Stok Kangri - July 2012
Hello Gangpoche –
@ 14550 ft – 18th July
The day began
with the routine of finding a place to take a dump. Fortunately for me, I
always enjoyed 1st 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, brea kfast
and cleared the tent.
At the time of
clearing the tent I had a chat with Kama l. Kama l 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 Kama l 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 brea ks.
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 ind eed….!
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 3rd 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…..
2 Comments:
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Unknown, at 12:14 am
Your anecdotes and movie dialogues!!!! hahaha!!!! accha post hai!
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Unknown, at 12:15 am
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