While the expedition team will go through a 14 day acclimatisation program, soldiers that have to guard the icy heights of the Saltoro ridge spend close to three months getting trained and acclimatized before stepping on the glacier. As a rule, no solider can spend more than 3 months on the glacier itself. After that, the temporary memory loss suffered at heights of over 18,000 feet can turn permanent. The common belief amongst soldiers is that an average posting on the glacier takes away 5 years from the lifespan.

Hearing such stories about the glacier - and some more about man's fight with the extreme terrain (that will be shared on this blog at a later date) - would have put back members of the civilian expedition a bit but what came at the end of a first day briefing was more of a shocker.

After being explained that the trek would involve extreme climbing of 15 kms per day, a kindly officer told us that unlike last year, there would be no porters on the trek this time around. 'No porters for reporters", as he explained, was meant to give the media a more realistic view of the army's experience on the glacier!!