A crucial decision....im glad i took one.

Im the one in the picture above, a tiny minuscule on the right , viewing the gigantic mountain in front of me .

At these moments i often ask questions to myself - I often answer them too.

This is was during a recent mountaineering expedition in the Ladakh region in the month of August 2016.

We were a set of 5 people and 2 guides climbing Mentok Kangri peak.( 6270m).

It was the final day, when we started our summit climb from 5420m and had to reach 6270m on 18th August 2016. we started our climb in darkness, at about 3 in the morning, with head torches our source of light.

Half way down the climb our team was segregated into two. 3 ahead and 2 were a bit slow. We had 2 strong mountain guides supporting our climb and showing us the route.

As we reached the glacier ( thats almost half way) , our head guide consulted me and told me that i should carry on my climb tied up together with the other 2 who were equally fast,on a single rope and try to summit and not wait for the other 2 who were slower. He told us since there is one rope, only one team with the same speed can summit. The climbing rope was required for safety ,since we were going to climb a vertical ice wall almost 75 deg in angle.

pic above : crucial decision making at 5800m , me in the center.

Being the expedition leader I had a crucial decision to make , at almost 5800m and temp well below zero.

My instincts worked. I suggested the guide to cut the rope into two and make 2 different groups, and let both the group have one guide each, lets give everyone equal chance to summit.

pic above : cutting the rope into two.

pic above : making two groups and climbing.

yes it worked 

all 5 of us summited Mentok Kangri 6270m on 18th August 2016

A crucial decision....im glad i took one.

- Prateek Deo

Ceo LAFL.