Stok Kangri - July 2012

Hello Gangpoche – @ 14550 ft – 18^th July

The day began with the routine of finding a place to take a dump. Fortunately for me, I always enjoyed 1^st mover’s advantage throughout the trek as I used to get up early. We did the routine of warm-up exercises and then had our cup of chai, breakfast and cleared the tent.

At the time of clearing the tent I had a chat with Kamal. Kamal asked me if I had some trouble as well as I was always the last one to arrive. Therefore, the general assumption was that I was slow. It would be dihonest to say that this remark did not bother me. I told him that I remained at the end as everybody was rushing ahead and Hari was always left alone as even the IH staff didn’t wait for him. But nonetheless, it was “the DCH moment” – “Usne tere khuddari ko lalkara hai yaar. Kya kar raha hai? Mard ban….be a Man…!” J

So I decided to be ahead this time around and Kamal said that he would be with Hari and he would see what’s the problem with him.

Just before we started, Sridhar took on a Yak. Not literally but he was trying to feed some biscuits to the animal when it charged a little and took the complete pack including the packaging material (BOPP/BOPP laminate….. there I go some packaging gyaaan)…. J

And so we started. Yes, it was initially quite demanding to keep pace with the group. But soon, got used to it and slowly inched my way ahead. I was soon walking with Angchuk, our trek expert. We took intermittent breaks. The views were amazing as always. But the biggest advantage was I could take some really good snaps of the entire group walking along. It was a sight indeed….!

Sons of the Mountain

Tracing back to where we came from

In line we walk....

Slow but steady.... we keep walking like Johny Walker :-)

We reached Gangpoche campsite in about 2.5 hrs. Gangpoche camp site was good, spread out plateau. We booked our tent locations, completed the routine of cool-dwon exercises, our tents arrived by then, set it up and then it was time to chill out.

The Campsite @ Gangpoche

Raghav narrated a funny incident. @ Matho camp, Hari started talking in sleep. And with every sentence his voice started increasing. Raghav tried ignoring at first but then he had had enough, Raghav asked Hari to stop talking and go to sleep. Then he pushed Hari so that Hari got up to realize that he was talking in sleep. J Raghav was so irritated he said that he would have punched Hari if he had not stopped…. J J The way Raghav narrated the whole incident was absolutely hilarious to say the least. J J J

It was time again for the acclimatization climb. Raghav, Hrishikesh & I started climbing the hillock behind the campsite. We took a longer & winding route. But soon realized that it was going nowhere. Climbing straight up would have been easier (relatively of course)  but was looking scary. We saw that Deshmukh, Jagan & Subhash had already done that and were at the top. Raghav & Hrishikesh continued trekking diagonally & joined them while I climbed down to the base and went climbing straight up again. It was tough but managed somehow. Soon, the girls gang too came up. Vani, Archana & Neelima….. I must admit these were the most spirited girls I have come across. I really admired their tenacity and willingness to take on the challenge.

The view from the top was unbelievable. We could see 3 mountain ranges upto the Chang La (my guess)…… It was a sight…. One barren but colourful mountain range right in front, followed by another studded with different rock shapes and followed by the 3^rd with more than half the range covered in snow. The majestic colour of evening’s sun light was spread over the complete range. Unfortunately, camera batteries got exhausted at that point and so couldn’t take any snap. But it was certainly the most mesmerizing memory I continue to carry…..

We climbed down by sun set, had a cup of chai. It was becoming chilly again and it wasn’t time yet for dinner. So we camped in one tent. The girls, Hrishikesh & I. We shared aour traveling experiences and it was fun to know and even great to be in company of such widely traveled people.

We then had our dinner. I didn’t eat much, 1 roti, dal and some chawal, thts it. Had a nice hot cup of bournvita again and it was time then to say good night…..