Searching at 4000 Meters…

02nd January, 2009

Huh….Huhh…Huhhh…Am choking…!!! Need to get out of here…God! How to come out of this sleeping bag? …No!!! More zips??? Getting out of this tent is such hard work. I’ll get choked before I get out for sure! …Ooooffff….Fuuuu…Fuuu…Fuu…Huhhh!!! That was close! It’s chilling out here but at least enough oxygen now! Wow…Look at the stars…haven’t seen that many ever. All this looks majical…! Taking out my high-neck pullover, I am going back inside. I need some sleep before sunrise.

It’s 4 am in my torch-lit watch-dial & somehow temperature inside here is too low to let me sleep! Hmmm…have to wake up! Coming out here, can you too hear this silence? Never experienced anything of this sort…! I can hear all noises…even my heart beat, as if using a stethoscope! Even fingers rubbing with each other are making sounds…Strange! Stars…uncountable…blinking at varying rate…that one is too bright…may be some planet!

This place…”Devariya Tal” – “The Lake of Gods” (2000 meters) is situated in to the inner Himalayan range of Uttarkhand on a peak surrounded by snow-clad mountains on one side & dense forest on other. No one knows about the source of water here, giving it a mysterious touch.

The darkness, the star-glittered sky is giving way to breathtaking view of glowing mountain peaks with snow. Clouds on top. Fog into the valley! The deafening silence is giving way to subtle voices…birds perhaps. Is this snow out here? Not exactly! It’s the dew that has frozen at sub-zero temperatures of the night. Even our sleeping bags have snow over them. No wonder I couldn’t sleep. The whole landscape, hidden in an ordinary-looking mountain forest, is picturesque. You can actually see the fabulous reflection of Himalayan peaks into the lake. The beauty around is mesmerizing enough to make an amateur like me to aspire being a nature-photographer. Meru-Sumeru, Kedarnath, Chaukhamba & many other famous Himalayan peaks are looking so close. Listening to the mythological & adventure tales by our guide, we trek 2.5 km down the hill to the village and are heading in our car to the base camp “Chopta” for the next trek : Tungnath.

Chopta (2500 meters) is smaller & emptier than our expectation. “Off-season…” we’ve been told. The place is famous for its sun-set views. After spending a lazy day here we are now walking to the “Sun-set Point” to check out the claims. The mountain peaks are changing colours, both rocky & snow-clad. Brown & white has suddenly turned into orange. It’s changing each minute to more tempting shades. Subtle patterns of clouds are making the view just perfect for us…merging the ‘gray-turning-to-red’ shade of sky to the ‘brown, green, white-turning-to-orange’ shade of mountains with the most smoothening effect we could have expected. As the sun starts setting far behind the peaks, the colours become uncountable in sky. Purple??? I didn’t know a purple in the sky! A sense of understanding settles within, about the emotions that artists go through on seeing such scenes that prompts them to create something…anything…whatever they are capable of – to share the experience with all. All of a sudden, it becomes all so important to share. As if something will spill out, if not transferred in parts…!

6:30 in the morning & we are ready for the trek after a good 10 hour sleep. Still not very bright outside. The chilling weather is reminding us that we are here for adventure, not for a visit. 3.5 km ascend to “Tungnath – The Temple” (3600 meters) is a well-paved path but next 2 km of trek to “Chandrashila – The Summit” (4000 meters) will be a wild one. The Himalayan peaks are changing cloths again as we move our way up admiring & photographing the beauty. Chaukhamba Peak in particular is there since the beginning of the excursion & somehow looks like coming closer & growing big…more majestic. Taking my right hand out of the gloves to click a photograph every now & then is tuff task in such cold. 1 km of trek & we can see the patches of snow on pavement. Another km & everything seems covered with snow!

Closer to Tungnath & snow cover is getting thicker…haven’t seen so much snow ever…my first! Just took out my hand to click another photograph &…&…something’s wrong! My fingers…! They’re loosing sensation…!!! They began swelling up few minutes back but I thought of minor hypothermia that I am used to. But now it’s turning dangerous…swelling, loss of sensation & mild shade of blue…!!! 1st stage of “Frost Bite”…is it??? Amid panic attack I start heating it up…back to gloves…rubbing…putting fingertips in mouth & exhaling…everything that I can think of! Oh god! Not this…Please! …5 minutes down, with Sun out…it’s getting better. Adventure…???

Offering our prayers at the Highest Shiv temple on earth & to the Idols of Pandavs (who came here searching for Lord Shiv), we are moving ahead to the 2 km long, steep, wild, snow-covered & less frequented trek to the summit, ascending another 500 meters of altitude. Some stretches are really dangerous. Only half a meter wide trek around the mountain, full of loose rocks, hardened & slippery snow. Mind numbing depth on the other-side. Out of water, we found all the water sources here freezed. So we are filling snow in a bottle now n trying 2 melt...no use…Eating snow to relieve thirst!

After 3 hours of trek since morning, we are finally at Chandrashila. “4000 meter : height from the sea level” says a board next to the temple of goddess Ganga. We’ve been told that when not freezed, many streams come out of mountain. No one knows the source. So they are called “Akashganga” – “Heavenly Ganges”.

Getting to the other side of the temple riskily through barely a foot wide way, we come face to face with the view that pulled us here…panoramic view of Himalayan Snow-peaks… Grey…White…Blue… it’s so beautiful that it’s injecting a sense of peace in my mind…my body…goose bumps are developing all over… feeling them through multiple layers of woolens…all 4 of us are ecstatic…”wow” word is popping out of mouths… more then once. Listening to each sound of my respiratory system in the silence…listening to wind… almost musical… Clouds are drifting around…preparing for more snow it seems…

That’s the Nanda Devi peak… you are looking as beautiful as ever Nanda…distinguished among similar looking others…most mesmerizing…most attractive. There’s something about you that no one else come even close to. Not allowed to trek there anymore I am told…Eluding Again?

After gazing the peak for some time…letting the view, the beauty sink in…after enjoying the accomplishment…after observing furiously fast moving cloud formations…& after gifting birthday bumps, we are trekking back…slowly & carefully…inquiring about next possible excursion…