the institute to the base camp.
It will include details about the route, the challenges faced, acclimatization, and group dynamics during the trek.
This section will cover the introduction to the Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC) and the initial phase focused on rock craft.
I will detail the orientation, the first few days at the institute, and the basics of rock climbing techniques taught during the course.
I have been planning to get the Basic Mountaineering Course (BMC from now on) for a couple of years, but could not do it because of obligations. Thanks to the intense burn out at the previous job I applied for the BMC in December of 2023 and I got the confirmation on Feb 2024.
Post that all of my time was solely focused on preparing for the BMC. I managed to hurt my knee in Jan 2024 and I had to spend a lot of time under physiotherapy to get the knee under control. For my training I was not able to run under strict instructions of the physiotherapist, thus most of my training focused on upper body strength and flexibility.