Dzongri: Where men and mountain gods meet

(you can check my last entry for updated photos)


Waking up at 4 am hiking from 12,000 to 12,700 to watch the sunrise over the kanzchechunga, singhaliaia and some other indian himalayan range is not the way most people start your average day. The pounding headache, lack of oxygen, and freezing cold weather didn't make it any easier. But it really starts back in Yuksom.
After hiking for 2 days between pelling-khachapari lake-yuksom i thought i had enough of trekking until i realized how crazy it would be to spend 4 days walking up 6,000+ feet to the himalayas. I found a nice experienced guide who said it would be a reasonable price to trek up to dzongeri (1 night in chokra, 1 night in dzongri, 1 night again in chokra and then back). Then lutzia (the crazy swiss) and I went to have a beer and got decently drunk before i convinced him to go with me. By the morning of the trek we had 5 people in total. Me, Lutzia, a british couple Amanda and Ian and an israeli Isaac (big suprise an israeli in India). The walk up itself is breathtaking even before you see the high peaks of the himalayas. The first stage of the forest is very wet tropical forest. There were a lot of wildflowers and really nice orchids. You then reach the lichen forests which are also very moist but You have amazing glacial waterfalls. By the lichen forests it is already starting to get hard to breathe but we stoped to spend the night in a small tibetan community called chokra. It is amazing that people still live at 9,000 feet in the middle of nowhere. Most of them run little (and i mean little) cafes, or herd tzho (a mix between a cow and a yak that can carry loads better at lower altitude). There is running mountain water but the nearest town yuksom, doesnt have a hospital,pharmacy or anything that we need to live. The only way to get in or out is a grueling 17 kilometer hike or yak ride down the mountian. We slept in a trekers hut which was very basic but the cook we had on our trip was great. There were 4 cooks/porters, 1 horse herder (we had horses to carry our loads) and our guide who was a genuine sherpa. At night we played this nepali card game thanks to isaac our israeli who taught it to us. Our second day we reached dzongri by 11 am which was pretty fast. Our sherpa told us that we were one of the faster groups we had which was nice becuase we still kept a very nice pace even when we got up to high altitude. I am not going to say i wasn't out of breath most of the time but i never felt like i was going to pass out. Once we got to dzongri which is at about 12,000 feet i headed straight for the room to lie down. I didnt get full blown altitude sickness because isaac gave us diamox which helps relieve the symptoms but my head hurt a bit and i was a little off. At around 3 we went out for a hike to the viewpoint and were treated to a real show. It was cloudy and cold but every few minutes we would get a clearing to see the mountain view we would later see at sunrise. there is nothing to say but wow when you see this view. I wont even waste words trying to explain it but seeing north and south kabru, black kabru, pandem, kanzchunga, the singalalia range from that close up was jaw dropping. WE were about 8 miles from the base of kanzhunga (still cant be bothered with the correct spelling). The best part was seeing the sunrise and that golden glow hit the glaciers. I hope it turns out well in the pictures. We all went back and had breakfast and headed for the yak hearders that lived over a little hill from our trekers hut. It was pretty cool to see genuine yaks and not tzhos but the best part was the nap i took in the sun overlooking the himalayas. Only downside was that i got a sunburn because i forgot lotion and you dont realize it when its cold but you are so high up. The hike back was very nice but tireing. THe best part was the sense of achievement after making it all the way up and all the way back down. i celebrated by getting fairly drunk becuase there was nothing else to do as it was raining like hell right after we got back. THe next day was another round of sad goodbyes and a whole days journey to jabdalapur wildlife park to see some wild rhinos.





*****Martin and Ben (I saw that irish couple we met in hampi the ones that always sat in the corner up in dzongeri... what a reunion at 12,000 feet. They actually asked how long i traveled with you and how you were doing. Crazy India)

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