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Published: December 12th 2008
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As some of you will have noticed, there hasnt been any blogs for a while - whilst on an Indian train writing a blog my charger blew-up due to the rather dodgy plug and voltage on the train - not surprising really. Surprisingly there wasnt an apple shop either in Delhi or in any of the other places we were passing through so we had to wait until Singapore to get a replacement charger.
Himalayas
When we last wrote we had just finished Rajisthan and were heading up to the mountains to the Tibetan town of McLeod Ganj. We planned to spend a few days there but ended up staying for about 10. Whilst still part of India, the town is home to thousands of Tibetan refugees including the Dali Lama himself! The people were so relaxed, happy and helpful that we found it very difficult to leave. We had massages, took part in a couple of yoga classes and walked around the neighboring villages and hills. We had read of a great hike upto the 400m Indraha Pass but our guide book told us that this would take 5 days and as we only wanted to do a 2
day hike we started looking into other walks. In each tour agency that we explained what we wanted to do they kept saying we should do the Indraha Pass and the hike changed from 5 to 4 to 3 days! Eventually we found a tour agency that would organise a 2 day trek to the Indraha Pass and back for us!
Feeling rather chuffed with ourselves we set off at 8Am on day 1 and walked until 5pm with only 2hrs of breaks for food and drinks. I wont go into too much detail describing the scenery as I couldnt do it justice and the photos will say more than I can. 1/2 way through day 1 our guide was repeatedly telling us that the hike would take 3 days and that 2 days wasn't possible as day 2 would be too tough for us. As we had a train booked for day 3 we explained that it had to be a 2 day trek and if we didn't make it up in time we could turn back early. His insistence that we wouldn't make it was like a red rag to a bull for us both and we
completed day 1 ahead of time with our guide and before our struggling porter arrived (carrying 10kg more than us). As we were insisting on a 2 day trek we walked several KM past the 'base camp' into the boulder strewn valley at the base of the mountain. As there was no camp, we were told that our camp for the night would be a cave! A suitable cave was found on the mountainside and we dumped our bags into it. The cave was basically a large overhanging boulder with some smaller rocks forming the walls. When I looked inside I assumed that this cave was for Laura and I as it was the size of a 2-3 man tent but I soon found out that it was for the 4 of us and also for cooking inside as when the sun went down it would be too cold to cook outside! Our guide asked Laura and I if we would go and find some fire wood whilst he started preparing the food and collected some water. We obediently headed off to the nearby patch of trees to see what we could find. 40 minutes later we were heading back with armfuls of dry logs and twigs for a campfire for the early evening. The only problem was that spotting our cave amongst all of the identical looking rocks was proving to be rather difficult. Laura and I wondered about aimlessly for 30 minutes calling for our guide and getting more and more worried. By 5.30 the sun was going down and it was getting very cold, especially as we were only wearing shorts and T-Shirts. Panic as starting to set in as we were working out how to get back to the original base camp which was 6-7km away but whose campfire was visable in the distance when our guide popped up from under a nearby rock and called us over laughing. Shivering and exhausted we staggered over to our rock-cave where he told us that he had seen us wondering around and shouting his name for the past 3 minutes but thought it was fun to watch us. His tip was cut in 1/2 immediately. Over dinner our guide told us again that we would never make it to the top as we would have to start early and we would be too cold and tired to make it but we were as stubborn as could be and insisted that we would make it. When we went to bed in the evening we saw that the cave floor could just fit 3 single camping mats on the floor for the 4 of us. Laura slept by the wall and I slept next to her and next to our guide who snored like a wilderbeast and kept rolling into me for warmth. At 4.30AM an alarm went off but I hadnt slept a wink as I was freezing cold, wedged in between Laura and the guide lying on my back with my legs bent so as not to stick out of the cave into the freezing air.
We were given 2 pieces of bread and a hot drink before being told that we needed to set off. Leaving our porter tucked up in bed we headed off with our guide outside the tent to tackle the mountain. The only problem was that it was 2 hours away from sunrise and it was freezing cold and pitch black without even a moon for light! Our guide pulled out a torch for himself and strode out into the distance leaving Laura and I behind in the dark. Fortunately I had a torch in my bag and so went back to get it. We spent the next 2 hours climbing up the mountain side using our torch and the camera light to guide the way. Fortunately without light we couldnt see how precarious the route was and how either side were giant drops onto rocks. After 2 hours of solid climbing we stopped for a break - the problem with stopping was that we were both wearing jeans and a hoody with only a wollen hat for any warmth so staying still was too cold to do - so we carried on walking. By 8AM it was light and we could see how far we had walked and how far we still had to go. We were well above the snow line and were scrambling up the rocks with our feet and ungloved hands gripping the ice. By 8.30 we were both broken. Although we were only 300m vertically from the top we were told it was at least 2 hours further due to the terrain. Our fingers were blue and we were shivering. Knowing that the way up was in the shade but the way down would take us through sunlight and out of the ice we admitted defeat and headed back much to our guide's relief. We walked solidly for the rest of the day along some beautiful mountain ridges looking into the snowcapped mountains and huge valleys that make up the Western Indo-China Himalayas and we were toasty warm again and very glad that we hadnt contined. We arrived back at McLeod Ganj at 6pm having walked for 14 hours with about 3 hours of breaks. We were absoluely exhausted but quite proud that we had come so close to completing the 5 day trek in just 2. We spent that evening and next morning having hot showers, lots of massages and eating plates and plates of the fantastic wholesome Tibetan food!
p.s. the internet is v slow so was only able to upload 3 photos!
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