This is a new experience, we are planning and executing everything. 9 guys all oracle colleges on a trek to western ghats.
And in a group when frequency matches, what fun. Everyone has been assigned certain tasks basically under 3 heads.
Food
Tent
Transport
There is also one more head called food preparation, which Mr Raghu has so gllefully taken, I will pull his leg all along, that I promise. Today we did almost all the shopping, 9 packs of Jam 1 for each one, 6 packs of Rajma masala, paper plates, Britannia fruit bread 27 packs, breakfast will be these fruit breads so 3 days 3 packs per head. Managed to get only 18 Ananth has got 4 more, we need 5 more. WE couldnt find frozen rotis, this is important cause our dinner is roti + something. WE could only get Frozen parathas. So rotis we will have to find tomm or we will have to carry bread.
Choclate bars we have already got. My concern or rather something I am eagrly waiting to see, how do we light a fire. Guys here say they have been able to manage the fire in wet conditions, fire wood would be locally procured from the forest !. This si going to be fun, I will be looking fwd to the evening camp fire. I have confidence , not saying that I dont believe them, but it will be fun, the struggle to light that fire. If we manage to get some music around that time
Imagine Morisson singing
Comeon baby light my fire
while Raghu would be struggling to light that fire.... :)
He is fully prepared though, he is carrying camphor, they 'allegedly' are a big help in lighting a fire, he is also going to carry some ghee, and best of all the fire wood we are planning locally procure from the forest, I have no clue on this part :)
Thats the spirit guys if anythign else.
The we have God and priest , Sridhar and LSP, it has been decided, that where we camp is the sole discretion of these two folks, no debates no arguments. These generals tell us to halt and we halt.
Ohh then we have the camp itself, we are carrying some plastic sheets and rope , how we will set it up, I am not even thinking. But one thing for sure, their spirit is infectious, I am just taking it all in. Imagine a heavy downpour, in the middle of night, 9 guys, in the middle of no where. somebody did mention something about snakes. I am not even thinking about it. Snkaes are shy creatures, they will stay away. Any ways my plan is to sleep in the midlle of all these peopl, I am not taking the corner slots in the camp.
If something will still crawl all the way to me , I guess thats destiny.
My personal shopping is done, I am carrying some Snickers bars and biscuits.
Drinking water will also be locally procured.
WE are also carrying 1 kg of salt , that was again Raghu's idea. His take is apart from cooking, everyone will be give some salt to fight the leeches. Pretty thoughtful I must say, and our take was, since we have the ammunation even if leechs are not going to bother us, we are going to seek them out and have some fun. So we are indeed carrying 1 kg of salt!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Markha Valley Trek: Day 5
I woke up early, it was still a bit dark outside and cold.I was quite stiff from the five days trek but the will was as strong as ever and was very confident. Today we cross over KongmaruLa (La in Ladakhi lingo means pass). Unlike other days, the climb started straightway, there was no leisurely walk to warmup. It was a very steep climb, every breath was a struggle. It started to snow, and then turned to rain. But the challenge was the inspiration, the pace was slow but steady. After about 1 hr of climb, I reached the top of an intermediate pass, Nimaling was still 2 hrs away and then the actual pass, Kongmarula.
The views from there, are what dreams are made of. The Zanskar ra
nge stretched as far as eye could see, to my left was teh snowcapped peak of Kangyaze .It was so huge , I felt I could reach out and touch it. Here I waited for others to catch up, for there were two trails, didnt know which one to take, . It started to rain again, I just managed to take some snaps. and wrapped myself with all that I had for it was quite cold too. Soon I could make out the figure of our guide bringing up the rear end of the group, I waved to him and waved back to carry on to our right, byt his time Joslin and Derek had aslo joined and we started walking again.
Beyond this pass , the walk was relatively on flat terran. I knew I had to reach Nimaling and then there would be a climb, but as far as I could see there was no sign of life, Nimaling must be far. On the way came across many Himalayan Marmoot, these mongoose like species dig borrows into the ground and are very shy, there were so many of them. After about an hour Nimaling appeared, a white parachute tent at a distance and Kongmarula to my left looked challenging.
Was totally exhausted by the time I reached Nimaling, Nimaling is a small settlement of perhaps 2 families and is cold and miserable, there were two parachute tents selling tea , coffee and some cold drinks ofcourse at a very inflated price, has to be. It must be real hard work to haul all that to these heights. The views were awe inspiring a flat piece of grassland , to its left was Kangyaze and to its right was Kongmarula.
Our plan was to reach Nimaling by 11:OO AM and start the climb to Kongmarula by 11:30. I reached by 10:45 so had half an hour to catch my breath, and sip some hot mint tea. Soon everyone started streaming in, there was a group from Belgium, couples and one more couple from Swizerland. There was this guide from Israel who was doing this trek with his family. He was a bit worried that his family, his wife and daughter still havent reached Nimaling. His altimeter read 5300 mts above sea level, which was quite sobering.
We still have to cross Kongmarula, so Kongmarula pass must be atleast 5500mts give or take a few. It was a sobering thought, By this time I just wanted to get to the other side, to get over with this, my excitement was tinged with a bit of fear. I couldnt help think, if something happens here, what can any one do, everyone is at their limit.
When our guide finally reached Nimaling I immediately started of , it was a very steep climb, couldnt help but stop and just soak in all the views once in a while while catching my breath, It was truely amazing, cant put words to it What a pity, I could sit here forever. There were some serious climb ahead of me. After climbing for about 45 mins the terran flats out and from here you can clearly see Kangyaze.
Was surprised to find Derek and Joslin here, these guys have some strength, instead of taking the cnventional route, the climbed straight up. So they made it before me. There was a bit of healthy competition between all of us, it was such a challenge, everyone wanted to be there first. They were just sitting there, and we munched a cholcalte bar and chatted for a while and I joaked, "guys 5300mts is just a walk in the park". By this time Amit has also reached there, and after a brief halt we again started.
WE hadnt reached the foot of the peak when the sky started to open up. the peak Kangyaze of was totally covered with clouds. It was as if all these clouds which were drifting around suddenly decided to have a round table conference and wanted to show off , that this was their territory.
I would be lying if I would say I wasnt afraid, The clouds looked ominious and there was loud clasps of thunder. It began to snow and then slit and rain steadily. We had no option but to climb and cross over, we knew if we go back we cant make it back on that day, so we started climbing again. But I was really worried of t
he lightening.
Joslin and Derek made steady progress and I fell behind , I was keeping up to my old theory of slow and steady, and walk with a rythm. And in this thin air rhythm was very difficult to find. After a whle I saw Derek collapse, when I came near him I just asked him to keep moving, he said, he will catch his breath and continue. Later I would find out that it was the first signs of AMS. Up ahead of us Joslin was making good progress, and Amit was following us further down.
The last leg of the climb was the toughest, by this time all the muscles were sore , I was breathing very heavily every breath every step forward every moment seemed like eternity. It took me around 1 hr to reach the top , Was too tired to appreciate even the views.
But I felt so confident, thanked my body for holding up, I could feel a sense of detachment of my body and soul. This was the occasion where my soul was thanking the body to be by its side. Having climbed the Kongmarula I wanted to have my lunch there, thsi would be the highest point in my life so far, the most memorable lunch. was releived to see Derek join us there. Joslin had gone into a trance.
Derek took our advice and started the descent immediately, cause when youa re sturck by AMS the best recourse is to come down, you should spend as little time as possible at higher altitudes. And soon we followed. By the time we reached campsite we were too tired to even think of what happened.
This was basically the end of our trek, tomorrow we continue our descent and then drive to Leh.
The views from there, are what dreams are made of. The Zanskar ra
nge stretched as far as eye could see, to my left was teh snowcapped peak of Kangyaze .It was so huge , I felt I could reach out and touch it. Here I waited for others to catch up, for there were two trails, didnt know which one to take, . It started to rain again, I just managed to take some snaps. and wrapped myself with all that I had for it was quite cold too. Soon I could make out the figure of our guide bringing up the rear end of the group, I waved to him and waved back to carry on to our right, byt his time Joslin and Derek had aslo joined and we started walking again.
Beyond this pass , the walk was relatively on flat terran. I knew I had to reach Nimaling and then there would be a climb, but as far as I could see there was no sign of life, Nimaling must be far. On the way came across many Himalayan Marmoot, these mongoose like species dig borrows into the ground and are very shy, there were so many of them. After about an hour Nimaling appeared, a white parachute tent at a distance and Kongmarula to my left looked challenging.
Was totally exhausted by the time I reached Nimaling, Nimaling is a small settlement of perhaps 2 families and is cold and miserable, there were two parachute tents selling tea , coffee and some cold drinks ofcourse at a very inflated price, has to be. It must be real hard work to haul all that to these heights. The views were awe inspiring a flat piece of grassland , to its left was Kangyaze and to its right was Kongmarula.
Our plan was to reach Nimaling by 11:OO AM and start the climb to Kongmarula by 11:30. I reached by 10:45 so had half an hour to catch my breath, and sip some hot mint tea. Soon everyone started streaming in, there was a group from Belgium, couples and one more couple from Swizerland. There was this guide from Israel who was doing this trek with his family. He was a bit worried that his family, his wife and daughter still havent reached Nimaling. His altimeter read 5300 mts above sea level, which was quite sobering.
We still have to cross Kongmarula, so Kongmarula pass must be atleast 5500mts give or take a few. It was a sobering thought, By this time I just wanted to get to the other side, to get over with this, my excitement was tinged with a bit of fear. I couldnt help think, if something happens here, what can any one do, everyone is at their limit.
When our guide finally reached Nimaling I immediately started of , it was a very steep climb, couldnt help but stop and just soak in all the views once in a while while catching my breath, It was truely amazing, cant put words to it What a pity, I could sit here forever. There were some serious climb ahead of me. After climbing for about 45 mins the terran flats out and from here you can clearly see Kangyaze.
Was surprised to find Derek and Joslin here, these guys have some strength, instead of taking the cnventional route, the climbed straight up. So they made it before me. There was a bit of healthy competition between all of us, it was such a challenge, everyone wanted to be there first. They were just sitting there, and we munched a cholcalte bar and chatted for a while and I joaked, "guys 5300mts is just a walk in the park". By this time Amit has also reached there, and after a brief halt we again started.
WE hadnt reached the foot of the peak when the sky started to open up. the peak Kangyaze of was totally covered with clouds. It was as if all these clouds which were drifting around suddenly decided to have a round table conference and wanted to show off , that this was their territory.
I would be lying if I would say I wasnt afraid, The clouds looked ominious and there was loud clasps of thunder. It began to snow and then slit and rain steadily. We had no option but to climb and cross over, we knew if we go back we cant make it back on that day, so we started climbing again. But I was really worried of t
he lightening.Joslin and Derek made steady progress and I fell behind , I was keeping up to my old theory of slow and steady, and walk with a rythm. And in this thin air rhythm was very difficult to find. After a whle I saw Derek collapse, when I came near him I just asked him to keep moving, he said, he will catch his breath and continue. Later I would find out that it was the first signs of AMS. Up ahead of us Joslin was making good progress, and Amit was following us further down.
The last leg of the climb was the toughest, by this time all the muscles were sore , I was breathing very heavily every breath every step forward every moment seemed like eternity. It took me around 1 hr to reach the top , Was too tired to appreciate even the views.
But I felt so confident, thanked my body for holding up, I could feel a sense of detachment of my body and soul. This was the occasion where my soul was thanking the body to be by its side. Having climbed the Kongmarula I wanted to have my lunch there, thsi would be the highest point in my life so far, the most memorable lunch. was releived to see Derek join us there. Joslin had gone into a trance.
Derek took our advice and started the descent immediately, cause when youa re sturck by AMS the best recourse is to come down, you should spend as little time as possible at higher altitudes. And soon we followed. By the time we reached campsite we were too tired to even think of what happened.
This was basically the end of our trek, tomorrow we continue our descent and then drive to Leh.
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