Between Cloud and Courage: The Flight to 18,650 ft

By Colonel Kanwal Kishore, SM (Retd)

In 2013, I commanded a battalion on the Siachen Glacier—India’s most unforgiving battlefield, where avalanches rewrite the landscape and silence has a sound of its own. That winter, nearly 120 avalanches had already struck the sector. The air bit through every layer, and even routine tasks tested endurance.

One morning, I received a call from a post located at 18,650 feet: “Sir, one of our boys is having severe chest pain. BP is high, breathing is difficult.”
At that altitude, every second counts. The snow had erased our route markers; visibility was near zero. A foot evacuation was almost impossible, and air evacuation was our only hope.

Within minutes, two helicopters broke through the storm. The pilots climbed out, frost masking their faces. They couldn’t locate the high post in the whiteout. “The cloud’s too thick above the saddle,” one said. “We’ll be flying blind.”

I volunteered to guide them. Despite my team’s protests, I knew there was no other choice. “He’s my boy,” I told them quietly. “How can I leave him there?”

We lifted into a world without a horizon—just white, wind, and instinct. I guided the pilot through memory and faith, recalling ridges, icefalls, and rock outcrops. Finally, through the veil of snow, I saw a cluster of men waving a cloth. We hovered, landed, picked up the casualty, and raced back through turbulence that shook the aircraft like a living thing.

When we touched down, the boy was barely conscious. Hours later, a call came through: he was stable and recovering. That night, the mountain was quiet again, the glacier unchanged. But for us, something had shifted—trust, courage, and responsibility had been tested and found true.

Reflection
People often ask if it was reckless to fly that day. Leadership in the mountains is not about fearlessness—it’s about faithfulness. On Siachen, I learned that leadership is measured not in rank or medals, but in the choices, you make when every marker disappears. When the world turns white, it’s trust that keeps the line intact.

ABCEL Perspective
Stories like Colonel Kishore’s remind us that courage often reveals itself in silence — in the moments when duty overrides fear, and leadership becomes an act of faith. His journey from the whiteouts of Siachen speaks to the essence of service: steadfastness amid uncertainty. Veterans carry that same spirit into every new frontier — guiding teams, building trust, and anchoring others through storms that may not be physical, but are just as real.