Uttarakhand j_ 3.
Weather: Every member of the team must undergo a
period of gradual acclimatisation before the organs can
operate and get adjusted at height. It has been found that if
one spends too long time in ranged atmosphere serious
bodily deterioration sets in which may result in sleepless-
ness, vomiting and loss of appetite.
Equipment : All equipment and clothing must be colle-
cted and arranged before starting for a trek or expedition.
It should be both best in type and condition, particularly
the mountaineering equipment has to be best.
Leadership: Last but not least, comes the question of
leadership because in his hands depends the fate of the
party. A leader is not one who has climbed the highest
point but is one who succeeds in placing the maximum
number of men on top. Achieving this is no ordinary job
since it requires good organisation, coordination, admini-
strative arrangements and the highest order of proficiency
in rock and snow craft.
Hazards of mountaineering
Accidents do take place in trekking, climbing and mountai-
neering duetD over-ambition, climbing above, pushing in bad
weather and lack of experience. For climbing the Himalayas,
the obstacles of rock, ice, snow, precipice, avalanche, inacce-
ssible wilderness, physical endurance, elaborate, arrangements
of supply, transport and communication and above all weather
are to be faced. Monsoon is perhaps the most treacherous
and relentless enemy which the Himalayan trekkers have to
face every year from June to August which turn heights into
vast death traps of melting and crumbling ice and snow: there-
fore, it is necessary that every trekking party setting 'out on
an Himalayan adventure must keep in mind.
High altitude sickness: Trekking and expedition parties
pay little attention to acclimatisation and in their haste to
trek the desired place of climb or the peak rapidly go up
and run through the mountains which results in high alti-
tude sickness due to lack of proper acclimatisation, the
climbers find themselves gripped with sleeplessness and
giddiness. Most unpredictable are the mental reactions of