OshwalNewsI - Oshwal Centre

OSHWALS AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD
Celebrating on the summit of Mount Kalapathar
Front row left to right Nirmal Z Shah Kitap 1 st Guide
Back row left to right Paresh J Shah, Pema 2 nd Guide Prabhulal Dodhia and Milan Shah
In April this year, Prabbhulal D Dodhia, aged 64, of Stanmore Middlesex, who had quadruple by-pass
operation four years ago, lead a team of five to the Base Camp Everest and successfully climbed Mount
Kalapathar - 18500 feet. Two years ago, Prabhulal with eleven friends climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
He tracked his way up the Himalayan terrain after landing at Lukla from Kathmandu in Nepal with a group of
four friends - Paresh Jethalal Shah (dental surgeon), Nirmal Zaverchand Shah (businessman), Milan K Shah
(company director) and Harish Raniga (pharmacist). Prabhula Dodhia is also a diabetic but this did not deter
him from training for almost a year for this climb to the top of the world. All the members of the team also
trained well for this gruelling climb
The following is an account of their climb by Prabhulalbhai :
Our track started from Lukla on 1 st of April 2006 and we tracked seven to eight hours every day. We climbed
ten thousand feet in three days reaching Namche Bazar, a large Buddhists village. On the way we stayed in
Tea Houses (lodges) which are run by the local Nepalese people and the facilities are basic. It was extremely
cold in the night and early mornings. Warm clothing and good foot wear made a lot of difference, and we
warmed up quickly once on the track. Some of the members of the team had slight form of acute mountain
sickness and loss of appetite and felt nausea tic however with some medication and rest for two days at this
point every one recovered well and were acclimatised and ready to go forward.
As we progressed on the track we were surrounded by the most beautiful mountains. The main peaks of
Khumbu including Mount Everest, Lhotse, Amadablam, Thamserku, Tawache and Khumbilla are unforgettable.
On the final day, Kitap our guide woke us at 4.30am with a bright smile. We had to wrap up warm, and each
of us had to have four to five layers of clothing, balaclavas, monkey cap, double gloves, double socks etc. as
the outside temperature was minus 20° C. We finally started the track at 5.30am. Our fingers and toes
were cold and numb despite double gloves and socks. Walking in this cold was tough. We felt a bit warmer
after walking for a while. and reached our first stop Gorek Shep (5180m) at 8.00 am, where we had breakfast
and left for the final climb to Kalapather (5554 m).
As we started climbing, the weather was sunny and high above us on the trail, we could see trekkers already
on their way up. Immediately, the path began to climb and we settled into a steady rhythm of left foot -
Oshwal News - Winter 2006 & New Year’s Issue
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