Stok Kangri - July 2012

Welcome to Matho Doksa – @ 14550 ft – 17^th July

As the day broke, I came out and I was numbed by the chill…. It was freezing cold outside….. managed to take a dump….. people were not willing to come out…. Everybody was waiting for the sun to come out….. It was that day again…. The day of realization…. Why our ancestors believed Sun to be GOD…. The radiating energy brings not just light to remove darkness but the vital energy brings life into every being….!!! @ 14000 + ft you start becoming a believer……

All in line....

We did our normal routine of warm up and had a nice breakfast. We cleared the tents and got ready for the day’s trek. It was going to be a tough grind… And so off we went…. In the groups to start with… but very soon we all got mixed… evry trekker has his own pace with which he/she is comfortable. And it turned out that Angchuk, our trek expert, was a brilliant pace setter. Till we stopped for our first break he managed to keep us all together.

Need some rest folks

It was lovely out there…. Some green patches and the yaks were grazing merrily. We met with pretty clear blue sky most of the time. So it was quite hot. And there was calmness all around. We were so far off from the hectic life that we lead. Always behind schedule, trying to play catch up with Father Time and thereby getting into more frenetic pace…….! When was the last time I experienced such peace around me… perhaps it was on Raigad fort about 8 months back…. Sitting in the courtyard of the Jagdishwar temple…. or may be before that… I don’t remember….…. !! Sweeper’s job is funny. As you are shepherding the tail all you have to do is to ensure that the laggards don’t lose morale…. A bit of encouragement, and a sense of comradeship…. Someone is with me…. That’s all you really need to provide. Besides there is a big advantage as you get enough time to catch your breath, take rest and to reflect….. on this mysterious thing called life….!!!

We soon approached the Shang Fu La pass…. @ 16700 ft. In the distance I could see the trekkers… exhausted….walking one step at a time…. It was hot, and the gain in altitude was killing…. Hari was in trouble. Its not that he couldn’t do it…. But the poor guy wanted breaks more often…which was not advisable though. More breaks break your momentum…. And climbing is all about momentum. You lose it and you are in trouble. Doc, Brahma & I kept walking with Hari, then both of them went a bit ahead. We could see trekkers reaching the pass and taking a good long break there. Soon, the mules too were in the vicinity, and after a tiring trek Hari & I reached atop the pass. 16700 ft… wow….!!!

Approaching the pass - can you see it in the distance?

Hari.... almost there @ Shang Fu La - 16700 ft

Yours truly @ Shang Fu La - 16700 ft

We had to descend another 2000 ft again….. I started ahead and was watching Hari following me. I thought the staff with the mules would bring him up. And so I continued slowly, clicking merrily. There were so many pics to click, shadows, snow capped peaks, barren mountains….. the vista was just too good. I soon came to where Sridhar was sitting. I asked him if there was any problem. The guy was furious…. “the buggers don’t want to enjoy this beauty…. Just keep running….we’ll reach the camp…where else we go… but if you have come here all the way…you might as well enjoy this majestic landscape. Everybody is in a hurry”, said Sridhar. So true he was….!!! I really liked the way he expressed it..... just loved his attitude.....!!

The descent....

The shadows....

We waited for a while. Mules and the staff passed us by. Hari was not in sight. I was worried. But then he appeared. I didn’t like the way IH staff handled this. Everybody thought that the last man would bring Hari along with him. And so everyone went ahead and Hari was left alone. The camp was not far and by the time we reached, the tents were up and the hot meal was being served. Maggi……!!!! Whoever invented it is a genius….!!!!

It was time again to catch up with fellow trekkers. It was fun lazying around in the sun and discussing random topics…. Especially after such excruciating trek…. There was a learning for the day as I knew the real meaning of “ Tashreef rakhna”…. Thnx to Abhishek & Archana. In fact that was one of the most memorable afternoon I had spent in a while.…. thnx to Abhishek, Archana, Vani, Neelima, the 2 Saurabhs & Hrishikesh.

Matho Doksa Camp View - From Acclimatization Climb....

It was time again for acclimatization climb of the day. Raghav was too tired by that day’s excursion and so I went alone on the hillock behind our campsite. There were many “Marmots” around and they ran helter skelter as they feared for their life. I decided to return to the camp to have a cup of chai. As the sun set, it became cold again. I was still braving the cold but it was becoming increasingly difficult. After dinner we were served a hot glass of Bournvita…… wow….. to savour the taste of Bournvita after all those years I had to come up to 14000 ft….. tht’s life….!!! J

Stok Kangri - July 2012

Shang Fu – Here We come – @ 14250 ft – 16^th July

The day broke early and we got up…. It was cold outside….. Raghav & I went out first… although in different directions…. looking for a good position…. This was to be an important routine for the coming days…. Finding a good place to do the morning job….. J

We came back, having enjoyed first mover’s advantage…. J others were now scrambling for space…. After a while…. Brahma took us all out… made us to stand in one circle and to our utmost surprise made us do some warm up exercise….. @ 12000 ft doing warm up is not an easy task and half the energy was spent in those 30 minutes. We then had our breakfast, cleared the tent and got ready for the day’s trek.

We got ourselves divided in 3 groups. Each group was to have one leader who would set pace for the group and one sweeper who was to ensure that no one from the group was left behind. I became the sweeper of our “Golden 30’s” group (Kamal, Hrishikesh, Hari, Deshmukh, Jagan, Subhash & yours truly). Kamal was the leader. And thus we started our ascent to Shang Fu village. We were to climb about 2250 ft today.

The Curious boy from Shang village

We passed through Shang village, a few villagers were looking at us disbelievingly. They were perhaps used to watching foreigners treading there, us… Indians seldom get into doing silly things like trekking in Ladakh….. and that’s why they were amused.

Walking on this terrain is mesmerizing to say the least. Its so colourful, the barren mountains with different shapes and a few green patches….. Soon I realized that I was sweeping 2 groups as Hari & Nani were finding it a bit tough. Although the ascent was steady it was surprisingly quite hot and the wind had just vanished. Slowly we reached a small hamlet. There was a small temple with a walled compound. And it was surrounded by the Yak horns. I didn't know the logic behind keeping these horns…. Perhaps it suggested that we needed to take the bulls (the mountain, the ascent and the altitude) by the horns (i.e. patience)…..

Colours

The whole path was through riverbed and thus it was a bit difficult. The group had already gone ahead and I was shepherding the tail. Hari & Nani were exhausted but both just kept walking “Johnie Walker” style…. J We soon reached the camp site…. tired, hungry & thirsty….. Our tents and other stuff still had not reached so we just sat there catching our breath. We understood later that this is also a common camping point in another trek i.e Markha valley trek however on that day we were the only group camping there.

Walking through the riverbed

To take the bull by the horns....

Raghav - Starting the acclimatization climb

We did some cooling down exercises (Brahma at it again….) had our lunch, took a quick nap, and generally spent time lazying around out in the sun….. It was time again to catch up with new friends and getting to know more about them. The gujju gang started playing cards and we just kept discussing random topics. Around 4 pm it was time again to go for an acclimatization climb. So Raghav & I started climbing the ledge of the hillock beside our camping site. It was a steady ascent again and all of a sudden we found a few yaks descending in our direction….. we forgot about taking them by the horns and just got out of the way. We went ahead & Raghav was so enthu he wanted to climb the next hillock as well… I had to keep a tab on him and we returned just in time to have hot chai and some pop corns… Btw, corns help acclimatization.

As usual, the wind started and it became pretty cold as the sun was about to set. I was still on my solitary T shirt, getting used to the cold while others were comfortably wrapped up. After dinner, we took our sleeping bags, into the tents and off we went. I don’t know about others but I was quite tired by the day’s excursion and I was dead asleep in the next 2 minutes.

The campsite @ Shang Fu - View from Top